February 22, 2022
Colloquium Topic: War Transformed: The Future of Twenty-First-Century Great Power Competition and Conflict
War Transformed: The Future of Twenty-First-Century Great Power Competition and Conflict provides insights for those involved in the design of military strategy, and the forces that must execute that strategy. Emphasizing the impacts of technology, new era strategic competition, demography, and climate change, Mick Ryan uses historical as well as contemporary anecdotes throughout the book to highlight key challenges faced by nations in a new era of great power rivalry. Just as previous industrial revolutions have advanced societies, the nascent fourth industrial revolution will have a similar impact on how humans fight, compete, and build military power in the twenty-first century.
Colloquium Speaker: MAJGEN Mick Ryan AM
Mick Ryan has commanded soldiers at the troop, squadron, regiment, task force and brigade levels over the past 35 years. His operational service includes deployments to East Timor, Iraq, and southern Afghanistan. He has also served as a strategist on the United States Joint Staff in the Pentagon.
Mick has a bachelor's degree in Asian Studies from the University of New England and is a graduate of the Australian Defence Force School of Languages. He is a Distinguished Graduate of the United States Marine Corps Command and Staff College, and a graduate of the USMC School of Advanced Warfighting. In 2012, he graduated with distinction from the Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies.
Mick has a long-standing interest in military history and strategy, advanced technologies, organizational innovation, and adaptation theory. He was inaugural President of the Defence Entrepreneurs Forum (Australia) and is a member of the Military Writers Guild. He is a keen author on the interface of military strategy, innovation, and advanced technologies, as well as how institutions can develop their intellectual edge. He has contributed to several books, including Strategy Strikes Back (2018), Why We Write (2019), On Strategy (2020) and To Boldly Go (2021). Mick has also authored major reports that include the Ryan Review (2016) and Thinking About Strategic Thinking (2021).
Over the past four years, Mick has led a series of reforms at the Australian Defence College to adapt curriculum, academic service contracts, teacher training, international engagement, infrastructure and learning culture for the rigours of the 21st century security environment.
In February 2022, Mick retires from the Australia Army after 35 years continuous service. In the same month, his book War Transformed is being published by USNI Books.