Philip A. Berry

Dr Philip A. Berry is a Visiting Senior Lecturer in the Department of War Studies, King's College London. Outside of academia, he is a consultant focusing on the international drug trade and serious and organised crime.

Prior to this, Philip was a counter-narcotics official at the UK Home Office, working for the Afghanistan Serious and Organised Crime team, before being seconded to the Synthetic Opioids Taskforce Secretariat. He was also a policy official at the Ministry of Defence.

Philip was previously a Lecturer in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. He is a contemporary historian, with research interests in UK and US counter-narcotics policies, especially in Afghanistan and South America, the history of the UK’s international anti-drug effort, Anglo-American relations, and UK and US foreign, security and defence policy.

Philip's academic work has been published in journals such as The International History Review, Diplomacy & Statecraft, Defence Studies, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, and Contemporary British History. His comment pieces have been published in Foreign Policy, The Independent, World Politics Review, The Conversation, and on the RUSI website, among others.

His book, The War on Drugs and Anglo-American Relations: Lessons from Afghanistan, 2001-2011 was selected as part of Choice’s prestigious Outstanding Academic Titles list for 2020.

Philip holds a PhD in contemporary history from the University of Dundee, an MLitt from the University of Aberdeen, and an undergraduate degree from the University of Dundee.