Dr Peter Dixon

I have taught at PACE for five years, on undergraduate courses, weekend courses and summer programmes. I focus mostly on war and peace, both on current issues and the Second World War. This specialisation flows directly from the different phases of my professional life. 
For my first career, I served in the RAF, flying as a transport pilot, training students in University Air Squadrons and teaching at the USAF Academy, Colorado Springs, with a final tour of duty in the German Ministry of Defence, Berlin. My second career was very different. I led conflict resolution NGO Concordis International for over a decade, focusing on inclusive dialogue processes, predominantly in Sudan and South Sudan.
My enthusiasm for lifelong learning is long-term. Developing professional skills is fundamental to military life, of course. Later, I dived into the deep end of peacebuilding, and learnt about leading a struggling non-profit in that field. But I also used spare time for more academic study, obtaining an MBA from the Open University in 1991 and an MSt in International Relations at Cambridge in 2005-7. The latter led into PhD research on external interventions in civil war, which I completed in 2015 after handing over Concordis.
So I came to academia somewhat late in life, and Madingley Hall is an appropriate home for my teaching. The Institutes blend of online and in-person education perfectly matches my past experience of balancing professional, academic and family life.