The CAL Conference 2024 will take place on 28 November 2024.
It will lead to a better understanding of the role of Leadership in the successful application of mission command on operations, in barracks, and at staff.
In the morning, speakers will discuss how intent-based leadership can enhance operational effectiveness and achieve operational success as well as how leaders can foster trust, disciplined initiative, shared understanding, freedom, and speed of action.
In the afternoon, we will look at the role of leadership in the application of mission command on different kinds of operations (kinetic, crisis-management, disaster relief, peacekeeping, close protection, etc).
General Sir C R V Walker KCB DSO ADC Gen - Chief of the General Staff, Ministry of Defence
General Sir Roly Walker was commissioned into the Irish Guards in 1993 and served with the UK’s Special Forces from 1997. He commanded the Grenadier Guards in 2009, promoting to the General Staff four years later.
He has commanded at company, squadron, battle group, brigade and SF group levels, variously in Northern Ireland, Afghanistan, Iraq, as well as joint command of operations across Europe, the broader Middle East, Africa and South America. On the Staff, he has served in brigade, divisional, army and strategic HQs.
Since April 2021, he was the Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Military Strategy & Operations) during which time he was responsible for advising on and directing operations to support the government’s response to Covid, the death of the late Duke of Edinburgh, the withdrawal from Kabul, the full scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the death of the late Queen Elizabeth II and coronation of His Majesty King Charles III, numerous evacuation operations, and most recently, the Hamas attacks on Israel. In June 2024 General Walker was appointed as the Chief of the General Staff.
He was made a Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath in 2023, and a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order in 2010. General Walker is the President of the Honourable Artillery Company, Army Rugby, and Army Winter Sports.
Major General Peter Rowell - Chief Executive and Commandant of the Defence Academy
Major General Peter Rowell left Zimbabwe at 18 to join the British Army and commissioned into the Royal Engineers a few years later. Service in Northern Ireland, Germany, Kosovo and Canada followed, as well as orchestrating emergency fire and rescue cover in Lancashire. As a major he worked in the Ministry of Defence and the Army Headquarters before leading 31 Armoured Engineer Squadron on exercises in Germany and operations in Iraq. As deputy chief of staff for 4th Mechanised Brigade he deployed on exercises in the UK and Canada and operations in Afghanistan.
After the Advanced Command and Staff Course he spent two years writing concepts on the future of warfare and the Army. Commanding 32 Engineer Regiment initially in Hohne, Germany and then in Catterick, North Yorkshire included deploying elements of the Regiment to Canada, Cyprus, the Falkland Islands, Germany, Spain and Kenya – not to mention the flood responses in North Yorkshire. Returning to the Army Headquarters in 2016 as a colonel he led a team driving forward the Army’s research and experimentation programme; robotic and autonomous systems and designing the Army of the future. He attended the Higher Command and Staff Course in 2018. He has recently been the head of profession for the Royal Engineers and the Commandant of the Royal School of Military Engineering Group. Head of Concepts and Force Exploration in the Development Concepts and Doctrine Centre. He leads a multinational and joint team whose projects inform and influence UK Defence policy, force design and capability development over the next decade and more.
Brigadier Caroline Woodbridge-Lewin MBE - Commandant Defence College of Technical Training
Brigadier Caroline Woodbridge-Lewin was commissioned into the Royal Signals in 1995 and whilst serving has secured a bachelor’s degree in electronic systems Engineering and a master’s in information management and technology (IMT) through Cranfield University and the Royal Military College of Science.
She has held various Regimental appointments serving in the United Kingdom, USA, Cyprus, Germany, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. She has attended the Joint Services Command and Staff College on the Intermediate, Advanced, and most recently the Higher Command and Staff Courses, and has served as a Directing Staff at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and at the Defence Academy.
At staff, she has worked with a Defence Special Customer as a Capability & Acquisition advisor, in Home Command delivering personnel, welfare and casualty services, within the Army Information Directorate as part of the A2020 review team, as Chief of Staff of the Defence Academy and in 2020 assumed the role of Head Information Warfare Group. She commanded 2 Signal Regiment from 2016 to 2018 and was awarded an MBE in 2017.
In 2022, she completed a secondment as the Defence Strategic Liaison Officer to the Home Office before returning to the Defence Academy to lead and develop the Defence Cyber Academy.
She took command of the Defence College of Technical Training as Commandant on promotion in April 2023.
Dr Alisa Miller - Senior Lecturer in War Studies at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
Dr Alisa Miller holds degrees in history from the University of Michigan, the LSE and Oxford University. She has worked in Higher Education policy and as a research associate and fellow at King’s College London.
Her academic research and publications consider the strategic uses of propaganda, and historical constructions of war narratives (off and online) in the 20th and 21st centuries.
In 2020 she was appointed Senior Lecturer in War Studies at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where with Dr James Kitchen she recently edited a publication on Combined Arms Manoeuvre: Historical Vignettes (April 2024).
Professor Matthias Strohn - Head of the Historical Analysis Programme at the CHACR
Prof. Matthias Strohn, M.St. (Oxon), DPhil (Oxon), FRHistS is the Head of the Historical Analysis Programme at the CHACR, the think tank for the British Army.
Matthias is an expert in the history of war in the 20th century. He has written and edited over 20 books and numerous articles. Matthias is a frequent commentator on military history and current military affairsspaper. He is also a keen battlefield studies guide, and he has led military and civilian groups all over Europe, from Madrid to Stalingrad.
Matthias holds a commission in the German Army and is a member of the military attaché reserve, having served on the defence attaché staffs in London, Paris and Madrid. He gained operational experience in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
For his services to defence he was awarded the highest German military decoration, the Ehrenkreuz der Bundeswehr in Gold.
Warrant Officer Class One Paul Carney - Army Sergeant Major
WO1 Carney was born in November 1979 in Gosport and joined the Army in January 1997 as a combat engineer and electrician in the Royal Engineers. He has exercised around the world and operated in Macedonia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.
WO1 Carney’s Junior and Senior Non-Commissioned Officer roles were spread between close support armoured engineering and general support engineering.
As a Quartermaster Sergeant Instructor, he taught Troop Commanders and Sergeants Combat Engineering specialising on Demolitions and Bridging at the Royal Engineer Warfare Wing. He was the Squadron Sergeant Major of 20 Field Squadron, 36 Engineer Regiment as it transitioned to a Route Proving and Clearance role. After serving as Regimental Sergeant Major at 22 Engineer Regiment WO1 Carney has since served as 3rd (United Kingdom) Division Command Sergeant Major, the Field Army Command Sergeant Major and as a student on the Intermediate Command and Staff Course (Land).
In July 2021 he was appointed the 3rd British Army Sergeant Major. He has a BA (Hons) in Leadership and Management and is currently looking at options to study at master’s level. His enjoys CrossFit, running, kayaking and adventure training.
Shashank Joshi - Defence Editor at The Economist
Shashank Joshi is Defence Editor at The Economist, where he covers a wide range of security and defence issues, and a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Department of War Studies King's College London. Prior to joining The Economist in 2018, he served as Senior Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), where he now serves on the Advisory Board, and Research Associate at Oxford University’s Changing Character of War Programme. He holds degrees from Cambridge and Harvard, where he served as a Kennedy Scholar from Britain to the United States. He has also been a participant in the Summer Workshop on the Analysis of Military Operations and Strategy (SWAMOS) at Cornell University. His most recent special reports and cover stories for The Economist have covered lessons from Ukraine, the future of war, intelligence and technology, and the role of AI in military operations.
General Sir Rupert Smith retired from the British Army in January 2002 having enlisted in 1962. He served in East and South Africa, Arabia, the Caribbean, Europe, and Malaysia. His last appointment was Deputy Supreme Commander Allied Powers Europe.
Prior to that he was the General Officer Commanding in Northern Ireland; Commander UNPROFOR in Sarajevo; and General Officer Commanding 1 (UK) Armoured Division, in the Gulf War1990-91.
Since leaving the service he has taught at various staff colleges and universities, and been consulted by governments, NGO’s and commercial organisations. His book “The Utility of Force” was published in September 2005.
Major General Nick Cowley OBE - Director of Leadership British Army
Major General Nick Cowley joined the British Army in 2000 and commissioned into The Queen’s Royal Hussars with whom he conducted tours of Kosovo and Iraq. From 2005 he commanded at both troop and squadron level in a specialist unit. During that time, he conducted multiple tours of Iraq and Afghanistan before being wounded in 2013.
On recovery, Major General Cowley served as the Chief of Staff of 16 Air Assault Brigade in 2014/15 before studying for a Master’s Degree in Planning and Strategy at the US Joint Advanced Warfare School in Norfolk, Virginia.
In 2016/17 Major General Cowley deployed to Iraq as part of the coalition to defeat ISIS before assuming command of The Queen’s Royal Hussars in Germany. On completion of unit command in 2019, he worked as the Military Assistant to The Chief of the General Staff before assuming command of 16 Air Assault Brigade in 2021. As a Brigadier, he was appointed Commander of the Combat Manoeuvre Centre in July 2023. In October 2024, Major General Cowley was appointed as Commandant Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and Director Army Leadership. He is also the 2* advocate for the Army Multicultural Network.
Major General Cowley is married to Katherine and they have three daughters. In 2011 he founded The Talent Tap, a charity which helps underprivileged school leavers achieve their potential. More recently he founded a not-for-profit aimed at attracting more talent and technology into defence and security. He has been awarded a QCVS in 2009, an MBE in 2015 and an OBE in 2019.
Colonel Grant Davies - Assistant Head for Advisory and Disciplinary Law
Colonel Grant Davies graduated from Aberystwyth University (International Politics and Strategic Studies), and the University of Northumbria (Law). He holds an LLM in Public International Law (King’s College London) and published work regarding non-state actors in armed conflicts, Violent Non-State Actors in Modern Conflict and the legal challenges of detention operations in Non-International Armed Conflicts War Amongst the People: Critical Assessments (RMAS ‘Trends in Conflict’ series). He has recently recorded a CAL podcast on Law and Leadership, due for transmission in Autumn 2024. Prior to commissioning into the Army Legal Services (ALS) in 1998 he was reservist infantry officer (4th Queens Lancashire Regiment (4QLR)).
He qualified as a solicitor in 1997, and later called to the Bar (Gray’s Inn).
Colonel Davies has served as regional legal advisor in 2nd and 4th Divisions, in Service Complaints, DALS directorate, and as a Prosecutor (Germany and UK). Promoted to Colonel in 2020, he was the Senior Army prosecutor at the Service Prosecuting Authority. He is currently Assistant Head for Advisory and Disciplinary Law at Headquarters British Army (Andover).He holds a judicial appointment as Assistant Coroner for Dorset.
Dr. John Nagl - Professor of Warfighting Studies in the Department of Military Strategy, Planning, and Operations at the Army War College
Dr. John Nagl is a West Point graduate and retired Armor officer, Nagl served in tank units in combat in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom. He attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, earning his Master's and Doctoral degrees in International Relations. His doctoral dissertation was published as "Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife: Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam" by the University of Chicago. He earned the George C. Marshall Award and an MMAS at the Army Command and General Staff College. Upon retirement from the Army, Nagl served as a Senior Fellow and later as the President of the Center for a New American Security and as a member of the Defense Policy Board and the Reserve Forces Policy Board. He was the first Minerva Research Professor at the U.S. Naval Academy and served for eight years as the Ninth Head of the Haverford School outside Philadelphia.
At the Army War College, Nagl is the Lead Faculty Instructor and Seminar Historian for Seminar 13, Course Director for the elective "Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife: Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan," and Co-Course Director for the elective "Black Soldiers in America's Wars: DEI in Action" with Professor Chuck Allen. He is the Co-Lead for an Independent Research Project on Leadership in the Russia-Ukraine war with Professor Al Lord, and Research Agenda lead for Department of Military Strategy, Planning, and Operations.
He is a member of the Board of Advisors at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia and at the Center for a New American Security in Washington and a Fellow of the Irregular Warfare Initiative.
Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Langley Sharp - Former head of the Centre for Army Leadership and Founder and Director of the consultancy firm Frontier Leadership
Langley Sharp MBE is the former head of the Centre for Army Leadership, responsible for championing leadership excellence across the British Army. Having himself graduated from Sandhurst two decades ago, his career in the Parachute Regiment, which included operational command at every rank, saw him deployed to Northern Ireland, North Macedonia, Afghanistan and Iraq. Among his many varied roles, he led a counter-insurgency Task Force operation, commanded a Parachute Regiment Battalion and delivered the Ministry of Defence’s training programme for the London 2012 Olympics venue security, for which he was awarded an MBE.
He is the author of the British Army’s official account of leadership, The Habit of Excellence, distilling over three centuries of the Army's experience in the art, science and practice of leadership.
The breadth of Langley’s life experiences has fostered in him a steadfast belief in the potential of people. As an executive coach and leadership consultant, working with executives and senior leadership teams across the private and public sectors, his passion is to help unleash this potential. Langley is the Founder and Director of the consultancy firm Frontier Leadership.
Warrant Officer Class One Paul Barnes - Staff Officer at the Land Warfare
WO2(SQMS) Paul Barnes is SO2 Warfare at the British Army's Land Warfare Centre. He was the lead author of ADP Land Operations (2022), DN 22/02 Freedom of Action in the Application of Land Power (2022), and JDP 0-20 Land Power (2023). He currently has responsibility for domain level doctrine and academic interface within Warfare Branch, is Secretary of NATO's Senior Land Doctrine Panel, Chairman of its NATO MDO Study Group, and leads ABCANZ's Maneuver Doctrine Project Team. He regularly speaks on doctrine matters to audiences at home and abroad.
WO2 Barnes has an MA in Military History from the University of Birmingham, where his dissertation was entitled 'The Development of British and Dominion Aerial Re-supply in the First World War 1916-18'. He is a CGS' Fellow and, uniquely, a CAS' Fellow; was the British Army's Visiting Fellow at RUSI in 2018/19 and a Fellow at West Point in 2020/21. He won the RAF's Salmond Prize for Essay Writing in that Service's centenary year. He has written articles which have been widely published in the UK, USA and Australia and is currently writing a book on the Principles of War for Swift Press to be published in 2025.