Joe Reilly graduated with an undergraduate degree in History and is now a Midshipman in the Royal Navy and a Research Analyst at the Royal Navy Strategic Studies Centre.  

He was winner in the military career category of the Royal United Services Institute for the 2023 Trench Gascoigne Prize for his essay: ‘Perfidious Albion’? British Foreign Policy in an Age of Strategic Choice’. 

Speaking about the this award Joe said:

It was an incredible surprise to be announced as the military winner of the 2023 Trench Gascoigne Prize, a prestigious award for original writing on international defence and security issues. Dating back to 1874, the prize is awarded annually by the Royal United Services Institute, and I received the 2023 award from the Chief of the Defence Staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin KCB ADC, during his annual lecture at RUSI’s headquarters in Whitehall, London. 

My submission, which will soon be published in the RUSI Journal was entitled ‘‘Perfidious Albion’? British foreign policy in an age of strategic choice’. In it, I criticised alarmist rhetoric that suggests Britain might soon find itself fighting on the frontlines of a pan-European war. Instead, I argued that as the word’s geopolitical centre of gravity increasing moves away from the Euro-Atlantic and towards the Indo-Pacific, the UK will be further removed from potential conflict hotpots and will accordingly find itself in a position to exercise choice in foreign policy. I cautioned that we shouldn’t use this newfound security to build large armies, or to commit to interventionist wars overseas, but instead invest in industrial capabilities to help support free and democratic countries, such as Ukraine, fight against state aggression and maintain their independence. 

Speaking about his time at Queen's University Belfast in the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, Joe said:

Despite this recent foray into international relations and security studies, when I graduated from Queen’s in 2021 it was with an undergraduate degree in History. However, I found that the inter-disciplinary nature of HAPP exposed me to a great deal of scholarship outside my subject, which gave me the necessary foundations to attempt my submission. Alongside taking several politics and IR modules during my degree, I was fortunate enough to be selected to represent Queen’s at the 2021 model NATO summit, an incredibly instructive event run by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the British International Studies Association. My team, as a direct result of the mentorship and support provided by the academic staff at HAPP, ultimately went on to beat some 14 other universities and left the summit in first place News Story here.

It is to this event, among numerous other opportunities that I was provided with during my studies at Queens, that I attribute my confidence to write and be read, and to go beyond my discipline into the realm of strategic studies. Having now won the Trench Gascoigne prize, I’m keen to make further contributions to strategic and defence debates, and am absolutely certain I will continue to draw upon my experiences at Queens as my career progresses.