Theresan Military Academic Forum 2026 (TMAF 2026)
Theresan Military Academic Forum 2026
The Theresan Military Academic Forum 2026 (TMAF 2026) is a scientific symposium that seeks to further transfer knowledge and develop the necessary skills, responsibility, and autonomy inherent to successful basic officer education. The TMAF includes a general orientation as well as a cyber specialisation, conceived to help military leaders cope with future challenges.
The theme of TMAF 2026 is „Training 2.0: EMBRACING EMERGING TECH TO EDUCATE TOMORROW’s OFFICERS”. As military training and education evolve to meet the demands of the 21st century, scientifically grounded knowledge remains crucial to enhancing operational readiness. The accelerating pace of digitalisation, automation, and autonomous systems is reshaping the military environment. Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are not only transforming how wars are fought, but also raising complex questions for military strategists, ethical frameworks, and legal norms.
TMAF invites you to provide your contribution to exploring how emerging technologies are - and will - redefining officer training and development.
How can we best prepare future leaders for a tech-driven operational environment? Are current approaches adapting quickly enough—or are we at risk of falling behind more aggressive adopters of these innovations?
Participation opportunities
Options for participation a maximum of three persons per institution may participate as follows:
| Priority | Contribution | Administration |
| 1 | Lecture with publication | Free board & lodging |
| 2 | Lecture without publication | Free board |
| 3 | Participation | Conference fee (€45,-/day) |
| 4 | No participation / just Publication | No charges |
Submitted contributions will be subject to a double peer review. They will be published by our cooperating partner, "The Defence Horizon Journal" (online), as well as in "Armis et Litteris" (hardcopy). The TMAF focuses on the education of future generations of military officers. Therefore, we integrate officer cadets and students into the symposium. Thus, we kindly invite participants to bring an officer cadet or student from the home institution and include them in the presentation, if possible. Considering the priorities listed above, the organising team will assign the available slots on a first-come, first-served principle.
For the programme design and the necessary preparations, we require your binding commitment to participate. Therefore, we ask you to verify your ability to participate through your national (military) diplomatic chain of commandbefore accepting the invitation.
Please note that for participation with priority 1, regardless of the number of integrated speakers, accommodation and meals free of charge will be provided to only one (1) person/author. In addition to thematic discussions, numerous side events will be offered to promote, deepen, and broaden (military) cultural exchanges; the nature of these exchanges will be decided depending on the pandemic situation, the weather and the interests of the participants.
Procedures for publication
Interested participants are cordially invited to apply with an abstract according to the following guidelines:
| Phase | Deadline |
| Call for Papers (submission of abstract with up to 250 words; endnotes not included; CV; template format) | 30th November 2025 |
Information to the author about acceptance of the article by the TMAF Scientific Committee | 19th December 2025 |
| Submission of the article for publication (3000-5000 words endnotes not included; template format) | 13th February 2026 |
| Review phase | 13th February - 09th May 2026 |
| Re-submission date for required modifications (if necessary) | 31st May 2026 |
| Publication availability online (TDHJ) | 31st May 2026 |
| Availability of the publication "Armis et Litteris" | September 2026 |
For submitting abstracts (including a CV), please use the format template "TMAF Short Essay", which you can find on our website www.milak.at/en/tmaf2026 and send them to tmaf@bmlv.gv.at. If a contribution is accepted, we request a picture of the author and speaker for designing the programme and the publications.
Download: Milestones, Call for Papers, Fact Sheet, Short Essay, Long Essay
Quality management of publication entries
- All publication submissions are subject to a double peer review,
- in cooperation with "The Defence Horizon Journal (TDHJ)",
- under the auspices of the TMAF Scientific Committee,
- in TDHJ (ISSN: 2710-3722 online; www.thedefencehorizon.org) respectively "Armis et Litteris".
Provisional schedule
| Monday, 4th May 2026 | arrival and icebreaker |
| Tuesday, 5th May 2026 | TMAF (presentation, discussion, reflection) |
| Wednesday, 6th May 2026 | TMAF (presentation, discussion, reflection) |
| Thursday, 7th May 2026 | TMAF (presentation, discussion, reflection) On this day, the symposium’s theme will be deepened with presentations and discussions exclusively in German. |
| Friday, 8th May 2026 | departure |
Location
The challenging topic and the unique atmosphere in Wiener Neustadt make the TMAF a special event for participants interested in addressing the burning issues for selecting, training, and assessing military leaders.
Theresan Military Academy
Burgplatz 1
2700 Wiener Neustadt
Administrative information
Application
Registration for the TMAF 2026 has to be done via our homepage www.milak.at/en/tmaf2026, by 22nd March 2026.
Transport
Plane:
Pick-up and transfer from/to Vienna International Airport will be provided. Therefore, we kindly ask you to book flights arriving at Vienna Airport on Monday, 4th May 2026, between 1100 and 1500 hrs. For departure, we request the use of flights on Friday, 8th May 2026, from 1100 to 1500 hrs.
Arrival by train:
Pick-up and transfer from/to Wiener Neustadt central railway station will be provided.
Therefore, we kindly ask you to book trains arriving between 1200 and 1600 hrs at Wiener Neustadt main railway station. Please use trains for the departure on Friday, 8th May 2026, departing from Wiener Neustadt main railway station between 1100 and 1500 hrs.
Arrival by own car:
Please arrive in Wiener Neustadt on Monday, 4th May 2026, by 1800 hrs, to the Ice Breaker. Parking is available at the hotels and on the campus.
Accommodation and rates
Accommodation for the speakers (option 1) will be provided at the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel in Wiener Neustadt, which is located near the Theresan Military Academy. We kindly ask you to book personally by e-mail, stating the password "MilAk-TMAF-Speaker" for your intended participation. Please send us your booking confirmation so we can cover your stay's costs. Please note that we will only cover the costs for the room and breakfast from 4th to 8th May. Further catering will be provided at the Theresan Military Academy.
In addition to the Hilton Garden Inn, the organisation team recommends the Hotel Zentral (0.6 km) and the Hotel Le Park (1.7 km). Both hotels are located near the event location and the Theresan Military Academy and are easily and quickly accessible either by foot or with the offered shuttle service. Transfer to and from the TMAF will be provided exclusively to Hotel Le Parc. The following reduced prices can be guaranteed by booking via mail or phone using the keyword „TMAF 2026“ only.
The cost of accommodation is:
Hotel Hilton Garden Inn (www.hilton.com/en/hotels/viewngi-hilton-garden-inn-wiener-neustadt)
Point of contact: reservation@hgi-wn.at - booking code “TMAF 2026”
| Single room | € 112,60/ night |
| Double room | € 135,20/ night |
| Breakfast | € 25,00/ person |
Hotel Le Parc (www.leparc.at/en)
Point of contact: direktion@leparc.at - booking code “TAMF 2026”
| Single room | € 95,60/ night |
| Double room | € 115,60/ night |
| Breakfast | € 19,50/ person |
Hotel Zentral (www.hotelzentral.at/en/home-2)
Point of contact: hotel-zentral@hotelzentral.at - booking code “TAMF 2026”
| Single room | € 86,60/ night |
| Double room | € 101,60/ night |
| Breakfast | € 16,00/ person |
Military dormitory
In addition, for the first time this year, we can offer a limited number of rooms in the newly built dormitory on the campus of the Theresan Military Academy.
Bookings will be made by the organising team. Rooms will be assigned accoding to the first come, first booked procedure.
| Single room | € 50,00/ night |
| Breakfast | € 3,00/ person |
Participating students from our EMILYO partner institutions will be provided with free military accommodation and catering.
Meals
The daily rate is € 45,00 for all participants and includes lunch and dinner as well as drinks and snacks during the forum.
During the in-processing on the first day, the respective amount of money for all participating days will be requested in cash (paying via credit card is not possible!).