Len Scott

Prof Scott's research interests focus on intelligence studies, Cold War history and nuclear history. His work on intelligence covers the methodology of intelligence studies, the history of British intelligence and the role of intelligence in nuclear weapons issues. He has written extensively on nuclear weapons, including the command and control of British nuclear forces and the Cuban missile crisis. In addition, he has published on the history of Labour Party defence policy, the Attlee government's defence policy and Labour attitudes to defence and disarmament in the 1980s.

PhD Supervision
Intelligence Studies
Nuclear History
Cold War History
British defence and foreign policy
Labour Party defence policy

Professor Scott arrived in Aberystwyth in 1990 following seven years in Westminster and Whitehall. He held a research post at Nuffield College, Oxford, where he also completed his DPhil in in 1983. He became political adviser to Rt Hon Denis Healey, MP, Shadow Foreign Secretary, in 1984. In 1988 he joined Her Majesty's Treasury. He was appointed Lecturer in International Politics at Aber in 1990, and promoted Senior Lecturer (1997), Reader (2001) and Professor (2004). He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. The founding Director of the Centre for Intelligence and International Security Studies from 2004 to 2007, he resumed this role in 2009/10. Prof Scott was Dean of Social Sciences from 2000 to 2005 and from 2009 to 2013. He was awarded an Aberystwyth University Learning and Teaching Fellowship in July 2014.