Bill Durodié

Professor Bill Durodié is a Professor of Politics, Languages and International Studies at the University of Bath, UK.^[1]

Professor Bill Durodié
In Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, July 2012

Education

Durodié was educated at the Royal College of Science, part of Imperial College London, where he studied Physics.^{[citation needed]} After completing a final year undergraduate project to map different types of supernovae onto the Morphological Catalogue of Galaxies, he was invited to start a PhD in Astronomy at the University of Manchester under the supervision of Professor Franz Daniel Kahn.^{[citation needed]} His first^{[citation needed]} research publication was in theoretical astrophysics,^[2] based on^{[citation needed]} a paper he presented at Princeton University in 1986.^[3]

Early career

He then changed course, first pursuing a career in teaching (becoming Head of Maths at two inner-city comprehensive schools) and then urban regeneration (working in both the public and private sectors). During this time he also studied for a Master's degree in European Social Policy at the London School of Economics, and subsequently embarked on another PhD, this time in Politics, at the University of Oxford.^{[citation needed]}

In 2007, he completed his doctorate in Risk Communication through the Centre for Decision Analysis and Risk Management in the School of Health and Social Sciences of Middlesex University (UK).^[4]

As a Professor

His inaugural professorial lecture: The Politics of Risk and Resilience – Fear and Terror in a World without Meaning, was delivered on 29 October 2015.^[5][6]

In the debate around the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, rejecting all of the official campaigns,^{[citation needed]} he argued on the grounds of democratic accountability and moral autonomy for the UK to give up its membership of the European Union.^[7][8] Eurasia Review reported that he told them that soon after the vote that, despite the largest mandate in British history, politicians and others would seek to deliver Brexit in name alone, but not in spirit.^{[9][unreliable source?]}

He was formerly Professor in the School of Humanitarian Studies at Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia,^[10] where he was Program Head for the Conflict Analysis and Management programs. He maintains an on-going role as an Associate Faculty member there.^[11] Before that he held positions coordinating the Homeland Defence research programme and then the Health and Human Security research programme within the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore,^[12] as well as in the Department of Defence Management and Security Analysis at Cranfield University, part of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom at Shrivenham,^[13] and in the War Studies Group of King's College London.^[14]

In 2014 he was appointed as a Visiting Professor to CELAP – the China Executive Leadership Academy in Pudong – one of China's top four national 'Party Schools', in Shanghai – a position officially renewed in 2018.^[15][16][17] He has also conducted short courses for officials through the Shanghai Administration Institute,^[18][19] and writes on the West's evolving relations with China,^[20][21] as well as events surrounding the protests in Hong Kong.^[22][23] He was an Associate Fellow of the International Security Programme at Chatham House in London for over a decade.^[24]

 

Appointed as a Visiting Professor to the Shanghai National Party School, China, September 2014.

His main research interest is to examine the causes and consequences of contemporary perceptions of risk, as well as how these are framed and communicated across a wide range of contemporary social issues. His work explores the limitations of risk management and of the so-called precautionary principle. He has questioned the motivations behind the growing demand to engage the public in dialogue and decision-making in relation to science.^[25] He has also sought to draw attention to the parallels between Islamist terrorism and contemporary Western nihilism, noting that many who engage in the former draw their roots from the latter and specifically stating that 'Islam, for them at least, was more a motif than a motive'.^[26]

He publicly defended the need for BP to continue its exploration work in the Gulf of Mexico at the time of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill,^[27] and he supported the initial response of the Japanese authorities to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant emergency.^[28][29] On the other hand, he has questioned the dynamic behind environmental campaigns against pulp and palm-oil producers in Indonesia,^[30] as well as the British government's interpretation of the implications of the 2011 England riots.^[31]

His work proposes that Securitization (international relations) theory is too limited a framework through which to understand the British government's new Prevent Duty.^[32] This latter imposes new obligations on public bodies to tackle so-called Radicalization, which he proposes is better understood as being driven by a process of disengagement.^[33] He has also addressed what he sees as the demise of strategic thinking and a concomitant crisis of diplomacy, most recently evidenced by the responses of senior British government ministers to the Sergei Skripal, former-spy poisoning episode in the UK.^[34]

His 2011 articles investigating how the World Health Organization addressed the 2009 flu pandemic,^[35][36][37] anticipated the cultural and institutional responses to COVID-19 which, he proposed, would lead to considerably more fatalities than the virus itself.^[38] His concern since, was that the episode would lead to: "suspicion, avoidance and intolerance towards others, an unwillingness to embrace life’s uncertainties, fear of future emergencies, a dystopian, anti-human outlook and narrative, and all too willing acceptance of the curtailment of civil liberties, combined with a paralysing dependence on others".^[39]

 

Giving the Vincent Briscoe Annual Security Lecture, Imperial College London, November 2017.

Publications

His publication list includes articles in academic journals,^[40] and on the reading lists of various universities^{[41][42][43][44]} – as well as a media profile from both writing press commentaries and appearing in broadcasts.^{[citation needed]}

He featured in the 2004 BBC British Academy of Film and Television Arts award-winning documentary series produced by Adam Curtis; 'The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear'.^[45] The Guardian newspaper journalist Madeleine Bunting to describe him as: "one of the most perceptive commentators featured in the series".^[46]

Manifesto Club

Durodié was one of the founding members of the Manifesto Club,^[47] a network of individuals originally established to celebrate human achievement and challenge social, cultural and political pessimism, closely associated with the Spiked network of organisations emerging from the former Revolutionary Communist Party.^[48][49][50] He is a regular speaker at Spiked's annual Battle of Ideas festival in London,^[51][52] and is a regular contributor to Spiked's website.^[53]

He gave the opening key-note address to the Society for Risk Analysis Europe Conference in 2016.^[54] On 15 November 2017, following in the steps of former US Secretary for Homeland Security Michael Chertoff and the UK Minister of State for Universities and Science David Willetts,^{[citation needed]} he became the 8th person and first alumnus^{[citation needed]} to give the annual Vincent Briscoe Lecture to the Institute for Security Science and Technology at Imperial College London.^[55][56]

Selected journal articles

• The Hollow Flag: the gulf between EU security rhetoric and real security, MCC Brussels briefing, February 2023
• Scientists advise, ministers decide? The role of scientific expertise in UK policymaking during the coronavirus pandemic, Journal of Risk Research, Vol.25, No.10, 2022
• Handling Uncertainty and Ambiguity in the COVID-19 Pandemic, Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, Vol.12, S1, 2020
• Terrorism and post-traumatic stress disorder: a historical review, The Lancet Psychiatry, Vol.6, No.1, 2019
• Theory informed by practice. Application informed by purpose. Why to understand and manage risk, cultural context is the key, Safety Science, Vol.99, No.2, 2017
• Remaking Bandung 60 Years On, Global Change, Peace & Security, Vol.28, No.3, 2016
• Securitising Education to Prevent Terrorism or Losing Direction?, British Journal of Educational Studies, Vol.64, No.1, 2016
• War on Terror or a Search for Meaning?, US Joint Chiefs of Staff/Department of Defence Strategic Multi-Layer Assessment Occasional White Paper, September 2013
• The Changing Nature of Riots in the Contemporary Metropolis: From Ideology to Identity, Journal of Risk Research, Vol.15, No.4, 2012
• H1N1 – The Social Costs of Élite Confusion, Journal of Risk Research, Vol.14, No.5, 2011
• Reconciling Growing Energy Demand with Climate Change Management, Global Change, Peace & Security, Vol.23, No.2, 2011
• H1N1 – The Social Costs of Cultural Confusion, Global Health Governance, Vol.4, No.2, 2011
• Human Security – A Retrospective, Global Change, Peace & Security, Vol.22, No.3, 2010
• Fear and Terror in a Post-Political Age, Government & Opposition, Vol.42, No.3, 2007
• Suicide Bombers v Sexual Abusers: A Battle of Depravity or Western Fixations?, Security Journal, Vol.20, No.3, 2007
• Risk and the Social Construction of 'Gulf War Syndrome', Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, Vol.361, No.1468, 2006
• Public Panic and Morale: World War Two Civilian Responses Re-Examined in the Light of the Current Anti-Terrorist Campaign, (with Edgar Jones, Robin Woolven and Simon Wessely) Journal of Risk Research, Vol.9, No.1, 2006
• The Limitations of Risk Management in Dealing with Disaster, Politik, Vol.8, No.1, 2005
• The Concept of Risk, Nuffield Trust Global Programme on Health, Foreign Policy and Security, February 2005
• Facing the Possibility of Bio-Terrorism, Current Opinion in Biotechnology, Vol.15, No.3, 2004
• Civilian Morale during World War Two: Responses to Air-Raids Re-Examined, (with Edgar Jones, Robin Woolven and Simon Wessely), Social History of Medicine, Vol.17, No.3, 2004
• Limitations of Public Dialogue in Science and the Rise of New 'Experts', Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, Vol.6, No.4, 2003
• The True Cost of Precautionary Chemicals Regulation, Risk Analysis, Vol.23, No.2, 2003
• Resilience or Panic? The Public's Response to a Terrorist Attack, (with Simon Wessely) The Lancet, Vol.360, No.9349, 2002

References

1. University of Bath Staff Profile
2. Towards a Self-Consistent Model of a Galaxy
3. Structure and Dynamics of Elliptical Galaxies
4. Middlesex University Research Repository
5. Lecture Video
6. Lecture Recording
7. University of Bath, School of Management, Brexit Debate
8. The Conversation – £4,300 to quit the EU? Bring me my cheque book
9. Penza News (15 August 2016). "Lack Of Clear Plan For Brexit Has Negative Impact On British Economy And Social Moods – Analysis". Eurasia Review. Retrieved 21 February 2023.
11. Royal Roads University, College of Interdisciplinary Studies, Bio
12. . Archived from the original on 2018-06-12. Retrieved 2018-11-07.
13. . Archived from the original on 2012-08-10. Retrieved 2012-07-09.
15. BILL DURODIé受聘担任学院兼职教授
16. CELAP – Bill Durodié Appointed as CELAP’s Visiting Professor
17. University of Bath – Professor Bill Durodié made Visiting Professor in China
18. Shanghai Administration Institute
19. Shanghai provincial government directors course
20. Misinterpreting China and Lessons from the Huawei Debacle
21. US-China trade war, The Australian
22. Hong Kong's protesters shouldn't count on American virtue-signallers to solve their deadlock with Beijing, The Independent
23. If this is what democracy looks like to these protestors, then Beijing will win hands down
24. Chatham House Staff
25. Times Higher Education Supplement – Why I ... think a dialogue with the public will undermine science
26. . Archived from the original on 2014-10-09. Retrieved 2015-05-18.
27. Beyond Petroleum – The Limits of Risk Management
28. Today – Disaster Hacks should stick to the facts
29. Today – Sounding worse, when things are really getting better
30. The Jakarta Post – Friction and vested interests in pulp and palm-oil production
31. Journal of Risk Research Vol.15, No.4 – The Changing Nature of Riots in the Contemporary Metropolis: From Ideology to Identity
32. Prevent Duty Guidance
33. Leeds Salon – Radicalisation and Security
34. The Lost Art Of Diplomacy
35. H1N1 – The Social Costs of Cultural Confusion
36. WHO’s learned nothing from the swine-flu panic?
37. H1N1 – The Social Costs of Élite Confusion
38. Futures Diagnosis Blog
39. Daily Telegraph Feature
40. Personal Website – Publications
41. Harvard University, The Meaning of Madness – Course Outline
42. . Archived from the original on 2017-02-11. Retrieved 2017-02-10.
43. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-27. Retrieved 2012-07-12.
44. University of Ottawa, Security and Conflict – Course Outline
45. The Nightmare Delusion
46. The Guardian – The Age of Anxiety by Madeleine Bunting
47. Reason – Reclaiming the Enlightenment
48. Shipman, Tim (2020-08-16). "Did No 10 power couple back peerage for ex‑communist Claire Fox? – News". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 2020-08-26.
49. Bright, Sam (2019-11-06). "Boris Johnson's policy chief is a former member of the Revolutionary Communist Party". Scram News. Retrieved 2020-08-26.
50. Mason, Rowena (2019-08-05). "Boris Johnson ushers in radical new era of special advisers". The Guardian. Retrieved 2020-08-26.
51. Speaker Profile
52. Battle of Ideas
53. "Bill Durodié, Author at spiked". spiked. 2018-09-26. Retrieved 2020-08-26.
54. SRA-Europe Conference 2016
55. Big Data needs Big Ideas
56. Research must transcend ‘dystopian mindset’ of the past half-century

External links

• Official website
• Inaugural Professorial Lecture – Video
• Inaugural Professorial Lecture – Audio
• University of Bath – Brexit Debate
• Transcript of interview with Australian broadcaster Robyn Williams
• Manifesto Club website
• The 2017 Vincent Briscoe Security Science Lecture – Video
• The 2017 Vincent Briscoe Security Science Lecture – Transcript and Slides