On Tuesday 3 June we are delighted to discuss the economics aspects of defences, military spending, geopolitics and the implications for growth with a leading experts panel.
Fenella McGerty is the Senior Fellow for Defence Economics at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). Fenella leads the defence economics research at the IISS and the relevant data presented in The Military Balance, the Military Balance+ online database and other IISS publications. Fenella specialises in Europe and MENA defence-industry analysis, primarily focussing on military expenditure trends and forecasting. Before joining the IISS, Fenella worked at Janes for 12 years leading the development of their defence economics portfolio. Fenella has previously worked as a UK parliamentary researcher and holds an MSc in economics from Birkbeck, University of London, and a BSc in economics from the University of York, specialising in econometric modelling and defence economics.
Dr Andrew Curtis is a defence and security academic, specialising in strategy, defence management, and military logistics. His research interests stem from his 35-year Royal Air Force career, from which he retired in 2019 in the rank of air commodore. His final appointment was programme director of the Defence Support Transformation Programme, the flagship transformation initiative of the MoD’s Modernising Defence Programme. Andrew is an Associate Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute and a member of the Cityforum Editorial Board. He is a regular contributor to defence commentary and debate, and author of two books: Understanding UK Military Capability (2022) and We need to talk about Defence (2024). He was appointed as an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2007, is a Chartered Manager and Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, and has a PhD in defence studies from King’s College London.
Lucia Retter is assistant director of the Defence, Security and Justice research group at RAND Europe. Lucia directs RAND Europe’s Centre for Defence Economics and Acquisition, leading the group’s research portfolio focused on defence acquisition, industrial base analysis and defence economics.
John Curnow is Director of Analysis at the Ministry of Defence, a post he has held since December 2021. This includes the Defence Economics team. Prior to joining MOD, John was Director of Analysis and Chief Economist at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), where he also chaired OECD’s Environment Policy Committee, and was Economics Director at the independent healthcare regulator, Monitor.
Generously hosted by the Institute for International Institute for Strategic Studies, this event will be held 8.30am-9.30am in their offices, Arundel House, 6 Temple Place, London WC2R 2PG. Registration and coffee/pastries from 8.00am.
This is a members only event. Members can register via the SPE office.
