AsPr Garth Pratten, SFHEA

Associate Professor Garth Pratten is an historian in the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre. He has had a varied career ranging across the historical profession, which has included positions at the Australian Army’s Training Command, the Australian War Memorial, Deakin University, and in the War Studies Department at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Garth was a member of the research staff for the Official History of Australia’s Involvement in Southeast Asian Conflicts and an author for the Official History of Australian Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Post-Cold War Operations.

Garth’s interest in the conduct of military operations has led him to conduct field work in France, Belgium, Libya, Brunei, Indonesia, Malayasia, Singapore, Turkey and Cyprus. In 2010, while working for the British Ministry of Defence, he deployed to Afghanistan as part of the team compiling the war diary for ISAF’s Regional Command South.

In April 2006, Garth was awarded the Australian Army’s CEW Bean prize for his PhD thesis, the book of which - Australian Battalion Commanders in the Second World War - was runner up for the Templer Medal in 2010.

Garth is the Series Editor of the Australian Army Campaign Series and a member of the Australian Army History Publishing Steering Committee.

Associate Professor Pratten's research interests include the conduct of ground operations in the Second World War, with an emphasis on the Australian experience, British and Commonwealth counter-insurgency operations, the employment of reserve forces, peace support operations in the 1990s,  unit level command, and identity, motivation and cohesion in military forces.