Maritime Border Security Technology Workshop

Editor of Border Security Report and Director of the World Border Security Congress

Matt Hunt is a former Royal Marines Commando with 22 years’ service. Operating as a rifleman in 40 Commando for 8 years before conducting technical training with the REME to become a specialist RF technician within the corp. Matt has operated and maintained equipment around the globe, including the Arctic and the jungle, plus multiple operations in the desert. Conducting additional training as a specialist communicator, Matt finished his career in a Tier 1 maritime unit as the Capability Development lead for all C4ISR systems and was recognised by a Strategic Command 4-star commendation for his work.

Dr David Hill is a co-founder and CTO at Sintela, a UK based company specialising in the research, development, and manufacture of Distributed Fiber-Optic Sensing (DFOS) systems. Since 2005 David has taken a leading role in the development of Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) and its introduction across a wide range of applications, including border surveillance and Critical National Infrastructure intruder detection. He is currently working with partner companies and government agencies to enable them to fully implement and exploit the capabilities of this technology. David holds a
PhD. from the University of Kent, UK in the field of fiber-optic sensing and has published and lectured widely on the topic.

Ian Clarke is the Director, Business Development with Sirius Insight.  He is a former Captain in the Royal Navy, having served for more than 30 years as a Warfare Officer, gaining extensive experience of maritime surveillance and security operations in many different regions all around the world.  He commanded four ships including offshore patrol vessels engaged in homeland security, and a destroyer deployed overseas.  He was the maritime officer in the HQ Directorate UK Special Forces working with other government departments to enhance maritime resilience and response, and a Special Advisor to the Chair of NATO’s Military Committee.  His final assignment was as the British Defence Attache in Madrid between 2019 – 2022.  Ian has an MSc in Technology (Maritime Operations).  He joined Sirius Insight in 2023 , pleased to be championing the smarter use of data to enhance maritime border security.