Adam Ward became Oxford Analytica’s Managing Editor in June 2025. Previously, he
worked as a consultant, helping companies, investors, governments, and not-for-profits
understand and navigate geopolitical risks.
Adam has extensive experience of leading international affairs think tanks. He was the
Deputy Director of Chatham House (the Royal Institute of International Affairs) as well as its
Director of Research, overseeing a dozen programmes providing regional geopolitical
insights as well as assessments of global policy change in areas as diverse as international
security, technology, health, economics and finance, climate change, and international law.
Earlier, he held a succession of posts at the International Institute for Strategic Studies
(IISS). He was for eight years Director of Studies, heading the Institute’s global research and
analysis in areas including geopolitics, conflict risk, defence and military trends, and arms
control and non-proliferation policy. In this role he also designed and organised a series of
six annual ‘Global Strategic Review’ conferences in Geneva, Stockholm, and Oslo.
Prior to this, Adam developed the Washington DC office of the IISS as its Executive Director,
building the institute’s contacts across the US national security establishment, policy
analysis sector and philanthropic community. His first assignment at the IISS was to be its
Senior Fellow for East Asian Security – specialising in US-China relations and North Korea —
and Editor of Strategic Comments, a series of briefings on global politico-military affairs.
Adam began his career at Oxford Analytica, where he spent four years as Asia Pacific
Editor. He holds a BA in German and Politics and an MA in International Studies, both from
the University of Warwick. He also studied at the University of Salzburg for one academic
year.
