Il Professor Phillips O'Brien è Chair of Strategic Studies e Direttore della School of International Relations dell'Università di St Andrews.

È stato nominato Senior Adviser (non residente) presso il Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) di Washington DC e ha collaborato con studiosi e analisti in Ucraina e nel resto d'Europa e degli Stati Uniti per contribuire a trarre alcune lezioni dal conflitto. I suoi commenti sono stati pubblicati regolarmente su “The Atlantic”, “The Times”, “The Spectator”, “The Telegraph” e altri importanti quotidiani e riviste, ed è apparso nei media di oltre 15 paesi, tra cui MSNBC, CNN, NPR, BBC, DW e “L'Express”. Tra i suoi libri figurano How the War was Won: Air-Sea Power and Allied Victory in World War II, Cambridge University Press (2015), e The Second Most Powerful Man in the World: The Life of Admiral William D. Leahy, FDR's Chief of Staff, Penguin/Random House (2015); The Strategists: How Churchill, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini and Roosevelt were Made by and Made War, Penguin (2024); e il suo ultimo libro, War and Power: Who Wins Wars and Why, Penguin (2025).

Professor Phillips O’Brien is the Chair of Strategic Studies and Head of the School of International Relations at the University of St Andrews. He has been appointed as a Senior Adviser (non-residential) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington DC and has worked with scholars and analysts in Ukraine and much the rest of Europe and across the Atlantic to try and digest some of the lessons of the war. His commentary has been published regularly in The Atlantic, The Times, The Spectator, The Telegraph and other major newspapers and journals, while he has made media appearances for outlets in more than 15 countries, including MSNBC, CNN, NPR, BBC, DW and L’Express.

Amongst his books are: How the War was Won: Air-Sea Power and Allied Victory in World War II, Cambridge University Press (2015), and The Second Most Powerful Man in the World: The Life of Admiral William D. Leahy, FDR’s Chief of Staff, Penguin/Random House (2015); The Strategists: How Churchill, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini and Roosevelt were Made by and Made War, Penguin (2024); and his latest book, War and Power: Who Wins Wars and Why, Penguin (2025).