Supporting intellectual development in the Profession of Arms

BACKGROUND

Evidence tells us that ideas, people and thinking are decisive in warfare

There is compelling evidence that ideas, people and thinking are decisive factors in combat and warfare. Peculiarly, however, Western militaries seem to sideline the intellectual development of their people and instead rely on the promise of technological revolution. We aim to help in redressing that balance by starting conversations that challenge orthodoxy, offer advice (on tactics, operational art and strategy), inform and educate.

WHAT WE DO

We serve the intellectual curiosity of the national security community

The national security community contains military personnel, industry, politicians, diplomats, civil servants, scholars and academics, civil servants, and veterans. We stimulate challenging discussions for these audiences, engaging their intellectual curiosity to improve mental capacity, build resilience, and expanding thinking space. From this, better decision-making results under stress.

With PME Institutions

The most progressive staff colleges work less with proscribed syllabus and more towards developing the minds of their students. We help by offering engagements on contemporary conflict, how to fight, understanding adversaries, or simply by expanding the prisms through which they think about the world. We also offer this bespoke service to individual military units from SOF to formations.

With High Level Organisations

Whether as a government, an independent agency, a ministry, or a military headquarters, we help craft and test potential policy and operations decisions using a variety of tools. We help scholars and Think Tanks to develop themselves. All underwritten by expertise in organisational design and modern combat founded on a rich understanding of historical precedent.

With Industry and Commercial partners

Penetrating and understanding government and military policy and decisions is challenging. We help people reveal the realities of tensions in policy and the wider picture: from CEOs to Sales Teams, we provide bespoke services in educating people on what’s really happening and why. We have provided competitor intelligence and analysis, as well as marketing opportunities for those genuinely interested in helping the development of the Profession of Arms.

OUR OBJECTIVES

What we want to achieve

Driving better decisions in national security comes through education and understanding: our aim is to progress both of these across a broad community and audience, from those in the Profession of Arms, and their political masters, to the civil servants controlling the purse strings, and industrial partners who really need to understand.

  • How

  • Who

  • Origins

  • How

  • Who

  • Origins

  • How we do what we do

    Observing, listening and reading are the most important things we do: from trusted sources all over the world, from conflict zones and world capitals to academic forums and training bases, we strive to maintain currency in policy, doctrine and combat operations. Pooling this knowledge and then digesting through the legacies of military history, hard-won experience, and debate, we seek the continuities and changes that make the difference.

  • Professor Peter Roberts

    Peter has a unique spread of experience that allows a connection with national security audiences who trust him as an independent, pragmatic and informed voice. His reputation is build on more than 20 years of military service, almost a decade in Think Tanks, and experience in industry. Peter’s career has allowed him to travel to conflict zones around the world for more than 35 years allowing him to see patterns and continuities in how war is waged. This blend of skills and experience is niche but sought after by those with particular problems – from military leaders and specialist units, to people from industry wanting to understand war and warfare.

    He remains a non-resident professor of modern war at Ecole de Guerre in Paris, a Senior Associate Fellow at RUSI, a member of The Alphen Group, and an associate of the Indo Pacific Forum. Through these mediums, and his consulting and media work, he engages with sound 17,000 military personnel around the world on a face-to-face basis each year, and an on-line audience of nearly 500k.

  • How did we start

    Decades of military experience plus nearly ten years at the cutting edge of research in military sciences, married to a unique and trusted network of professionals in the fields of politics, commerce, military force, and academic, puts us in an enviable position to understand conflict and combat operations around the world, along with the decisions made in national capitals. Established in 2022, Aurelius Lab LTD became the most effective way of delivering our services without infrastructure costs that make the availability of advice all but impossible to those that cannot afford traditional Think Tanks.

ARTICLES FEATURED IN

THINKING

Battles are won in the mind not in a science lab.

"We cannot simply rely upon mass or the best technology. In the future, that technology may be in the hands of our opponents." US JCS, May 2020

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