David H Dunn is running a workshop this week on helping security professionals understand risk, regulation and resilience to counter the accidental or unlawful misuse of drones.
The workshop is part of a 2-day conference on Countering Drones: Detect, Identify and Neutralise, run by Defence IQ. The workshop is aimed at participants with a stake in the policy and regulation of drones, including (but not limited to): law enforcement, public safety and security professionals, prison managers, and managers of public spaces such as stadiums and airports, air traffic control, airlines and civil aviation authorities, and drone manufacturers and counter drone system vendors. The workshop is co-organised by Dr Chris Wyatt (University of Wolverhampton).
The interactive workshop focuses on the most effective ways to counter the illegal use of drones through the prisms of risk, regulation and resilience. Divided into three parts based on the subjects of risk, regulation and resilience, the workshop challenges participants to consider:
- The risk of criminal drone use and the mitigation of risk through activity conducted by the state
- The role and importance of regulation
- The capacity for critical national infrastructure to ensure resilience (through prevention and cover sanction, governance, detection and counter-measures).
Swarms, technological convergence, reconnaissance and the use of drones in hybrid warfare will also be covered to address some of the factors that are now looming into view for policy establishments.
The recent ‘Red Teaming Report’ on ‘The Nefarious, Criminal and Terrorist Use of Drones’ raised important questions on effective responses to drone attacks, and how this once disruptive technology has now become decidedly dangerous. Centring on three recommendations, the report probes into how civil and security organisations must wrestle control of their assets back from a rapidly developing industry before we are left behind. The workshop is based on some of the research contained in this report, and will tackle some of the most challenging aspects of countering drones discussions.
David Dunn is Professor of International Politics at the University of Birmingham where he is currently Director of Internationalisation for the College of Social Sciences. Between August 2012 and August 2016, he was Head of the Department of Political Science and International Studies. Since 2000, he has served as Chairman of the West Midlands Military Education Committee. From 1982 until 1985, he was a member of Liverpool University Air Squadron. He is also a former holder of a NATO Fellowship, and a Fulbright Fellowship, the latter spent as a Guest Scholar at the National Defence University in Washington DC. His main research interests are security studies, U.S. Foreign Policy and diplomacy. He is currently involved in research projects funded by the Gerda Henkel Stiftung and the Open Society Foundation on the implications of drone technology and its proliferation.