Keynote Speakers
Dr Vicki Le Blanc (CAN)
Vicki LeBlanc, PhD, is the Chair and Professor of the Department of Innovation in Medical Education at the University of Ottawa. She has over 20 years experience leading research into a) optimizing the use of simulation in health professions education and b) the effects of emotions and stress on the performance of health professionals and front line workers. She has authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications, and regularly presents her work nationally and internationally. In addition to her research program, she works with numerous national and international organizations to advance simulation-based education, and serves on the editorial boards of the journals Advances in Health Sciences Education and Simulation in Healthcare.
Prof Dave Snowden (UK)
Dave is the creator of the Cynefin Framework and originated the design of SenseMaker®, the world’s first distributed ethnography tool. He is the lead author of Managing complexity (and chaos) in times of crisis: A field guide for decision-makers, a shared effort between the Joint Research Centre, the European Commission’s science and knowledge service, and the Cynefin Centre.
His work is international in nature and covers government and industry looking at complex issues relating to strategy and organisational decision-making. He has pioneered a science-based approach to organisations drawing on anthropology, neuroscience, and complex adaptive systems theory. He is a popular and passionate keynote speaker on a range of subjects and is well known for his pragmatic cynicism and iconoclastic style.
Jorge Fainstein Day Gastrell (SGP)
Mr Jorge Fainstein Day Gastrell is an experienced senior manager, expert in security and law enforcement strategic planning and capacity building and training at national, regional and international level, to which he has dedicated most of his 29-year career.
Seconded from the Argentinean Federal Police, where he is a Commissioner, he currently serves as the Acting Director of the INTERPOL Capacity Building and Training Directorate, based in Singapore. There, he leads targeted capacity building initiatives for law enforcement in INTERPOL’s 194 member countries and sets the Organization’s training standards. He has also successfully driven INTERPOL’s digital training transformation, resulting in the launch of the INTERPOL Virtual Academy in April 2020.
As the Assistant Director of INTERPOL’s Capacity Building Projects and Networks Sub-Directorate, has run projects in the Americas, Africa and Asia, covering topics as diverse as border management, cybercrime, migrant smuggling, gender mainstreaming, and professional policing, upskilling individual officers and strengthening the institutions for which they work.
Dr Katerina Agostino
Dr Katerina Agostino currently serves as Chief Human and Decision Sciences within DSTG. The Division undertakes scientifically based analysis to enable robust evidence-based decision making by Defence and elements of National Security. The Division also conducts rigorous research into human cognition and behaviour, human performance and social science to enhance ADF capability. Previously, as Chief Aerospace Division, Dr Agostino was responsible for delivering innovative and effective science and technology in the Australian military aerospace domain.
Dr Agostino’s external roles include membership of the University of New South Wales Defence Research Institute Advisory Council; the Monash University Aerospace Engineering Academic-Industry Advisory Board; the Jericho Smart Sensing Laboratory Senior Leadership Committee; and the DSTG-Boeing Defence Alliance Management Committee. She also continues to work as an Australian Research Council Assessor.
With over 20 years of post-doctoral experience as an academic and as a DSTG scientist Dr Agostino led the growth of transdisciplinary research programs to address Defence and national security problems through the integration of social science, mathematics, computer science, engineering and linguistics. Some notable research highlights include the development of conceptual frameworks and software tools that better enable social network analysis; target audience analysis; understanding of social influence, and multi-modal discourse analysis.
Her previous roles within DSTG include Program Leader National Security, where she coordinated the National Security Science and Technology program for whole of government. In this role, Dr Agostino established the Countering Violent Extremism Research and Development International Partnership to coordinate research across the international five eyes community.
Dr Agostino also served as the Scientific Advisor Intelligence where she represented DSTG to Defence stakeholders to identify the science, technology and research requirements for the Intelligence Domain. While undertaking this role, Dr Agostino led the development of the inaugural Science and Technology Strategy in the Intelligence Domain 2016-2026. This strategy has been used to guide science and technology activities across the intelligence domain to help drive investment.