Welcome to Academic Year 2020/2021

And it’s a strange year. The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted almost every aspect of life in Canada since 13 March. At the Royal Military College, classes finished online, and the graduation and convocation were virtual, accomplished by live-streaming with only a handful of people physically at the College. We expect to deliver most fall-term courses online. The same is true for most of our peer universities in small democratic countries. Generally, we expect to be back in classrooms by January 2021. Several institutions have also experienced significant cyber attacks. Like diseases, population movements, and extreme weather events, these too may be a recurring aspect of the new normal, and a part of your professional (and personal) futures.

The International Society of Military Sciences will hold its 12th annual conference, hosted by the Finnish National Defence University, in October 2020 entirely online with the theme, “Military Sciences vs. Open Sciences, with the scent of Covid-19”. 

Biographic Note

David Last, PhD, is a graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada (BA), Carleton University (MA), the London School of Economics (PhD), and the US Army Command and General Staff College (cgs, MMAS). He served in the Canadian army for 30 years, and has taught political science and war studies at the Royal Military College of Canada since 1999, including three years as Registrar. Since 2017, he has also taught in the Institutional Policy Studies and Strategic Studies Streams of the Joint Command and Staff Program at the Canadian Forces College. He served in Germany during the Cold War and his peacekeeping assignments included commanding Blue Beret Camp in Cyprus, Force Commander’s staff in Croatia, and Civil Affairs in Bosnia, with field research on conflict management in the Balkans, West Africa and the Middle East. He has edited or co-edited six books and published more than 60 chapters and articles on peacekeeping, conflict, and higher education. Since 2009 his research has focused on conflict management, taking a global comparative perspective on security education. He is married to Dr. Desre Kramer of Toronto