Monday, 4th May 2026
| 18:00 | Ice Breaker | Officers Club MilAk |
Tuesday, 5th May 2026
| 09:00 | Welcome & Opening | Sparkassensaal Neunkirchner Straße 17, 2700 Wiener Neustadt |
| National anthem | ||
| Keynote | ||
| 10:00 | Discussion & Reflection & Exhibition | |
| 11:00 | Academic Education for Officers in a New Age of Warfare? | Prof. Dr. Klaus B. Beckmann (GER), Helmut-Schmidt-University. |
| Enlighten or discipline? On training, education & intelligence, artificial and otherwise. | Christopher Ankersen (USA), New York University. | |
| Educating Officers for Innovation: "Revisiting Clausewitz for the Digital Battlespace”. | ||
| 12:00 | Discussion & Reflection & Exhibition | |
| 13:00 | Lunchbreak | |
| 14:30 | The Officers’ Edge: Technology, Training, and the Frontline. | LTC (GS) Patrick Hofstetter PhD (SUI), Swiss Military Academy at ETH Zurich. CPT Daniel Constantin Blanc (SUI), Swiss Military Academy at ETH Zurich. 1LT Jenathan Selva (SUI), Swiss Military Academy at ETH Zurich. |
| Operational training in the digital age – new technologies, new ways of thinking, new processes? | LTC (GS) Oliver Hochfellner (AUT), National Defence Academy, Vienna. | |
| Portuguese Military Academy - Case Study. | LTC Pedro Nuno Antunes Ferreira (PRT), Portuguese Military Academy. | |
| 15:30 | Discussion & Reflection & Exhibition | |
| 16:30 | Trained Minds are the Base for Tomorrow’s High-tech officers. | 2LT Linus Copes (SUI), Swiss Military Academy at ETH Zurich. LTC (GS) Patrick Hofstetter PhD (SUI), Swiss Military Academy at ETH Zurich. |
| From leading troops to commanding systems. | LTC (GS) Markus Schmid (AUT), Directorate 6, ICT & Cyber. CPT Yassin Al-Rawi (AUT), Staff Officer, designated for the 25th General Staff Course. 1LT Hosam El-Mia (AUT), Training Officer at the Infantry Branch School. | |
Beyond Marksmanship: Enhancing Communicative Skills for Combined Operations through a Multimodal XR-AI Training System at Korea Military Academy | LTC Hansol Lee, PhD (KOR), Professor at the Korea Military Academy. CDT Hyeyun Son (KOR), Korea Military Academy. | |
| 17:30 | Discussion & Reflection & Exhibition | |
| from 18:00 | Dinner and afterwards Group guided tour through the exhibition "From the Imperial Residence to the Home of the Officers" and Come together in the Officers Club of Theresan Military Academy. | |
Wednesday. 6th May 2026
| 09:00 | Drone Warfare’s impact on the training for leading military units Lessons from the Ukrainian battlefield. | Dr. Wolfgang Müller (GER), Resident Fellow German Institute for Defense and Strategic Studies (GIDS). Sergej Sumlenny (GER), United Unmanned Systems LLC. |
| Aligning officers’ education with evolving tactical principles. | André Berntsen MPhil (NOR), Swiss Military Academy at ETH Zurich. 1 Lt Nico Hürlimann (SUI), Swiss Military Academy at ETH Zurich. 2 Lt. Paula Kern (SUI), Swiss Military Academy at ETH Zurich. | |
| From Commercial-off-the-Shelf (COTS)-Components to efficient Weapon System. An Austrian Perspective on how to train FPV-Drone-Builders and its Operators. | PVT Bastian Wagner (AUT), University of Applied Sciences Joanneum Graz. CDT Moritz Böhm (AUT), Theresian Military Academy. COL (GS) Markus Reisner (AUT), Theresian Military Academy. | |
| 10:00 | Discussion & Reflection & Exhibition | |
| 11:00 | Training rebooted: Bias vs. Bots. | COL (GS) Bernhard Schulyok (AUT), Austrian Federal Ministry of Defence. Katharina-Franziska Zeman (AUT), Executive Assistant in Insurance. |
| AI Driven Simulation for Officer Training: Bridging Theory and Practice. | Yordan Ivanov Katsarov (BLG), Assistant lecturer "Georgi Benkovski" Bulgarian Air Force Academy. | |
| Designing an AI-Driven Tactical Decision Game Platform to Improve Tactical Decision-Making in Junior Officers. | 1LT Ivan Colak-Antic (SUI), Swiss Military Academy at ETH Zurich. CPT Lauriane Fivaz (SUI), Swiss Military Academy at ETH Zurich. 1LT Simone Locatelli (SUI), Swiss Military Academy at ETH Zurich. | |
| 12:00 | Discussion & Reflection & Exhibition | |
| 13:00 | Lunchbreak | |
| 14:30 | XR for Challenging Environments: Framework and Elemental Training Approaches for Military Operations | Lukas Kröninger (GER), Austrian Institute of Technology, Vienna. DI Helmut Schrom-Feiertag (AUT), Austrian Institute of Technology, Vienna. |
| Countering Cognitive Warfare through Open Innovation: Defining Criteria for Effective Civil-Military Collaborations. | Assoc. Prof. Dr. Clemens Kerschbaum, LL.M (AUT), New Design University St. Pölten. Raphael Dachs (AUT), AI & AI strategy consultant, Argus AI. COL (GS) Bernhard Schulyok (AUT), Austrian Federal Ministry of Defence. | |
| Integration of Generative Artificial Intelligence in Military Training: Complementarity to Traditional Methods. | MAJ Adriana Filipa Gameiro Martins (PRT), Portuguese Military Academy. | |
| 15:30 | Discussion & Reflection & Exhibition | |
| 16:30 | Anticipatory Officer Education: Sensor Networks, Modelling, and Adaptive Training for Compressed Innovation Cycles. | Mark Pfeiffer (GER), Shield AI. Prof. Peter Cochrane, DSc (GBR), University of Suffolk. |
AI-Driven Support for Military Training Documentation Design: Leveraging Emerging Technologies to Educate Tomorrow’s Officers | 2LT Piotr Targowski, MSc (POL), Military University of Technology. 2LT Jakub Walczak, MSc (POL), Military University of Technology. CDT Antoni Przeperski (POL), Military University of Technology. CDT Mateusz Pyśk (POL), Military University of Technology. CDT Bartosz Nowak (POL), Military University of Technology. | |
Integration of mixed reality into military training: A didactic-technological framework for improved situational awareness and instructor support at the Theresan Military Academy. | MAJ Matthias Sonnberger, BA (AUT), Theresan Military Academy. COL (GS) Prof. (FH) Dr. Alexander Treiblmaier (AUT), Theresan Military Academy. | |
| 17:30 | Discussion & Reflection & Exhibition |
Thursday, 7th May 2026
| 09:00 | Data Bias Awareness as a Leadership Competency: Ethical Education and Digital Judgment in the Training of Future Officers. | Johanna Gruber, MA MSc (AUT), Austrian Federal Ministry of Defence, PhD student at the University of Economics Vienna. MAJ (GS) Jakob Bergmann (AUT), Austrian Federal Ministry of Defence, PhD student at the University of Vienna. |
Countering the Proliferation of Battlefield Unmanned Aerial Systems: The Integration of AI-Enabled Acoustic and RF Detection and its Implications for Officer Education. | CDT Bruno Repić (CRO), Croatian Military Academy "Dr. Franjo Tuđman". | |
| Facing Future Adversaries: Red Teaming with AI at the Core of Military Officer Education. | CPT Tamsyn Karlotta Garinet, MSc (GER), MPA Candidate 2027, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University. Sandrina Murphy, BA (GBR), Defence Studies Department, King’s College London. | |
| 10:00 | Discussion & Reflection & Exhibition | |
| 11:00 | Not Just Stressing Soldiers, But Calibrating Stress: A Physiology-Driven Approach to VR Training. | Jakob Carl Uhl (AUT), Austrian Institute of Technology, Vienna. Frank Jaspers (GER), Wehrtechnische Dienststelle der Bundeswehr für Waffen und Munition, Meppen. |
| Gamification of Tactics: Enhancing Combined Arms Thinking and Decision-Making in Officer Cadets. | MAJ (GS) Johannes Ginthör (AUT), Theresan Military Academy, PhD student at the University of Vienna. LT Andreas Mijatovic (AUT), Security Expert "Wiener Linien" and Reserve Officer PzGrenB13. Cadets of Class “Feldmarschallleutnant Joseph Armand von Nordmann” (AUT), Theresan Military Academy. | |
| Artificial Intelligence in English Language Education for Tomorrow´s Officers. | 1LT Michaela Rázusová (SVK), Department of social studies and languages, Armed Forces Academy of Gen. M. R. Štefánik. 2LT Ján Daño (SVK), Department of social studies and languages, Armed Forces Academy of Gen. M. R. Štefánik. | |
| 12:00 | Discussion & Reflection & Exhibition | |
| 13:00 | Lunchbreak | |
| 14:30 | Constructed Realities – Real Consequences: Educating Officers for Cognitive Dimension. | COL (GS) Bernhard Schulyok (AUT), Austrian Federal Ministry of Defence. Dr. Lukas Grangl & Dr. Markus Gruber (AUT), Military Experts in the Reserve of the Austrian Armed Forces. |
| Assessing Algorithmic Influence in Military Education. | MAJ Milán Mór Markovics, PhD (HUN), Ludovika University of Public Service, Budapest. | |
| Ethical Dilemmas in Autonomous Warfare: Teaching Moral Decision-Making in Tech-Driven Contexts. | David Shakarishvili (GEO), PhD candidate in Political Science at Klaipeda University, Lithuania. | |
| 15:30 | Discussion & Reflection & Exhibition | |
| 16:30 | "The Combat Sensorium": Digital 'Sensory Making' among Frontline Soldiers in Israel's October 7th War. | Prof. Uzi Ben-Shalom (ISR), Military psychologist, Ariel University, Israel. Dr. Nehemia Stern (ISR), Military anthropologist, Ariel University, Israel. |
| Emerging Technologies and the Enduring Principles of War in European Officer Education. | CPT Georgios Evgenios, MA (GRC), Hellenic Army Academy. | |
| Military Ethics Education for Technology immersed Battlefields: an empirical Study. | Jonas Pluis (NLD), Junior Researcher, Netherlands Defence Academy. CPL Judith Oomen (NLD), Netherlands Defence Academy. | |
| 17:30 | Discussion & Reflection & Exhibition | |
| 19:00 | TMAF dinner | Award ceremony for the best presentation Farewell Alt-Neustadt Hall |
Friday, 8th May 2026
Departure