Dr Knox Chitiyo is the Head of the Africa Programme at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security (RUSI) in Whitehall, London. Knox, a Zimbabwean, is a former Senior Lecturer in War Studies within the History Department at the University of Zimbabwe from 1994 – 2002, where he completed his B.A, M.A and, subsequently, his D.Phil. His responsibilities at the time included developing and teaching War Studies at Diploma, Undergraduate and Postgraduate level, as well as student supervision, particularly of postgraduates. He also taught on the Joint Command and Staff Course (JCSC) at the Zimbabwe Staff College. Knox was also the co–founder and Deputy Director of the Centre for Defence Studies (CDS) at the University of Zimbabwe. The CDS was one of the regional partner organisations in the Southern African Defence and Security (SADSEM) network. Knox has published widely on Zimbabwean, southern African and wider sub – Saharan African defence and security issues. He has contributed chapters in books such as Multinational Peace Operations ( ed K.Chitiyo and F.Lemieux , Solstice, London, 2007)  Evolutions and Revolutions: A History of the SADC Militaries (ed. M.Rupiya, Pretoria, ISS, 2005); and Unfinished Business: The Land Crisis in Southern Africa (eds M.Lee and K.J.Colvard, Pretoria, Africa Institute, 2003). More recently, Knox authored a RUSI Whitehall Report “Making the Case for Security Sector Reform in Zimbabwe” (September 2009). This Report has attracted a great deal of attention from many quarters, and has also been influential amongst policy makers in Zimbabwe. 

Knox has also edited the Journal of African Conflict and Development and the Southern African Diaspora Review. From December 2006 until March 2007, Knox was the inaugural Nelson Mandela Africa Research Fellow at RUSI [this initiative was sponsored by the Brenthurst Foundation of South Africa]. In April 2007, he was appointed Head of the new Africa Programme at RUSI. The RUSI Africa  Programme, through its various events and publications and projects, is committed to presenting  African perspectives on defence,  security and development to policy makers in Whitehall, and also to promoting the interaction of African policy makers with the wider global community. Knox is particularly interested in the armed/security forces of southern Africa [especially Zimbabwe] and how they intersect with issues of development and political transitions; he is particularly involved in SSR in Zimbabwe. Knox also writes regular commentaries on southern African and wider diaspora issues in The Guardian and other newspapers. 
 

Other: Knox is Chairman of the Britain –Zimbabwe Society [BZS]

(Current as of October 2009)