MBE delight for former Berwick man Professor David H Dunn
A man who grew up in the Berwick area has received a prestigious MBE award in the King’s New Year Honours list for 2026.
David H Dunn, who is Professor of International Politics at the University of Birmingham, has been honoured for services to military education.
Originally from from Spittal Hall, Tweedmouth, he was educated at Berwick High School before going on to receive degrees from the University of Liverpool, Southampton University and Kings College London.
David is a regular media commentator on radio and TV on international politics and continues to have a distinguished academic career, including being awarded NATO and a Fulbright Fellowships and winning academic prizes for his books and articles.
He said: “I am delighted to receive this award and the attention that it brings to my work in the area of military education in the higher education sector.
“This recognition is not primarily for my academic and media contributions, but for the support and service that I have given to military education in the broadest sense and in particular to the university service units of the West Midlands – Officers Training Corps, University Air Squadron and University Royal Naval Unit.
“Supporting the units to develop and train their students in these key skills has been an abiding passion over the years. It has also been an inspiring and rewarding pursuit as the students who commit to these units benefit enormously as a result.
“Having come to the University of Birmingham from teaching at Sandhurst in 1991 and having a PhD in War Studies, I was a natural fit to join the West Midlands Military Education Committee. Since 2000, I have chaired the committee and seen it go from strength to strength regionally.
“Nationally, I have also worked to strengthen the linkages between the MOD and the Military Education Committee centrally.”
“Being awarded this national honour demonstrates how far you can go no matter where you start from,” David added, and he thanked his teachers when he was at Berwick High School including, in particular, his history teacher Michael Brown and the former headteacher David Conway, who inspired him to see the possibilities that education and application had to offer.
The professor lives in Birmingham with his wife, Jayne, and has three grown up children – Harriet, Matthew and Joseph. His older brother, Ken Dunn, was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours list four years ago for his charity work in Africa.