Confirmed Speakers

As the Digital Defence Leaders Summit makes its highly anticipated debut in 2026, we are proud to announce our confirmed speaker lineup. Meet the influential voices and senior leaders from across UK Defence who will be leading our closed-door discussions this year.

Brigadier Paul Loader 

Exec Head/CIO of Deployed and Interoperability Services,
Ministry of Defence
Nigel Shaw Headshot 
CIO,
National Armaments Group,
Ministry of Defence

Nigel Shaw

Fiona Strens

Fiona Strens

Prof and Director, Centre for Defence & Security Artificial Intelligence,
University of Lincoln
Ruben-Stewart-Headshot

Ruben Stewart

Senior Fellow, Land Warfare,
International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)
Digital and Security Professions Lead,
Ministry of Defence

Gina Nason

Sophie Paul Headshot 
Armed Forces Delegate,
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

Sophie Paul

View the Agenda
Brig Caroline Woodbridge-Lewin

Brigadier Caroline Woodbridge-Lewin MBE

Head, Defence AI Centre,
Ministry of Defence
Fred Sugden

Fred Sugden

Associate Director, Defence and National Security,
techUK
Mariarosaria Taddeo 
Professor of Digital Ethics & Defence Technologies,
University of Oxford

Mariarosaria Taddeo

Victoria Cope

Commercial Director and Chief Procurement Officer for Digital and Data,
Ministry of Defence