On 15th-17th November, the Baltic Defence College (BALTDEFCOL) was represented during the Annual Conference of the International Society of Military Science (ISMS) in Oslo.

The conference was preceded by the ISMS Council meeting chaired by current President of ISMS, Dr Anders McD Sookermany from Norwegian Defence University College and with participation of representatives of military academies from the Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, and Poland. The Council is the highest authority governing the ISMS and if focused on current activities and the future development of the Society.

The conference was opened by the Dean of the Norwegian Defence University College Dr Kristine Offerdal, who highlighted the importance of internationalization of education and sharing experiences within military academic organizations. The keynote speech was delivered by Professor Janne Haalnad Matlary titled ‘What should an Officer know?’, discussing military profession from history perspective and its role in the future in the context of changing nature of war and evolving security environment.

The conference gathered some 150 participants from 25 nations who presented more than 100 papers within 23 discussion panels. The areas of research were reflection of the focus of ten ISMS Working Groups. The Dean was moderating panels related to ISMS Working Group 2 Military History and he delivered a presentation related to unmanned ground platforms within ISMS Working Group 3 Military Technology.

The International Society of Military Science has been established in October 2008 to conduct research and to share experiences in academic education in military arts and sciences in the broadest sense.