The recent announcement of a new Defence Universities Alliance (DUA) reflects a growing recognition that universities are an integral component of the UK defence ecosystem, and the necessity of a ‘whole-of-society’ approach as we enter new eras of threats. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) states that the DUA will ‘reorientate academia towards Defence and National Security, bring universities into the defence and industrial base, promote Defence within the national student body, and provide coherence in the relationship between MOD and academia.’ The Relationship Between Universities and DefenceUniversities have always played a key, though often implicit, role in defence. Therefore, the DUA is not the first effort to strengthen collaboration between defence and universities. But the DUA differs from previous approaches, as this initiative is explicitly linked to supporting the UK’s future defence capability and to translating research into battlefield impact through three strategic aims: defence research, defence skills and career promotion, and collaboration.