Major Keyurkumar Patel has qualifications in Engineering from Bangalore University, India, as well as a Master of Engineering from Swinburne University of Technology and a Doctorate of Engineering from the University of Southern Queensland. He is a published author of more than 50 research studies and four books. A Chartered Professional Engineer and member of the Royal Aeronautical Society he is also a senior member of the Australian Computer Society and the IEEE. Since 2008 he has served in the …

Dr Benjamin Turnbull is a Senior Lecturer in Cyber Security at UNSW Canberra Cyber, University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy. His research includes investigating the nexus of cyber security and kinetic effect to understand the true impacts of cyber- attack, best-practice automated analysis and visual techniques to aid decision support. … Benjamin …

Lieutenant Jonathon Ladewig enlisted into the Australian Army in 2009 as an Infantry soldier. He served four years at the 8th/9th Royal Australian Regiment which included a deployment on Mentoring Taskforce 4 as a PMV Crew Commander. In 2013, he sought a commission through ADFA where he received prizes for best in Information Technology. He graduated RMC in 2016 into the Royal Australian Corps of Signals before returning to ADFA under the Chief of Army Scholarship Program where he completed Honours in …

Captain Ben Johanson is an Army officer with particular interests in Special Operations strategy and application in future conflict, and the relationship between Special Operations and Cyberspace Operations. He is currently studying a masters degree in Cybersecurity, Strategy and Diplomacy. … Ben …

The Indo-Pacific Doesn’t Exist Dinner Address by Prof Allan Gyngell President - Australian Institute of International Affairs. ‘It’s a great pleasure to be here and an honour to have been invited to deliver these remarks. I suspect that I am an outlier in this room, though. ‘Although I have spent a lot of my professional life happily hanging around with strategic analysts and military and defence types, my background, and what expertise I have, lies in foreign policy. If, as Von Clausewitz says, war is the …

Closing Address Major General Justin ‘Jake’ Ellwood, DSC Deputy Chief of Army ‘Distinguished guests, delegates, colleagues and friends—I think I can say friends now because I think the last couple of days we’ve actually made a number of really good connections at this seminar and Land Forces in general. ‘So good morning. ‘Today I’ve been given the very daunting task of summarising the outcomes and insights of CALFS. It’s daunting because of the amazing speeches and contributions of all participants, but in …

General Robert B Brown Commanding General, United States Army Pacific Every generation thinks their time is the most complex in history, but it is hard to argue that it has ever been as complex as we find the global environment today, and in the Indo-Pacific region in particular. That complexity is changing the very character of warfare. When I was coming up through the ranks, the ‘fog of war’ was not enough information. This uncertainty was best mitigated through initiative—‘do something’. Now, what is …

Professor Genevieve Bell Distinguished Professor, Florence Violet McKenzie Chair Director, Autonomy, Agency & Assurance, Australian National University ‘Well, so the good news is you were primed for divergent thinking. The bad news is I’m your divergent thinker. So listen, it is my incredible pleasure and privilege to get to be here. Unlike the previous professor I find this a slightly more daunting experience. There’s no nostalgia for me being in a room full of uniforms, mostly just a bit of fear; I fear …

Professor You Ji Head of Department of Government, University of Macau The Indo-Pacific (Indo-Pacific) idea has been around for over a decade. Professor Rory Medcalf raised it as a policy suggestion years ago but the concept remained only academic. 1 Japanese Prime Minister Abe enriched the concept with a component of democratic arch but it was more visionary than substantial as the countries placed their concerns of national interests above the ideational preferences. It was not until President Trump …

Major General Kathyrn Toohey, AM, CSC Head Land Capability ‘Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen, ‘I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we are meeting today, the Kaurna people, and pay my respects to their elders, both past and present. ‘It is my pleasure to appear first on this panel of distinguished speakers. ‘Yesterday I spoke at the science and technology conference with two esteemed colleagues—my equivalent in the UK, Major General Chris Tickell, and the Swedish …