Our researchers are tackling the challenges posed by military and civilian uses of unmanned or remotely piloted aerial systems.
Transforming drone policy
The recent events at Gatwick and Heathrow Airports show how vulnerable airport infrastructure is from the fast-evolving and disruptive technology of unmanned drones. This vulnerability carries with it risk of accident and injury, or even loss of life.
Research conducted by Professor David H. Dunn and his team has revealed the need for increased regulation, registration and insurance and the need for a suite of detection and drone countermeasures to protect both critical national infrastructure and crowded places.
Professor Dunn and his team have undertaken research on the nefarious and criminal use of drones over the last five years and have most recently been funded by the Gerda Henkel Stiftung. Their recommendations on the threats of drones have come from research and interviews with expert practitioners across the government and commercial sectors. David and his team have shared their recommendations with Government Select Committees and key policy makers.
Watch Professor David H. Dunn give oral evidence on the commercial and recreational drone use in the UK at the Science and Technology Committee in July 2019 [parliamentlive.tv]
About us
Our research draws on expertise from International Relations, Security Studies and War Studies to address issues relating to military and civilian drones. The ICCS have led a number of key projects on the use and impact of drones, including a Birmingham Policy Commission, which considered the challenges and opportunities of drone technologies for the UK, both in a military and civilian context, and a ESRC- funded project on the political effects of unmanned aerial vehicles, which addressed the impact of drones on conflict and cooperation between states and on domestic peace processes.
Key people
In the media
Ethnopolitics (Journal), 4 October 2019
Seeing Things Differently: Nang, Tura, Zolm, and Other Cultural Factors in Taliban Attitudes to Drones
The Telegraph, 9 July 2019
Background checks should be required to buy 'potentially lethal' drones, MPs told
BBC Panorama, 15 April 2019
The Gatwick Drone Attack [iplayer]
Airspace Magazine, June 2019
Drones With Bad Intent
New York Times, 21 December 2018
Two Arrests, and Many Questions, as Gatwick Reopens After Drone Threat
Latest research news
Posted 09 July 2019
David H Dunn is running a workshop this week on helping security professionals understand risk, regulation and resilience to counter the accidental or unlawful misuse of drones.
Posted 28 May 2019
On 21st May, David H Dunn spoke at a panel discussion in Parliament on Rogue Drones in the UK: Security in the Drone Age, organised by the APPG on Armed Drones.
Posted 20 December 2018
The recent events at Gatwick Airport show how vulnerable airport infrastructure is from the fast-evolving and disruptive technology of unmanned drones. By Professor David Dunn, Professor in International Politics.
Posted 04 September 2018
Prof Scott Lucas and Honorary Research Fellow Dr Talat Farooq write for The Conversation on the ongoing legacy of US drone strikes in Pakistan.
Posted 27 April 2018
In October 2017, the Institute for Conflict, Cooperation and Security (ICCS) hosted an event at the University of Birmingham in association with Drone Wars UK and the Remote Control Project to mark the milestone of 10 years of British Reaper deployment.
Videos
Drones research in the iccs
Why study drones?