13-15th October
International Disaster & Emergency Resilience conference, BT Centre, London
The Institute hosted an exercise workshop during the afternoon before the conference, based on a non-terrorist related aircraft crash scenario in the Canning Town area of East London, during the period of the Olympic Games of 2012.
The crash scenario impacted on surface and underground road and rail transport links, emergency service and public telecommunications, and significant power and water supplies. An entirely feasible scenario, it generated a good deal of discussion, particularly considering possible impacts on the Olympic Games themselves and how the presence of the games might, in turn, affect the nature of the response.
Attended by delegates with very wide-ranging backgrounds and experience, the event was facilitated by David Buckenham and Peter Clarke of Paladin Crisis Management, and Stephen Elliott-Hunter (ICDDS)
27th September 2008
Eric Alley OBE (ICDDS President Emeritus), and Robin Woolven (ICDDS Treasurer) appeared on the BBC Radio 4 programme “Document: Britain's Cuban Missile Crisis” on Thursday 25th September
In the last week of October 1962, the world famously held its breath as two superpowers teetered on the precipice of nuclear war.
The incident has gone down in history as a war of nerves between the Kremlin and the White House, but what role was the British Government playing, and what decisions was Prime Minister Harold Macmillan making on behalf of his people? How close did he bring Britain to all out nuclear war?
Presented by Mike Thomson, the series used documentary evidence to throw new light on past events. Fascinating insights were given into the perceived threat levels that put Vulcan bombers on fully-armed nuclear standby but how, by comparison, the Civil Defence forces of the nation were not even put on alert, and how plans were readied to move works of art out of the Capital to a disused mine in Wales.
19th September
The Institute played a prominent role in the Global Security and Resilience 2008 Conference held in Berlin from 15th to 17th September 2008. Acting Chair of the General Council, Tony Moore, was a keynote speaker on the opening day of the conference. His presentation was entitled, 'The continually adapting threat and the summer 2008 conflicts'. The closing keynote presentation, 'Comfortable with Chaos', was delivered by the President of the Institute, Major General Tim Cross (Rtd.), CBE, former Deputy of the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Affairs. Also present, as a delegate, was one of the Institute's newest members, Dan Castle. Having recently completed his studies at Birmingham University, he has taken up a post as Crisis Management Advisor at RWE npower.
7 September 2008
Important Announcement - Extraordinary General Meeting
In accordance with decisions taken at the Annual General Meeting earlier this year in relation to the merging of the Institute of Civil Defence and Disaster Studies and the Institute of Emergency Management to form the Institute of Civil Protection and Emergency Management, all members are invited to attend an Extraordinary General Meeting of both Institutes at Camden Town Hall, London, on Friday, 10 October 2008 at 2 p.m. to discuss the forthcoming merger.
Travel directions and an agenda will appear on the website soon. The draft constitution of the new Institute will be circulated to all members prior to the meeting.
8 May 2008
The Institute is pleased to announce the appointment of our new President, Major General Tim Cross CBE. At the recent AGM, Institute Chair Jeff Little welcomed Tim Cross and paid tribute to outgoing President Sir Neil Thorne. Gary Silver has been appointed to Vice Chair, as well as taking over the editorship of ALERT. David Buckenham is the new Registrar.
24 April 2008
Patrick Mercer MP will be introducing the ICDDS conference on 5 June.
22 April 2008
The speech by Jeff Little, Chairman of ICDDS, at the 2008 AGM, can be found here.
22 April 2008
As part of the commemoration of its 70th anniversary, the Institute is holding a conference in London on 5 June 2008. See right hand column.
8 April 2008
Robin Woolven FICDDS, ICDDS Treasurer, presented at the RUSI 'Emergency Response and Civil Defence' Workshop on 11 December 2007, along with other noteable speakers, particularly Bruce Mann, Director of the Civil Contingencies Secretariat, and Baroness Pauline Neville-Jones, Shadow Security Minister. The Institute was also represented by John Lawal and Chris Lewis. The workshop report is available by clicking here. (pdf 456kb)
7 April 2008
The UK's first Animal Rescue Conference takes place in June 2008. Go to our Events page for details.
14 February 2008
The Fire Service College Annual Conference - Call for Papers - go to Events page.
4 February 2008
The ICDDS AGM 2008 will be held at the Met Police Central Communications Command (CCC) centre. Click here for details.
15 January 2008
Details of the IDER 2008 Conference are now available. See our Events page or go to the IDER website.
Older news entries can be found here