Harry Richards

I am Deputy Director of Portsmouth Military Education team. I have been working for the University of Portsmouth since January 2018 teaching the history of war and military aviation, international security and relations, and the future of armed conflict to Officer Cadets at RAF College Cranwell.

Since 2022, I have been the host of Air Power and International Security, which is a podcast aimed at people interested in how air power and technology influence war and security. Each episode features an interview with a practitioner or academic during which we discuss their experiences or research. The show is freely available on all the major podcast platforms. 

I previously taught at Keele University as a Graduate Teaching Assistant. I delivered introductory modules on modern history and historiographical debates, as well as more specific ones that looked at the First World War. Prior to my PhD research at Keele I studied for an MA in the History of Warfare at King's College. My MA dissertation was later published in 2017 in Intelligence and National Security.

I teach classes on the early use of Air Power in the First World War, the interwar period and the development of Air Power theories in the UK and US, and the Bomber Offensives carried out in the Second World War. As well as classes on the history of air power, I also teach on modules covering space and cyber power.

I have a strong interest in blended learning and having been working to develop innovative appoaches to how PMET delivers virtual learning to RAF personnel. I am proficient at designing and developing digital content in higher education.

My research focuses on the history of intelligence during the First World War, with a particular interest in public perceptions of espionage. My broad research interests include:

• Espionage in the First World War
• Popular fears and emotions
• Xenophobia and anti-alienism 
• The social and cultural history of warfare
• Professional Military Education

My previous reseach focused on 'spy fever' during the First World War which has resulted in a monograph and journal article both published in 2025. I am currently examining how spy fever and the broader anti-alien sentiment of the First World War fashioned the more complex 'hidden hand' conspiracy towards the end of the conflict.