The Countering Explosive Threat and Demining Conference will be taking place from September 24 - 25, 2024 at Copthorne Tara Hotel, London, Kensington, and will bring together key stakeholders in Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Mine Clearance from across the total EOD community, including NGO’s, government, private sector and the military.

The conference will be centred on the operations required for demining and EOD, including the need for advanced technologies to navigate the complexity of munitionsdetection and disposal. In our interactions with end-users, we learned that their primary objective is to obtain effective and unique technology to combat both large-scale demining and domestic bomb threats.

2024 Speakers Include:

• Colonel Lajos Zsolt Szilagyi, Chief of Staff, NATO Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Centre of Excellence
• Colonel Brian Howard, Commander of 29 EOD & Search Group, British Army
• Master Seargeant Chris Maukeng, EOD Specialist, Norwegian Joint School Ammunitions and EOD 
• Michael Nevard, Head of Research and Development, The Halo Trust
• Sean Haglund, Associate Director Office of Bomb Disposal, CISA
• Armen Harutyunyan, Head of Standards & Operations, GICHD

Download the agenda to find out more about our topics and speaker faculty >>

Armen Harutyunyan, Head of Standards and Operation at Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD), provides an update on his strategic vision for the organisation. This includes its evolution, success factors, standards and innovations, and the trends from the past 5-10 years that have influenced its current line of effort. An insightful interview with Harutyunyan, working within one of the most vital organisations on demining.

As new technologies hit the commercial market, there is always the potential for them to be abused for nefarious reasons. Combined with new tactics, this unfortunately ensures that the IED threat will continue to evolve. To stay ahead of the curve the Counter-Improvised Explosive Device Centre of Excellence endeavours to research and disseminate lessons and trends so that the threat can be better countered. Defence IQ was privileged to interview the deputy director of the centre, Colonel Christopher Bartos. In this interview, he delves into

• How the Centre of Excellence operates
• How the threat continues to evolve
• Which factors contribute to a successful C-IED operation and campaign
  

Countering Explosive Threat and Demining provides a unique opportunity for the engineering and EOD community to engage in productive discussions with allied and friendly nations alongside industry partners to tackle the continued explosive threat globally.

Our Sample Attendee List showcases the high-level attendees and leading organisations within the industry that attended previous Countering Explosive Threat and Demining conferences to give you an idea of what to expect for this year.