Advances in Camouflage Science & Engineering

Emmanuelle Briolat

Postdoctoral researcher, Centre for Ecology & Conservation, University of Exeter

Emmanuelle Briolat is a postdoctoral researcher in the Sensory Ecology group at the University of Exeter (Penryn campus, Cornwall). Her research, in the field of behavioural and visual ecology, focuses on visual communication and anti-predator strategies, particularly in Lepidoptera. Following a PhD on the warning signals of day-flying burnet moths, her work covers a range of questions in animal coloration, including the functions of zebra stripes, the effects on conspicuous wing patterns on predator perception during butterfly flight, and the impact of light pollution on the visual ecology of nocturnal hawkmoths. Her current project investigates the relative benefits of specialist and generalist background-matching camouflage for prey animals on heterogeneous natural backgrounds, using a combination of screen-based search tasks, field experiments and image analysis.

: https://www.exeter.ac.uk; https://www.visual-ecology.com; https://www.sensoryecology.com
: @esbriolat

Linda Karlsson

Scientist, Swedish Defence Research Agency, FOI

Dr. Linda H. Karlsson is a scientist at the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) in the field of C4ISR and Electro Optical Systems. She did her PhD in Material Science on the surface properties of graphene and related two-dimensional materials at Linköping University, Sweden. After her PhD she worked in the Swedish defence industry before joining FOI in 2018. Her research is focused on graphene and how it can be used in defence related areas such as signature management. She is a co-chair of the NATO AVT ET-213 Exploratory team on “Military value of graphene technologies” and a board member of the Swedish Strategic Innovation Program “SIO Graphene”.. 

: www.foi.se
: @FOIresearch

Mr Coskun Kocabas

Professor, University of Manchester

Coskun Kocabas received his BS degree in physics from METU, Ankara, Turkey, in 2001. He received his PhD from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA, in 2007. After his PhD, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher  at Harvard University,  Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. Between 2009 and 2017, he worked at Bilkent University Department of Physics. In 2017, he joined the University of Manchester, School of Materials as a professor.  His research group is working on synthesis of new quantum materials and their integration in to electronic and photonic devices. He is particularly interested in optical applications of graphene and 2D materials. He has published more than 80 papers (including Nature Nano., PNAS, Nature Comm. and Nano Letters) which received >7500 citations with h-index of 40. He has held research awards including ERC Consolidator Grant, ERC PoC Grant, Marie Curie Fellowship and Young Investigator Award. He is the founder of a university spinoff company SmartIR Ltd aiming to commercialize graphene based optical technologies.

Nick Scott-Samuel

Professor of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol

After a degree in Philosophy (BA) at the University of Bristol, I worked as a programmer for a few years, and then returned to university for a Cognitive Science MSc at the University of Birmingham. My PhD (also at Birmingham) addressed human visual motion processing. I was a postdoc for four years, working first at Royal Holloway, University of London and then at McGill University, Canada. I was appointed Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Bristol in 2001, and am currently Professor of Experimental Psychology. My research is varied, including motion processing, the perception of food and drink, visual search and the estimation of numerosity. Currently, I am particularly interested in defensive coloration and behaviour in both humans and non-humans (see camolab.com).

: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/expsych/people/nick-e-scott-samuel/overview.html

Seung Hwan Ko

Professor, Seoul National University

Seung Hwan Ko is a professor in Applied Nano & Thermal Science (ANTS) Lab, mechanical Engineering department., Seoul National University, Korea. Before joining Seoul National University, he had been a faculty at KAIST, Korea since 2009. He received his Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from UC Berkeley in 2006. He worked as a postdoc at UC Berkeley until 2009. His current research interests are stretchable/flexible electronics, transparent electronics, soft robotics, wearable electronics, laser-assisted nano/micro fabrication, and crack assisted nanomanufacturing.

Ben Allsopp

Senior Scientist, Malvern Optical

Ben has several research interests at Malvern Optical Ltd with focus on low observable optical materials in the visible and infrared bands. His principal research interests are the electro-optic properties of coatings and materials, in the context of signature control for defence applications. He has strong experience in ellipsometry measurement and analysis, and modelling of thin film structures.

Ben began his PhD in the development of silicate glasses for photovoltaic applications at Sheffield Hallam University in 2014, during this time he published four papers and a patent. His PhD was part of an EU consortium of Swedish, Spanish and British research institutes and companies. He gained his MChem degree in Chemistry at the University of Huddersfield, where he did research on lead phosphate minerals in collaboration with Yorkshire Water, and the synthesis of photochromic organic molecules for dye sensitised solar cells in conjunction with Vivimed Laboratories Europe. Ben has significant experience in materials science, glasses and ceramics, and in optical phenomena.

: https://www.malvernoptical.co.uk/

George Lovell

Senior Lecturer, Abertay University

George Lovell completed his PhD at Stirling University investigating the processes underlying the detection of lines using visual psychophysics and computational modelling. He is a senior lecturer at Abertay University, Dundee. Research has used a range of behavioural measures to investigate different forms of Camouflage. He has worked upon countershading camouflage1-3 and demonstrated the close association between an animal’s normal light environment and the type of countershading pattern it should have in order to maximise crypsis. (2) shown that disruptive colouration can effectively conceal targets even in non-matching backgrounds4 and (3) has shown that quail can actively select micro-habitats that best suit their individual camouflage5. Outside of camouflage research he has modelled human visual difference discrimination6, and inter-species differences in the sensitivity of visual opponent channels7. Additionally he has explored the visibility of rail signs and signals for Network Rail8 and military targets9.

Cuthill, I. C. et al., 2016, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 2. Penacchio, O. et al., 2015, Funct. Ecol. 3. Penacchio, O. et al., 2015, Am. Nat. 4. Egan, J. et al., 2016, Sci. Rep. 5. Lovell, P. G. et al., 2013, Curr. Biol. 6. To, M. et al., 2008, Proc. R. Soc. B-Biol. Sci. 7. Lovell, P. G. et al., 2005, J. Opt. Soc. Am. A-Opt. Image Sci. Vis. 8. Peron, A. et al. in Rail human factors around the world (eds J.R. Wilson, A. Mills, & T. Clarke) (CRC Press, 2012). 9. Gilmore, M. A. et al. in Conference on Targets and Backgrounds XII.   (Spie-Int Soc Optical Engineering, 2006).

: https://psyresearch.abertay.ac.uk/VPAClab/
: @@slowfourier

Louisa Laing

EO/IR Materials and Signatures Scientist, QinetiQ

Louisa joined QinetiQ in 2018 and has since worked in a range of areas including multispectral camouflage, textiles, composites and novel materials.

Prior to joining QinetiQ, Louisa graduated with a MChem from Durham University, which included a placement year with Intrinsiq Materials Ltd, a conductive inks manufacturer.

: http://www.qinetiq.com/
: @QinetiQ

Neil Verrall

Senior Principal Pyschologist, DSTL

Professor Neil Verrall is a Senior Principal Psychologist with the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) and has spent over 20 years addressing the human aspects of behaviour and performance for numerous Defence & Security challenges. He holds degrees in psychology at bachelors, masters and doctoral levels, and is a chartered psychologist and Fellow of the British Psychological Society. In his spare time Neil is a Specialist Reserve Officer within the British Army and is now in his seventh year of a mission to reinvigorate deception within Defence.

Niklas Alund

Director of Strategy and Business Development, Saab Barracuda

Niklas Alund lives in Västervik in the South-East part of Sweden by the coast of the Baltic Sea with his wife Caroline. He has two grown up sons, Oscar who is at university and Anton who is a newly graduated Civil Engineer. Niklas studied physics at university before joining the army. He spent 20 year in the army as a leader from platoon-batt.level as Infrantry and Combat Engineer officer. He went on to be Head of Production at Security Alliance Stockholm and then in 2010, he joined Saab Barracuda and works globally on their 30 + markets and with their 10+ global OEM B2B partners.

Rebecca Findlay

Senior Signatures Engineer, DSTL

Upon graduating from the University of Glasgow with a Bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical engineering, Rebecca joined the Platform Systems Division within Dstl. She has been working within the Land Survivability Team since 2015, where, as a Senior Signatures engineer she specialises in all EOIR signatures within the land environment.

William Suttie

Scientist, DSTL

William Suttie has over 30 years experience in the field of military vehicle research and development, including 8 years working on UK land platform signature management projects. He spent four years as a scientific advisor at the Defence Equipment and Support Agency and one year at Army HQ. He is currently the lead for DSTL technical support to armoured vehicle procurement projects and the technical lead for Mounted Close Combat research which includes the Future Ground Combat System concept and technology studies. He has an Honours degree in Automotive Engineering and a Masters Degree in Military Vehicle Technology. He is a Trustee of the Bovington Tank Museum.

: @@dstlmod

Alan Dalton

The University of Sussex

No bio provided