Wolfson Lecture Series: Technologies for Defence

Technologies for Defence: Innovation, Impact, and the Academic Edge

The talk will begin by defining both technologies and defence, and then take the audience on a tour of examples of technologies that have impacted defence through the ages. Throughout this tour, the critical steps that enabled the adoption of the technologies on the battlefield, and the civilian applications that have followed on from the military ones. The talk will then explore the non-technological aspects that the technologies required to get into military service, such as human factors, or changes in doctrine and ways of operating. The talk will conclude with some reflections on how academia might react to the recent Strategic Defence Review, as well as some thoughts on how it might work with Defence to create the technologies for defence of the future.

About the Speaker

The speaker will be Edward (Ed) Rochead in his capacity as Visiting Professor of Innovation Strategy at the Wolfson School. Ed is a mathematician turned strategist, with a career in Defence STEM spanning armour modelling to autonomy commissioning. Ed’s latest role is Deputy Head of Science Profession, MOD, with responsibility for science skills. Ed achieved a Post Graduate Diploma in Materials Engineering part-time in 2005, and is a Chartered Mathematician and Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications. Ed chairs the Alliance for Data Science Professionals, which fulfils a similar role for data scientists that the Engineering Council does for engineering. Ed is passionate about mentoring, equity, and the power of data to shape better decisions, and was runner-up in the 2025 Women’s Engineering Society Male Ally of the Year awards.