Lord Toby Harris (Chair, National Preparedness Commission) and Professor Washington Yotto Ochieng, CBE, EBS, CEng, FREng, FCGI (Director, Imperial College’s Centre for Active Resilience and Security, CARS) are delighted to invite you to Navigating Today’s Turbulent and Uncertain World.
This one-day conference will bring together senior leaders from the public, private and community sectors of the UK to explore how we must all develop a new mindset, new ways of working and stronger collaboration to build resilience in the face of complexity.
The conference will be held in central London on Tuesday 24th March 2026, and will be organised around three panel sessions, each with a keynote presentation and plenty of time for audience engagement with this complex and important topic.
Spaces are limited and early registration is advised. You can register for your free place by following the link below.
https://nationalpreparednesscommission.activehosted.com/f/7
Event Details:
• Date: Tuesday, 24th March 2026
• Time: 10.30 to 16.30
• Location: Prince Philip House, Royal Academy of Engineering, Westminster
Confirmed agenda:
10.00 Registration and Networking Coffee
10.30 Welcome: Professor Washington Ochieng, CBE, EBS, CEng, FREng, FCGI
10.40 Keynote: Emma Howard Boyd CBE (former Chair, Environment Agency)
11.00 Panel Session One – Facing up to a TUNA (Turbulent, Uncertain, Novel, Ambiguous) world
This session will explore the external geo-political context and other threats, and how our complex systems-of-systems society is leading to unintended consequences, ripple effects, and the disappearance of normality. The panel will examine the challenge and how every sector and every part of society needs a new approach and more robust decision-making tools if we are to achieve sustained resilience and better preparedness against the threats that we all face.
Session Chair: Lt-Gen Richard Nugee
Confirmed Panellists:
• Deborah Petterson (Director of Resilience and Emergency Management, National Energy System Operator)
• Tamara Finkelstein (CEO, Royal Academy of Engineering)
• Professor Chris Hankin (Director, Research Institute in Trustworthy Inter-connected Cyber-Physical Systems (RITICS))
• Lord David Willetts (Resolution Foundation)
11.55 Keynote: Lord George Robertson (House of Lords and lead author of the 2025 Strategic Defence Review)
12.20 Lunch
13.15 Welcome back: Lord Toby Harris (Chair, National Preparedness Commission)
13.20 Keynote: Roger Hargreaves (Director, Cabinet Office COBR Directorate)
13.40 Panel Session Two – Resilience: How the system is designed to work
This session will outline the national resilience system, from its intended function and boundaries to the roles and actors involved and the facilitating and enabling structures. The panel will take stock of our current position and direction.
Session Chair: Lord Toby Harris
Confirmed Panellists:
• Lisa McGuinness (Scottish Government Resilience Lead)
• Professor Sir David Omand GCB (Visiting professor, KCL Department for War Studies; former Home Office permanent secretary)
• Professor Rosehanna Chowdhury (CEO, UK Resilience Academy)
• Roger Hargreaves (Director, Cabinet Office COBR Directorate)
14:35 Coffee break
14.55 Welcome back: Professor Washington Ochieng, CBE, EBS, CEng, FREng, FCGI
15.00 Keynote Four: Matt Killick (COO, St John Ambulance)
15.20 Panel Session Three – Whole of Society approach: How to achieve the ambition
The final session will focus on the need to work differently with partners across sectors and organisational boundaries, to seek collaboration rather than control, asset-based thinking and capability building. The panel will examine the ambition for a ‘whole of society’ endeavour – what each of us can contribute and how to collaborate effectively.
Session Chair: Robyn Knox MBE (Director, Voluntary and Community Sector Emergencies Partnership)
Confirmed Panellists:
• Bruce Mann CB (Strategic Advisor on Resilience and Preparedness)
• Toby Wicks (Chief Executive, REACT Disaster Response)
• Mark Enzer OBE FREng (Mott MacDonald)
• Major General JM Senior CBE (General Officer Regional Command)
16.15 Closing remarks: Lord Toby Harris
16.25 Networking (coffee available)
17.00 Close
We look forward to welcoming you to the event!
Warm regards,
National Preparedness Commission & Imperial College/Centre for Active Resilience and Security (CARS)