Ethical and Social Perspectives on
New Military Technologies

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Lode Dewaegheneire

Independent Expert in Disarmament Affairs

Autonomous Weapons Systems: "From Terminator to Responsible by Design", the Evolution of Diplomacy on AWS

Since the first discussions on Autonomous Weapon Systems at the United Nations in 2014, technological advancements have accelerated at an extraordinary pace, leaving international deliberations and initiatives struggling to keep up. The broader societal debate surrounding Artificial Intelligence, along with emerging military applications of AI, has compelled stakeholders to reassess the scope, methodologies, and ambitions of international negotiations and regulatory efforts. Lode Dewaegheneire will guide participants through the evolution of global dialogues on the prohibition and limitation of autonomous weapon systems, highlighting how rapid technological progress has shaped both the dynamics and the substantive content of these discussions.

Biography

After an operational career as a helicopter pilot at the Belgian Air Force, Lode Dewaegheneire has been active in disarmament for two decades. He was military advisor for humanitarian disarmament at the Defence staff (ACOS STRAT) and Senior Verification Coordination Officer at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Lode is currently an independent expert in disarmament affairs. He is closely involved with the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots and a member of the Forum of the Arms Trade. His key areas of expertise are humanitarian disarmament, with a focus on autonomous weapons systems, and transparency measures.

Lode holds a master’s degree from the Royal Military Academy, Brussels and a master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Liege.

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Sofie van de Maarel

Netherlands Defense Academy

Moral injury and new moral dilemmas with technology

Moral dilemmas are inherently part of military operations, but what if a moral dilemma leaves lasting damage? The term 'moral injury' has been in the spotlight for a number of years to describe the inner conflict that can arise after incidents that clash with one's moral compass. In this keynote, Dr. Sofie van der Maarel (Netherlands Defense Academy) discusses this concept in greater depth. She also addresses the new kinds of moral dilemmas that can arise with technological innovations. Experimenting with drones, AI and robotics introduces additional challenges for soldiers. How can these be understood and navigated in the context of heightened readiness in Europe?

Biography

Sofie van der Maarel is Assistant Professor of Military Ethics and Leadership at the Netherlands Defence Academy and affiliated to Radboud University Nijmegen. She is an anthropologist in the field of international relations, specialized in military innovation, future warfare, and soldiers’ lived experiences and moral dilemmas.

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Elke Schwarz

Queen Mary University of London

The Challenge of Military AI: Ethics, Governance, and Strategic Realities

A discussion with Nathan Wood

How is artificial intelligence reshaping military practice, and what should we be most concerned about? This moderated discussion brings together Dr. Elke Schwarz and Dr. Nathan Wood to explore the ethical and practical challenges of AI integration in defense contexts. Beginning with their primary concerns about current AI deployment in military settings, this open discussion will aim to move through three key areas. First, our speakers will reflect on the human element in AI-enabled military systems, including questions of intuitive understanding, experiential knowledge, and the deeply human dimensions of responsible use that technical solutions alone may not address. Second, our speakers will analyse the relationship between armed forces and technology providers, from established defense contractors to Silicon Valley startups, with attention to how trust functions in military procurement and the often-overlooked realities of defense acquisitions. Finally, our speakers will address urgent contemporary challenges, from the security risks of large language models to European defense priorities in an era of grey-zone conflict and infrastructure vulnerability.

Biography

Elke Schwarz, Professor of Political Theory at Queen Mary University of London, holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), an MA in Conflict Studies from the War Studies Department at King’s College London (KCL) and a Bachelor in Business Studies from Belmont University (USA). Prior to coming to QMUL, she held academic positions at UCL, Anglia Ruskin University and Leicester University. Her work focuses on the nexus of ethics, technology and politics / warfare with a specific emphasis on new and emerging military technologies, including military Artificial Intelligence (AI), autonomous weapon systems, drones and robots.

She is the author of Death Machines: The Ethics of Violent Technologies (Manchester University Press) and her work on military AI and autonomous weapon systems has been widely published in a range of international publications. She is Vice-Chair of the International Committee of Robot Arms Control (ICRAC), an Associate of the Imperial War Museum (IWM) and an RSA Fellow. Elke is also a 2022/23 Centre for Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Studies (CAPAS) Fellow and 2024 Leverhulme Research Fellow with a project on the politics of apocalyptic AI. She works with a number of civil society organisations and serves on several editorial boards for publications and book series on politics and technology.

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Nathan Wood

German Aerospace Center (DLR)

The Challenge of Military AI: Ethics, Governance, and Strategic Realities

A discussion with Elke Schwarz

How is artificial intelligence reshaping military practice, and what should we be most concerned about? This moderated discussion brings together Dr. Elke Schwarz and Dr. Nathan Wood to explore the ethical and practical challenges of AI integration in defense contexts. Beginning with their primary concerns about current AI deployment in military settings, this open discussion will aim to move through three key areas. First, our speakers will reflect on the human element in AI-enabled military systems, including questions of intuitive understanding, experiential knowledge, and the deeply human dimensions of responsible use that technical solutions alone may not address. Second, our speakers will analyse the relationship between armed forces and technology providers, from established defense contractors to Silicon Valley startups, with attention to how trust functions in military procurement and the often-overlooked realities of defense acquisitions. Finally, our speakers will address urgent contemporary challenges, from the security risks of large language models to European defense priorities in an era of grey-zone conflict and infrastructure vulnerability.

Biography

Nathan Wood is a Junior Research Group Leader at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in a project focused on ethical and legal aspects of autonomous and AI-enabled systems in the military. His research focuses on the ethics and laws of war, especially as these relate to emerging technologies, artificial intelligence, autonomous weapon systems, outer space warfare, and other aspects of future conflict. He has works published or forthcoming in Ethics and Information Technology, AI and Ethics, Philosophical Studies, War on the Rocks, The Journal of Military Ethics, and numerous other journals, and is a contributor for the upcoming Oxford Handbook of Remote Warfare. In 2024, Wood was a Research Fellow at CETE-P, working on a project about military ethics funded by the Czech Science Foundation.

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