I work on air power, space security and the technologies that are changing both. My early research was on conflict below the threshold of war in South Asia, and my published work to 2022 deals with deterrence, confidence-building between India and Pakistan, and the cyber and informational instruments that states reach for when they want effect without attribution. That work left me with a question I have followed upward. As the systems carrying navigation, communication and observation moved into orbit and into a small number of ground stations, what happened to the balance between the states that own those capabilities and the states that have to operate around them?
My doctoral research at Lancaster University pursues that question through vulnerability and coercion in the space domain. It works across four contemporary cases, among them the sustained interference with satellite navigation over northern Europe and the wartime use of commercial satellite broadband in Ukraine, and draws on an interview programme with space, maritime and deterrence specialists in Europe, North America and Australia. Strands of the work have been presented at the Association for Asian Studies in Asia and the Pacific in California, the European Workshops in International Studies, and the Future of Outer Space Workshop at the University of Amsterdam.
I came to the United Kingdom as a Chevening Scholar in 2019 and did an MA from Lancaster university with distinction. Before that I served for seventeen years as an officer in the Pakistan Air Force, in operational, instructional, research and administrative roles. I taught at Lancaster University at undergraduate and Master’s level before joining the University of Staffordshire in September 2026, and I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. I am also a Non-Resident Fellow at the London Dialogue, writing on space power, air power and strategic competition in Asia for policy and professional readers.
Professional memberships and activities
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), Advance HE
- Non-Resident Fellow, London Dialogue
Academic qualifications
- PhD International Relations, Lancaster University, 2023 to 2027
- Postgraduate Diploma in Defence Management, General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, Sri Lanka
- MA Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies, Lancaster University
- MPhil Peace and Conflict Studies, National Defence University, Pakistan
- MA International Relations, University of Sargodha, Pakistan
- BSc Aero-Sciences, University of Peshawar, Pakistan
Expertise
I contribute to conferences, policy briefings and professional education on space security and counterspace activity, on air power and emerging military technology, and on deterrence and escalation in South Asia. I write regularly for public audiences, with work in The Conversation that has been syndicated internationally and a standing contribution to Small Wars Journal.
Research interests
My research interests include: space security, counterspace activity and the strategic use of orbital and ground infrastructure; air power, and its employment in limited war beneath a nuclear threshold; emerging military technologies, from satellite navigation and quantum positioning to unmanned systems and commercial intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; South Asian security, deterrence and strategic stability; hybrid and grey-zone conflict and the confidence-building measures that constrain it.
Teaching
I lead and teach on the postgraduate and undergraduate provision in intelligence and security studies. I am module leader for Intelligence in Policy and Practice and International Security for PG and Intelligence in Peace and War for the UG. I teach and supervise on the Dissertations as well.
Publications
- Understanding Gray Zone Warfare from Multiple Perspectives, World Affairs (2022).
- Generational Model of Warfare and Evolution of Hybrid Warfare, Asian Journal of International Peace and Security (2021).
- Cyber Warfare as an Instrument of Hybrid Warfare: A Case Study of Pakistan, South Asian Studies (2021).
- The Role of Confidence-Building Measures in the Evolution of Relations Between Pakistan and India, World Affairs (2021).Theory of Self-Determination: A Viable Solution for the Kashmir Conflict, World Affairs (2025).
- A Critical Review of Hybrid Warfare: Challenges to Pakistan, Global Mass Communication Review (2020).
- Deterrence in the Realm of Grey Zone Warfare, Journal of Indian Studies (2020).
- A full list of more than twenty peer-reviewed articles is available on Google Scholar.
- Policy and public writing
- The Silent Dependency: GNSS Vulnerabilities, Quantum PNT, and the Future of Small Wars, Small Wars Journal (July 2026).
- Airpower Under the Nuclear Shadow: Lessons from Operation Sindoor for Limited War Doctrine, Small Wars Journal (June 2026).
- Israel’s strike on Qatar was a serious blow against diplomacy in the Middle East, The Conversation (September 2025).
- The PL-15 Moment: Chinese Weapons, Regional Airpower, and the Changing Balance in South Asia, London Dialogue.
- Renting the High Ground: Commercial Space as the Great Equaliser in South Asia, London Dialogue.
- Beyond the Blue Dot: Quantum Navigation and the Race for Position-Time Sovereignty in South Asia, London Dialogue.