Professor Robert Dover

Professor Robert Dover

Professor of Intelligence and National Security

Faculty and Department

  • Faculty of Arts Cultures and Education
  • School of Criminology, Sociology and Policing

Qualifications

  • BA (University of Nottingham)
  • MA (University of Nottingham)
  • PhD / DPhil (University of Bristol)
  • PCAP (King's College London)

Summary

I joined Hull in February 2021, as Professor within Criminology, specialising in intelligence and national security. I am also the Head of the School of Criminology, Sociology and Policing. As a Head, I serve on the Faculty's Leadership Team, and I am currently a Member of University Senate and University Council. I was recently Senate's representative on the VC recruitment panel, selecting the successor to Susan Lea. As a Head and a senior academic, I have a particular passion around the understanding and support of neurodiversity in our community of learning.

As an impact-laden researcher, I have published widely on questions around the government's use of intelligence, and on intelligence tradecraft. I am a previous winner of the UK Political Studies Association's Wilfrid Harrison Prize for the Best Article in Political Studies and was shortlisted for their Best Article of the Decade Award too.

Between 2016 and 2021 I was Associate Professor of Intelligence and International Security at the University of Leicester, where I directed the Postgraduate Research Community in Politics and International Relations, held the Enterprise and CPD function in the School.

Prior to this I worked for 9 years at Loughborough University and was until 2016 the Director of the Glendonbrook Institute for Enterprise Development at Loughborough University in London and Associate Dean for Enterprise, which was the largest project the university had undertaken since it gained its charter.

The Glendbonbrook and AD(Enterprise) roles made me responsible for establishing our enterprise footprint in London, managing our strategic enterprise relationships and embedding enterprise and employability through the activities of the campus.

I was also -between October 2012 and October 2013 - the Academic Theme Developer for the Secure and Resilient Societies Strand, which was a key element in the University’s process of revising its core strategic approach.

At Loughborough I served as an elected member of University Senate and an elected member of the Joint Senate-Council Human Resource Committee and its subcommittees (including probation and promotion committees). During 2011 and 2012, I was Senate’s representative on two senior appointment panels (including that which appointed the new the Vice Chancellor). Prior to Loughborough, I worked at King’s College London and the University of Bristol.

At KCL, I was a member of the College’s Academic Board and Director of the Postgraduate Taught Programme in Defence Studies, the largest social science masters in the EU at the time.

Between 2011 and 2020 I was the Convenor of the PSA/BISA Specialist Group, the Security and Intelligence Studies Group and from 2007 til 2015 I was Secretary to the ECPR Standing Group on the EU and then managed its communications.

I have supervised 14 PhD students to successful completion and examined 17 further PhD candidates.

Cybersecurity

Cyber-enabled criminality

'Hacking for Law Enforcement'

Recent outputs

View more outputs

Book

Hacker, Influencer, Faker, Spy. Intelligence Agencies in the Digital Age

Dover, R. (2022). Hacker, Influencer, Faker, Spy. Intelligence Agencies in the Digital Age. London: Hurst Publishers

Book Chapter

The Deep State: Definitional Debates and Impacts

Dover, R. (2022). The Deep State: Definitional Debates and Impacts. In R. Dover, H. Dylan, & M. S. Goodman (Eds.), A Research Agenda for Intelligence Studies and Government (155-166). London: Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800378803.00020

Introduction to A Research Agenda for Intelligence Studies and Government

Dover, R., Dylan, H., & Goodman, M. (2022). Introduction to A Research Agenda for Intelligence Studies and Government. In R. Dover, H. Dylan, & M. S. Goodman (Eds.), A Research Agenda for Intelligence Studies and Government (1-6). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800378803.00005

Populism, anti-system politics and the media: A spotlight on Covid-19

Dover, R. (2022). Populism, anti-system politics and the media: A spotlight on Covid-19. In J. Mair, T. Clark, N. Fowler, R. Snoddy, & R. Tait (Eds.), Populism, the Pandemic and the Media : Journalism in the age of Covid, Trump, Brexit and Johnson (148-154). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003253822-24

Other

Ukraine: sanctions can still make a difference – but only if done right

Dover, R. (2022). Ukraine: sanctions can still make a difference – but only if done right. London

Research interests

Intelligence (trade craft and assessments)

Technological disruption

Human intelligence

Disinformation

Hybrid conflicts

Social theory as it relates to surveillance and intelligence practices.

Lead investigator

Project

Funder

Grant

Started

Status

Project

QR Policy

Funder

AHRC Arts & Humanities Research Council

Grant

£11,327.00

Started

1 June 2023

Status

Ongoing

Postgraduate supervision

Intelligence (trade craft and assessments)

Human intelligence

Disinformation

Hybrid conflicts

Social theory as it relates to surveillance and intelligence practices.

Awards and prizes

Wilfrid Harrison Prize for the Best Article in Political Studies

2007 - 2007

Political Studies Association Paper Prize.

Funder panel member

ESRC/DoD Call on Subthreshold Conflict

2024 - 2024

ESRC Polarities and Regions Network Plus Expert Review

2023 - 2023

Reviewer for: ESRC Polarities and Regions Network Plus Expert Review

Journal editorial role

Journal of Applied Operational Intelligence

2024

Joined the Editorial Board: https://ubplj.org/index.php/jaoi

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