As Second Permanent Secretary, his responsibilities include digital transformation across Defence, security and resilience (including cyber security), space policy, science and technology, safety, Defence strategy, net assessment and challenge, trade and economic security, and strategic relationships with industry. Paul’s career has covered a broad range of roles in the MOD, the Home Office and the Cabinet Office. Prior to his return to the MOD, Paul spent time on secondment to the private sector. From 2017 to 2021 he was Director General of UK Border Force in the Home Office, with responsibility for protecting border security and overseeing immigration and customs checks. During this time, he successfully led one of the largest law enforcement organisations in the UK, delivering generational improvements to passenger processing and, with a real focus on preparations for Brexit, oversaw one of the largest and most complex EU exit programmes in government. He also led on the cross-government health measures at the border at the height of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Other senior roles at the Home Office included Director General of the Crime, Policing and Fire Group, and Acting Director General of the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism. His roles at the MOD have covered oversight for a range of operational campaigns, defence resourcing, programmes, and security policy.

Rachel Singleton joined the Royal Navy in 2002 from the Royal Naval Reserve, following a short career as a software engineer in the telecommunications sector. Her operational experience includes time onboard aircraft carriers ARK ROYAL and ILLUSTRIOUS, two short tours in Afghanistan and a tour as Weapon Engineer Officer of Type 45 destroyer HMS DARING. Her non-operational roles have spanned capability development, IT service management, cyber and Defence Engagement and she recently spent a rewarding two years leading on AI at the British Defence Staff in Washington DC, before returning to Navy Headquarters as Head of Digital Development and SRO of the Naval Strike Network programme.

Rachel has recently joined Defence Digital as Head of the DAIC and is responsible for setting the conditions for the widespread exploitation of AI within Defence, championing the appropriate and informed use of AI, ensuring the enablers are in place such as tooling, platforms and data, and sponsoring specific innovation projects, identifying crucial problem sets and developing AI models to address them.

Rachel is a graduate of Birmingham University where she studied Mathematics and Philosophy and has also undertaken an in-Service MSc in Information Systems at Cranfield University, and the Defence Academy’s Advanced Command and Staff Course alongside the associated MA in Defence Studies from Kings College London. At home Rachel is outnumbered by her husband and two sons and any spare time is spent reading, making music or hiking.

Professor Meers is a Fellow at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) specialising in application of artificial intelligence and machine learning to Defence and Security challenges. He is the Technical Strategy Leader for Dstl’s AI & Data Science Capability and the Head of Research & Experimentation in the UK’s Defence AI Centre. He is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Southampton where he is focussed on responsible and trustworthy adoption of AI. He provides advice at the highest levels within the Ministry of Defence regarding the opportunities and threats presented by artificial intelligence and machine learning and how the UK can responsibly & safely adopt these technologies to strengthen Defence and National Security.

Dina has been Head of the Software and Cloud Services category in Defence Digital Commercial since 2019. She has supported delivery to key areas such as Cyber, Crypt Key, Intelligence, Software enterprise agreements, Cloud and hosting services and the Foundry team through a strong category focus. She joined the MOD from Worldpay, the UK’s largest payments processing company and has worked in procurement and supply chain roles within financial services throughout her career. Dina now leads the Commercial X programme alongside her Software and Hosting role. She is committed to simplifying the way MOD procures digital, innovation and technology products and services through the pan-MOD CommercialX function.

Marcel joined Helsing from Shift Technology in Paris, where he established the
product team. Before that, he spent 10 years building B2B and B2C products at
Google in Zurich, London and Paris. Marcel felt compelled to join Helsing as soon as
he learnt about the mission: he's a humanist and passionate about liberal democratic
values. Marcel studied Computer Science and Law at the University of Wollongong,
and holds a Master's degree from Cambridge University.

Shefali Sharma, Co-founder & Director at Oxford Dynamics, spearheads the development of novel and pioneering tech in the Defence and government sector. Shefali was selected as both Royal Academy of Engineering Promising SME Leader and a Global Young Innovator by Innovate UK as one of the few entrepreneurs (under 30) solving global challenges with their ground-breaking ideas. Shefali co-founded Oxford Dynamics to bring her creativity, passion and cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence and robotics to solving challenging customer problems.

Alistair Garfoot is Mind Foundry’s Director of Intelligence Architecture where he designs applications of AI technology to drive operational impact across verticals. Alistair studied dynamic optimisation of high dimensional risk at the Oxford Machine Learning Research Group with Mind Foundry co-founder Professor Stephen Roberts. With expertise across AI state-of-the-art and operational problem identification, Alistair accelerates the realisation of AI-driven impact at the enterprise scale.

Nick is VANTIQ’s VP for Global Defence and Security. He joined VANTIQ from PWC, in March 2023 and is based in UK. He previously served 33 years in the RAF. His last tours included commanding the RAF’s 6,000-strong specialist ground combat and security forces and Director of UK MOD’s International Policy & Plans. Nick left the regular RAF in 2017 and was asked to continue as a 1* Reservist in the RAF’s innovation organisation. This role provides him with significant insight and access.

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