Please see below all of the speakers already confirmed for 2027.
Name : Stephen Miller
Company: AWE
Job Title: Explosives Engineer
Topic Title: Shaped Charges 101
Personal Bio: At the age of 17, Steve joined the Territorial Army (UK Reserve Forces) and qualified as a Bomb Disposal Engineer, while still at school! Later becoming a higher qualified EOD Engineer, Combat Engineer and Ammunition Specialist.
The Royal Armaments Research and Development Establishment (RARDE) – Part of the UK Ministry of Defence, recruited Steve as a research scientist in their warheads and terminal effects department at Fort Halstead, where he was involved with:
Defeat of Concrete, Anti-Armour Warheads, Large Calibre Kinetic Energy Penetrators, The ‘Old Fort’ in house high explosive facility, Explosives Technical Support to various projects, Explosives Competencies, Oil Rig Decommissioning, and the development of Increased Performance Explosive Perforating Tools for the Oil Industry.
Outside of his main employment Steve started doing presentations and demonstrations of pyrotechnic special effects. This lead to a much deeper interest in the subject of pyrotechnics special effects and explosives in general. Steve has since provided explosive special effects for numerous film productions, stage shows and live battle simulations.
This personal and professional interest in explosives lead Steve to pursue membership of the Institute of Explosives Engineers. In 1997 he became a full Member of the Institute and was invited to join the Institutes Council, where he served until stepping down in 2005. Steve re-joined the Institute Council in 2017 till 2023.
The Institute of Explosives Engineers gave Steve a wider view of many aspects of the explosives industry and related technologies, materials and techniques. This wealth of knowledge and understanding now means that Steve is regarded as a subject matter expert and works as an expert witness on explosives use and misuse for both UK and international courts.
Steve also delivered lectures and demonstrations on explosives and related subjects to various and varied audiences, including schools (as a STEM Ambassador) conferences, YouTube, television, and radio appearances.
In 2016 Steve became a Chartered Engineer through the Institute of Explosives Engineers and is now a mentor and assessor for others seeking similar professional registration. In 2021 Steve earned an MSc in Explosive Ordnance Engineering and was recognised as a Fellow of the Institute of Explosives Engineers due to his long-term support and services to the explosives industry.
Abstract: An introduction to Shaped Charges (accompanying a series of articles in ‘Explosives Engineering’), covering the basics, discussing the various concepts and elements that affect the performance of shaped charges and how we can tune the physical features of shaped charges to achieve the desired target effects.
As with the articles, this presentation will dispel some myths and misconceptions, look into the equations that define shaped charge performance, what affects physical features have on shaped charge performance and how different initiation systems can be used to boost performance and adjust other factors of interest.
Name: Colin King
Company: Fenix Insight Ltd
Job Title: Chief Intelligence Officer
Topic Title: EOD Challenges in Ukraine
Personal Bio: Colin King has 40 years of operational explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) experience, specializing in the disassembly and analysis of live munitions.
Colin served as a bomb disposal officer in the British Army, with operational tours including the Falklands, Gulf, Bosnia and Kosovo. He instructed at the British EOD School and spent many years in military intelligence, also leading the first British team to train Afghan deminers before his final tour with the Gurkhas.
For 17 years, Colin wrote the leading technical reference works on landmines and EOD for Janes Information Group. He is now the Chief Intelligence Officer of Fenix Insight Ltd, a weapons intelligence company that has pioneered approaches to the disassembly, analysis and disposal of ordnance in more than 30 countries.
Abstract: An update to Fulmination 2025 presentation.
Fenix has worked in Ukraine several times during the current conflict, recently completing another deployment. These operations have included the recovery, render-safe and exploitation (breakdown and analysis) of new and unusual Russian munitions.
The presentation illustrates the extraordinary breadth of the technical threat, along with the EOD-related consequences for a post-war return to normality. The talk is illustrated with unique imagery from front-line areas and intimate detail of the weapons themselves. The result is a startling revelation of the residual risk, concluding that western EOD assets are woefully ill-prepared for the situations they may face.
Name : Stephen Miller
Company: AWE
Job Title: Explosives Engineer
Topic Title: IExpE Professional Registration
Personal Bio: At the age of 17, Steve joined the Territorial Army (UK Reserve Forces) and qualified as a Bomb Disposal Engineer, while still at school! Later becoming a higher qualified EOD Engineer, Combat Engineer and Ammunition Specialist.
The Royal Armaments Research and Development Establishment (RARDE) – Part of the UK Ministry of Defence, recruited Steve as a research scientist in their warheads and terminal effects department at Fort Halstead, where he was involved with:
Defeat of Concrete, Anti-Armour Warheads, Large Calibre Kinetic Energy Penetrators, The ‘Old Fort’ in house high explosive facility, Explosives Technical Support to various projects, Explosives Competencies, Oil Rig Decommissioning, and the development of Increased Performance Explosive Perforating Tools for the Oil Industry.
Outside of his main employment Steve started doing presentations and demonstrations of pyrotechnic special effects. This lead to a much deeper interest in the subject of pyrotechnics special effects and explosives in general. Steve has since provided explosive special effects for numerous film productions, stage shows and live battle simulations.
This personal and professional interest in explosives lead Steve to pursue membership of the Institute of Explosives Engineers. In 1997 he became a full Member of the Institute and was invited to join the Institutes Council, where he served until stepping down in 2005. Steve re-joined the Institute Council in 2017 till 2023.
The Institute of Explosives Engineers gave Steve a wider view of many aspects of the explosives industry and related technologies, materials and techniques. This wealth of knowledge and understanding now means that Steve is regarded as a subject matter expert and works as an expert witness on explosives use and misuse for both UK and international courts.
Steve also delivered lectures and demonstrations on explosives and related subjects to various and varied audiences, including schools (as a STEM Ambassador) conferences, YouTube, television, and radio appearances.
In 2016 Steve became a Chartered Engineer through the Institute of Explosives Engineers and is now a mentor and assessor for others seeking similar professional registration. In 2021 Steve earned an MSc in Explosive Ordnance Engineering and was recognised as a Fellow of the Institute of Explosives Engineers due to his long-term support and services to the explosives industry.
Name : Steven Holland
Company: SJH Projects Ltd
Job Title: Managing Director
Topic Title: Making Brain Waves
Personal Bio: Steve Holland has run SJH Projects Ltd since 2002. Prior to that his background was in the high performance materials industry, starting at BAe Space Systems. A later project to develop a blast resistant baggage container in the aftermath of the Lockerbie bomb, combined his background in novel materials, the military and an understanding of explosive effects. This model has been pursued under SJH Projects with a number of novel designs brought to market.
SJH also undertakes the independent planning, control and reporting of testing for others, from small stand-alone equipment such as litter bins through to full scale military vehicle underside blast testing. SJH also undertakes consultancy on the vulnerability of buildings to blast effects, Hostile Vehicle Mitigation and the associated Vehicle Dynamics Assessments. The problem solving with novel materials has also found its way into supporting the world of expeditions – which is both interesting and has no money.
Abstract: Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) has become known as a signature injury from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The emerging prominence of this issue is partly attributable to improvements in protection and coverage of body armour. Better protection of blast sensitive organs in the torso has exposed an issue for the brain that was always there, but obscured.
The presentation will discuss the injury mechanisms and show some research using a synthetic headform to measure the intracranial pressure waves and how it compares with cadaveric data. Such tools will allow for comparative testing of protection systems.
It will then finish with a look at how head protection on the battlefield is likely to change and how it might balance a wide range a conflicting practical and performance requirements.
Name : Steven Holland
Company: SJH Projects Ltd
Job Title: Managing Director
Topic Title: Making Brain Waves
Personal Bio: Steve Holland has run SJH Projects Ltd since 2002. Prior to that his background was in the high performance materials industry, starting at BAe Space Systems. A later project to develop a blast resistant baggage container in the aftermath of the Lockerbie bomb, combined his background in novel materials, the military and an understanding of explosive effects. This model has been pursued under SJH Projects with a number of novel designs brought to market.
SJH also undertakes the independent planning, control and reporting of testing for others, from small stand-alone equipment such as litter bins through to full scale military vehicle underside blast testing. SJH also undertakes consultancy on the vulnerability of buildings to blast effects, Hostile Vehicle Mitigation and the associated Vehicle Dynamics Assessments. The problem solving with novel materials has also found its way into supporting the world of expeditions – which is both interesting and has no money.
Abstract: Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) has become known as a signature injury from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The emerging prominence of this issue is partly attributable to improvements in protection and coverage of body armour. Better protection of blast sensitive organs in the torso has exposed an issue for the brain that was always there, but obscured.
The presentation will discuss the injury mechanisms and show some research using a synthetic headform to measure the intracranial pressure waves and how it compares with cadaveric data. Such tools will allow for comparative testing of protection systems.
It will then finish with a look at how head protection on the battlefield is likely to change and how it might balance a wide range a conflicting practical and performance requirements.
Name : Steven Holland
Company: SJH Projects Ltd
Job Title: Managing Director
Topic Title: Making Brain Waves
Personal Bio: Steve Holland has run SJH Projects Ltd since 2002. Prior to that his background was in the high performance materials industry, starting at BAe Space Systems. A later project to develop a blast resistant baggage container in the aftermath of the Lockerbie bomb, combined his background in novel materials, the military and an understanding of explosive effects. This model has been pursued under SJH Projects with a number of novel designs brought to market.
SJH also undertakes the independent planning, control and reporting of testing for others, from small stand-alone equipment such as litter bins through to full scale military vehicle underside blast testing. SJH also undertakes consultancy on the vulnerability of buildings to blast effects, Hostile Vehicle Mitigation and the associated Vehicle Dynamics Assessments. The problem solving with novel materials has also found its way into supporting the world of expeditions – which is both interesting and has no money.
Abstract: Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) has become known as a signature injury from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The emerging prominence of this issue is partly attributable to improvements in protection and coverage of body armour. Better protection of blast sensitive organs in the torso has exposed an issue for the brain that was always there, but obscured.
The presentation will discuss the injury mechanisms and show some research using a synthetic headform to measure the intracranial pressure waves and how it compares with cadaveric data. Such tools will allow for comparative testing of protection systems.
It will then finish with a look at how head protection on the battlefield is likely to change and how it might balance a wide range a conflicting practical and performance requirements.
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