The Oxford Strategic Studies Group (OSSG) is the oldest student society with a focus on international affairs in Oxford. The main feature of the society's activities is a weekly seminar, given under the Chatham House Rule by practitioners and academics in the area of strategic studies. Recent notable speakers include Ambassador of Finland to the UK HE Jukka Siukosaari, US Defence Attaché in London Captain Gregory Leland, Commander US Naval Forces Europe and Africa Admiral Stuart Munsch, and Emeritus Professor of International Relations Rosemary Foot. These seminars are held in the Old Library in All Souls College, Oxford. OSSG also hosts dinners before the seminars, and termly wargame exercises.
History OSSG was founded in 1969 under the aegis of military historian Professor Sir Michael Howard OM CH KBE MC. Previous senior members include Professor Adam Roberts, Professor Robert O’Neill, Mr Edward Mortimer, CMG and Professor Sir Michael Howard.
An early example of one of the group's weekly seminars is a talk given by Neville Maxwell on 22 October 1977 called 'The Threat of China'. The group has remained continuously active since it was founded. During COVID-19, the wargames and weekly seminars continued online. The society celebrated its 55th year anniversary with an Anniversary Dinner at All Souls College, attended by previous senior members, alumni and present members. Other notable anniversary celebrations include the group's 40th Anniversary, at which Dr Robert John gave an overview of the main strategic issues of each of the decades of the group's existence. In November 1981, the OSSG held a tripartite seminar at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) with Cambridge University War Studies Seminar. A report of this meeting was published in the RUSI Journal.
Previous presidents
Presidents 1986-1999 Year President 1986–87 Michael B. Froman 1987–88 David Fidler 1988–89 Rob Radtke 1989–90 Heidi Avery 1990–91 Holly Wyatt 1991–92 Mats Berdal 1992–93 Tim Benbow 1994–95 Philip Barton 1995–96 Jay Jakub 1996–97 John Nagl 1997–98 Nick Redman 1998–99 Josefine Wallat 1999–00 Carter Malkasian
Presidents 2000–2020 Year President 2000–01 Michael Murphy 2001–02 Alex Baxter 2002–03 Brian Luke Lawrence 2003–04 Samuel Evans 2004–05 Samuel Evans 2005–06 Eric Twerdahl 2006–07 Sheena Chestnut 2007–08 Andrea Baumann 2008–09 Robert Nelson 2009–10 Hila Levy 2010–11 David Blagden 2011–12 Mara Tchalakov 2012–13 Nick Altham 2013–14 George Bogden 2014–15 Josh Brown 2015–16 Mark Mahvi 2016–17 Mark Jbeily 2017–18 Andrew Payne 2018–19 Adam Zibak 2019–20 Leanne Iorio
Presidents 2020–Present Year President 2020–21 Matthew Rogers 2021–22 Ana Radomirescu 2022–23 Emily Berexa 2023–24 Lysander Mawby 2024–25 Yi Hao Wong 2025–Present Justin Lee
References