James Ramsay is a professor of security studies, and Head of the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University in Sydney Australia.  Prior to Macquarie, he was the founding coordinator of the Homeland Security program, and the founding Chair of the Department of Security Studies at the University of New Hampshire.  Prior to UNH, he created one of the first undergraduate programs in homeland security in the US at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, where he also founded the Department of Security Studies and International Affairs.  He has over 20 years’ experience in public health, security studies, emergency management, occupational and environmental health building several degree programs, dozens of courses, and two departments.  He has created an NSA Center of Academic Excellence in cybersecurity defense education and an ODNI CAE in  intelligence education. 

Dr. Ramsay serves on the IAFIE board as the education practices chair, and as the editor in chief for the Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.  He also serves on the editorial boards for Homeland Security Affairs Journal, and the Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism, and he co-founded and serves as associate editor for the Journal of Security, Intelligence and Resilience Education. 

Current research interests include climate security; homeland security, intelligence, and law enforcement education; and the relationship between environmental and human security and national security strategy, as well as in education standards in intelligence education across the Five Eyes.  Books include “Environmental Security: Concepts, Challenges and Case Studies” published by the American Meteorological Society late fall 2019, and “Introduction to Homeland Security” and “Critical Issues in Homeland Security: A Casebook” and “Theoretical Foundations of Homeland Security: Strategies, Operations and Structures”, each published by Routledge.  His current project is developing a text of case studies of wicked problems in global security, through Routledge.    

Dr. Ramsay was appointed by the US Secretary of Health and Human Services to serve on the Board of Scientific Counselors to the Director of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health in the CDC, where he served for 4 years.  Ramsay also served on the CDC/NIOSH Institutional Review Board as well as their Disaster Research IRB from 2015-2021.  Dr. Ramsay served as the inaugural Vice President for the Council of Academic Affairs and Research of ASSP in which he has also chaired the Education Standards Committee from 2006-18 and was elected as “Fellow” in ASSP in 2019.  He has advised several University programs and served as a Director on the ABET, Inc. Board of Directors for 6 years.