On Tuesday 10th September, Prof Tom Dyson (PIRP) and Dr John Tull (University of Greenwich, formerly of PIRP), presented the findings of Prof Dyson’s ESRC grant on military learning (ES/V004190/1) at the 2024 NATO Centres of Excellence Directors’ Conference

Tom Dyson with Colonel Thorsten Ludwig, Director of the NATO Military Engineering Centre of Excellence

Hosted by the Military Engineering Centre of Excellence at the German Army Engineer School in Ingolstadt, the conference brought together directors and their deputies from all 30 NATO-accredited Centres of Excellence. NATO Centres of Excellence, which are composed of leaders and specialists from NATO member-states and partner states, play a key role within the Atlantic Alliance by developing doctrine, identifying lessons learned, improving interoperability, and testing new concepts

The two-hour session began with a presentation on the main findings of Prof Dyson’s project and the implications for the Centres of Excellence, especially with regard to lesson-learning best-practices. It was followed by a workshop session, run in cooperation with Lt Col Arno Zeps of the Allied Command Transformation Centres of Excellence Programme Development Branch. This provided an opportunity for the directors and their deputies to undertake small-group work exploring, in the light of the presentation, the challenges and opportunities to enhance organisational learning in their COEs’ community of interest. Prof Dyson and Dr Tull have since received expressions of interest from Centres of Excellence for further engagement and have already accepted an invitation to workshop with the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Centre of Excellence in Trenčín, Slovakia in November 2024.