Are Synthetic Environments and Immersive Technologies the new military operating environment?

Rory Daniels

Chair and Programme Manager for Emerging Technologies, techUK

Rory joined techUK in June 2023 after three years in the Civil Service on its Fast Stream leadership development programme.

During this time, Rory worked on the Government's response to Covid-19 (NHS Test & Trace), school funding strategy (Department for Education) and international climate and nature policy (Cabinet Office). He also tackled the social care crisis whilst on secondment to techUK's Health and Social Care programme in 2022.

Before this, Rory worked in the House of Commons and House of Lords alongside completing degrees in Political Economy and Global Politics.

Today, he is techUK's Programme Manager for Emerging Technologies, covering dozens of technologies including metaverse, drones, semiconductors, future materials, robotics, blockchain, space technologies, nanotechnology, gaming tech and Web3.0.

: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rorydaniels28/

Air Vice Marshal (Ret’d) Bruce Hedley MBE

Chief Executive Officer, Director and founder, 2nABLE Ltd

With a love for entrepreneurial activity and the delivery of positive change, Bruce has completed 35 years serving in the Royal Air Force and now runs 2nABLE Ltd. With expertise in strategic planning, budget management and transformational delivery of national change programmes, from design, exercising and evaluation to adaptation, he has turned his experience towards helping people learn more effectively. His revitalising approach fundamentally shifted Defence to a more synergistic and integrated operating regime, receiving global recognition as world leading and has now directed his energy towards commercial business development. He provides both consultant services through 2nABLE Consultancy Ltd. and leadership of 2nABLE Ltd. to deliver a system on accelerated learning through mental practice.

General Sir Richard Barrons KCB CBE

Co-Chairman, UDSS

Richard served as Commander Joint Forces Command until April 2016, one of the six ‘Chiefs of Staff” leading the UK Armed Forces, where he was responsible for 23,000 people worldwide and a budget of £4.3Bn, delivering intelligence, Special Forces, operational command and control, surveillance, reconnaissance and information systems and communications, operational logistics, medical support, and advanced education and training across the Armed Forces.

His military career included the last decade of the Cold War and leadership from Captain to General on military operations in Bosnia, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan – often as part of US-led coalitions and in NATO. He was responsible for Military Strategy and Operations in the MoD as a Lieutenant General 2011-13 and President and Colonel Commandant of the Honourable Artillery Company 2013-2019.

He is a Distinguished Fellow at RUSI, and a Visiting Senior Fellow at LSE IDEAS. He read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at The Queen’s College, Oxford en route to becoming an artillery officer.

Currently he advises and lectures regularly on defence transformation, security policy, digital risk, and senior leadership to City, academic, parliamentary, military and commercial audiences.

Mimi Keshani

Co-Founder and COO, Hadean

Mimi Keshani is Co-Founder and COO of spatial computing and AI company Hadean. Mimi oversees countless projects at Hadean, driving Hadean’s technology solutions forward. Mimi also heads up Hadean Labs, Hadean’s innovation hub, whose team works to solve the world’s complex challenges with frontier technology. 

 

With a background in physics, Mimi was instrumental in early proofs-of-concept for Hadean’s technology, namely simulations of protein-protein interactions and COVID-19 pandemic modelling, as well as its applications to gaming. She is now a leading figurehead at Hadean, playing a pivotal role in nurturing industry partnerships and investor relations, as well as the development and implementation of company strategy.