about us
The creation of Menas Borders meets a demand for expert
advice on boundaries, both on and offshore, and reflects
shifting paradigms of territoriality and competition for
natural resources in an unpredictable and changing world.
Collectively, we have given discrete advice to numerous oil
gas and mining companies regarding the location of assets,
and assisted them in anticipating regional tensions over
boundaries in areas where they undertake or are interested
in undertaking exploration and production activities.
We are also equipped to advise governments,
non-governmental organizations and charities on border
issues; for example, where an agency may be contemplating
the establishment of activities within a border region and
requires a briefing on its political terrain.
Menas Borders is the culmination of a close working
relationship between political risk consultancy Menas
Associates, and Richard Schofield, a leading academic
authority on territorial questions, currently based at
King's College, London.
Our key personnel include:
Richard Schofield
Richard Schofield is a political geographer
specialising in boundary questions with a particular focus
on the Middle East. He has written extensively for both
academic and lay readerships on related matters. He has
advised governments on territorial issues and has worked
with leading international law firms involved in boundary
disputes before arbitral proceedings and the International
Court of Justice. Richard has been convening a master’s
programme on international boundary studies since the
mid-1990s, first at SOAS and offered now at King’s College,
London as the MA in Geopolitics, Territory and Security and
has supervised extensive doctoral research into the
geopolitics of the developing world . He is the founding
editor of the journal Geopolitics.
Suki Jobson
Suki Jobson is an experienced archival and cartographic
researcher. Her areas of expertise include hydropolitics,
territorial disputes and trans-boundary resource issues.
Her work has included research for public international law
cases involving the ongoing legal settlement and resolution
of international boundary disputes.
Charles Gurdon
Charles Gurdon who is currently the managing director
of Menas Associates, spent over ten years as a senior
researcher on all of the international boundary disputes in
which Menas was engaged. He has personally undertaken
and/or has managed multi-disciplinary research teams
working on archival, cartographic, geographical and
historical research in most of the European and Ottoman
archives.
Tom Blass
Tom Blass has an academic background in anthropology
and law, and has extensive journalistic experience prior to
joining Menas, writing on the law and business, the energy
industry, human rights, finance and politics. Particular
areas of interest include Kurdish issues and the Balkans,
and he is currently undertaking post-graduate studies in
geopolitics.