Irregular Warfare Center to Host IWC Colloquium Event Highlighting IW-Related Academic Contributions

The newly established Irregular Warfare Center (IWC) is scheduled to host its first IWC Colloquium event, July 27-28, 2023, in Arlington, VA.

The event encompasses months of reviewing submissions from a variety of scholars and narrowing down finalists during the selection and nomination process. Submissions from each participant included a 250-word maximum description of the scholars’ research and how it contributes to the Center’s understanding of contemporary irregular warfare challenges.

Those selected as finalists will be in attendance to present their IW-related academic topics. These presentations draw on the participants’ research in any stage of its development and can be based on preliminary prospectuses, case studies, theses and dissertations, working papers, or other unpublished work.

During the event, scholars will be placed in small groups with nominees from other academic institutions who share similar research interests and complementary capabilities. Each presentation will serve as the basis for peer discussions and planning for further research.

Themes of particular interest to the Center for this colloquium include cyber operations; information and influence operations; resistance movements and occupation; proxy warfare; strategic competition below the threshold of war; and women, peace, and security. Nominees proposed topics that explore one or more of these themes and explained how their research might enhance the ability of the United States, allies, and partners to address the challenges posed by irregular warfare.

The Center is proud to announce those who have been selected to attend the IWC Colloquium and present their hard work and dedication:

Ian Birdwell, Old Dominion University; Brian Hamel, CGSC; Elizabeth Radziszewski, University of Maryland; Joshua Smith, Seton Hall University; Nazar Syvak, Regent University; Griffin Windheuser, American University; Peter Wostenberg, Baylor University; Adam Knight, Notre Dame of Maryland University; Prescott Paulin, University of Illinois; Mason Remondelli, Uniformed Services University; Maria Harika, University of Alabama-Birmingham; Anneliese Preske, Seton Hall University; Matthew Kuhlman, George Mason University; Allen Newton, National Intelligence University; Caroline Orr, University of Maryland; and Asher Peck, Regent University.

“The IWC Colloquium event is an exceptional opportunity to highlight and celebrate these academic scholars, who are the future of irregular warfare, as they showcase their research and unique perspectives on a plethora of IW-related topics,” said Lori Leffler, Deputy Director, Irregular Warfare Center, “The Center is committed to enhancing irregular warfare knowledge through academic partnerships to facilitate research on IW and strategic competition and continue to engage with U.S. and international universities.”

Students and faculty from U.S. universities were invited to submit their themes of particular interest for the event.

The IWC serves as the central mechanism for developing the Department of Defense’s (DOD) irregular warfare knowledge and advancing the Department’s understanding of irregular warfare concepts and doctrine in collaboration with key allies and partners.

The IWC serves as the central mechanism for developing the Department of Defense’s (DoD) irregular warfare knowledge and advancing the Department’s understanding of irregular warfare concepts and doctrine in collaboration with key allies and partners.

The Center’s foundation is built upon three Lines of Effort:

• AMPLIFY and collaborate to build an innovative and adaptable global networked IW community of interest.
• Strategically ILLUMINATE current and future irregular threats, crises, and obstacles.
• ADDRESS current and future irregular threats to the US, allies, and partners by providing optionality to leaders.

Through these LOEs, the Irregular Warfare Center addresses current and emerging security concerns and challenges with world-class research, rigorous analysis, top-tier strategic education and training for U.S. and international partners.

The IWC recently hosted several informative and educational irregular warfare-themed events including its inaugural event, The IW Medical Resiliency Workgroup (Feb. 2022), IWC International IW Week (March 2023), IWC IW Seminar at Georgetown University (March 2023), University Days (April 2023), and PME Day (April 2023), as well as the facilitating Transformational Irregular Warfare Leaders Thought Courses (TILT-C) for the U.S. interagency (March 2023), U.S. Special Operations Command (April 2023), the intelligence community (May 2023), and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) (June 2023), and the National Resistance Application Course (NRAC) in conjunction with this year’s Ridge Runner planning conference (March 2023) and academic week (June 2023) and many other international programs with various allied and partner nations.