DISPAX World 2023 Speakers & Moderators
Click on the speaker’s title to view their bio.
Philip Baum
A security professional with an international civil aviation background, Philip’s reputation is built on his common-sense approach to risk management. He encourages others to think outside the box and develop effective security solutions capitalising on human intuition and the intelligent use of technology.
In 2021, he was the recipient of the Lifetime Service to Aviation Security Award presented by Emirates Group Security and Edith Cowan University.
Philip devised and developed T.R.A.P.® (Tactical Risk Assessment of People), a risk-based security system based on non-racial profiling, observational and questioning techniques. He has developed and chaired the DISPAX World series of conferences, as well as the Behavioural Analysis series, addressing unruly airline passenger behaviour, and Body Search. He was an expert witness in the United Kingdom’s House of Commons’ Home Affairs Committee inquiry into aviation security in the aftermath of the attempted downing of an aircraft by a suicide bomber on Christmas Day 2009.
He is a visiting professor of Aviation Security at Coventry University. He is an accredited instructor and courseware developer for both the Airports Council International (ACI) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA), for whom he has led projects around the globe. Currently he is working on both UNODC and UNOCT projects relating to behaviour detection and the behavioural sciences.
Philip was editor-in-chief of the global journal of airport and airline security, Aviation Security International, between 1997 and 2021. He also appears on CNN, Sky News and the BBC, providing expert comment on aviation security issues and is the first port of call for event organisers in need of a dynamic speaker or conference chair, regularly being called upon to facilitate debates at international symposia. In 2016, his book, Violence in the Skies: a history of aircraft hijacking and bombing, was published.
Dr. Ross Bartels
Ross is a Senior Lecturer in Forensic Psychology at the University of Lincoln, UK, where he leads the Forensic and Crime Research Group. His research focuses on understanding atypical sexual interests, the psychology of sexual fantasising, and offence-supportive cognitions within forensic and community populations, as well as people’s attitudes towards those who’ve sexually offended or who have a paraphilic interest.
Eric Baskind
Dr. Anthony Bleetman
Dr. Tony Bleetman is a consultant in emergency medicine and has been working on use of force matters for 30 years. He completed his PhD on knife protection body armour and has supported and guided the development of a broad range of physical intervention training packages across the healthcare, mental health, policing, prison service, and special education sectors amongst many others.
Tony serves as a medical advisor to the UK Ministry of Defence on less lethal weapons. He leads a Master’s programme at Queen Mary University of London on ‘enhancing the safety and wellbeing of persons in care and custody’. Tony has worked with many organisations across the sector advising on safe and ethical methods of preventing and managing challenging and violent behaviour.
Evija Broka
Evija Broka is an experienced senior member of cabin crew at AirBaltic. Enjoying flying, and the accompanying responsibility her job demands, she considers the best reward for a working day to be the sight of smiling passengers disembarking an aircraft, saying thank you to the crew!
Eighteen years ago Evija realised it was time for change and accordingly applied for about ten different vacancies at AirBaltic. When she was eventually invited to attend a job interview, she was so excited that she didn’t even ask which position it was for. She only found out it was for cabin crew shortly before the selection interview; it took a few seconds to recalibrate, but succeeded in securing her new job and new hobby at the same time. Evija definitely agrees that, if you, “Find the job that you like, you’ll never have to work!”
Piotr Dudek LLM
Piotr Dudek LL.M. is a Polish qualified attorney with over 16 years’ professional experience in aviation law, IP law and the law of new technologies, as well as in providing legal consultancy to the aerospace and defence sectors. He has extensive expertise in defence and aerospace contracting and is a valued expert in negotiating and supervising technology transfer agreements, and license/maintenance contracts.
With a long-established expertise in providing services to the aviation sector, Piotr deals with regulatory matters, legal consulting, legal aspects of airworthiness and safety of air operations, obtaining necessary concessions, licenses and permits as well as on the procurement and leasing of aircraft. He deals with problems of national, European and international aviation law as well as with problems of a shared civil-military airspace.
Piotr is a frequent author of aviation related articles for Skrzydlata Polska – the oldest and the most prestigious Polish aviation magazine.
John Franklin
John Franklin’s love of aviation started at the age of eight when his family became involved in hot air ballooning. He began his aviation career for real in the Royal Air Force, serving as an Engineering Officer on the Tornado aircraft and then within the Military Aviation Authority. He joined EASA in 2011 in the Safety Analysis Team and, in 2018, became EASA’s Head of Safety Promotion where he leads their Together4Safety promotion initiative to help the European aviation community by providing practical information and support on a range of safety issues and other topics.
Luis Manuel Gonzalez Gonzalez
Luis is a 25-year-old member of cabin crew with six years’ flight experience in Europe and Africa. He is currently employed as a base supervisor and line trainer at Smartlynx Airlines and is flying for airlines and from bases around the entire world.
Eva Haas
Eva Haas is an aviation security expert from Prague Airport, having studied at the Police Academy of the Czech Republic in Prague. She started her career in ground handling, before taking on roles in airport security and security administration. Eva is now responsible for the department of security processes, currently focusing on legislation, optimalisation and digitalisation of security processes and risk analysis.
Roman Hrubý
Roman Hrubý has been involved in civil aviation security for over 36 years, with 22 years of experience as an aviation security instructor. He worked for 24 years in law enforcement, initially as an air marshal, later as a screener, and then spent 10 years as an pyrotechnics expert.
In 2009, after leaving the police, Roman founded Pelta s.r.o., a company specialising in the training of civil aviation and critical infrastructure security, the provision of security consultancy in counterterrorism, cargo screening, and the development of security equipment. He has developed the Lapaj, a restraining device used by many airlines in situations requiring the restraint of unruly passengers. This device is utilised by several airlines and their crews to ensure in-flight security. Lapaj is also used at multiple airports by security personnel and police officers for restraining and escorting offenders.
Alexandra James
Alexandra is the analysis output manager and analytical lead on human trafficking and irregular migration at Osprey Flight Solutions. She has a masters degree in Forensic Linguistics from Cardiff University. Her dissertation analysed linguistic patterns in verbal aggression through the examination of mobile phone footage of unruly passenger incidents on commercial flights in the US. Prior to her current role, she worked with Green Light assisting in training and the organisation of conferences.
Trevor Jensen
Trevor Jensen began his aviation career in 1967 as a Qantas cadet pilot. He served as Technical Director of the Australian International Pilot’s Association before being appointed to the Qantas Flight Operation’s management team in 1982, where he held several senior appointments, including Superintendent Flight Safety and General Manager B747 Operations.
Resigning from Qantas in 1996, he has since held ‘C’ level appointments with large international, domestic and low-cost airlines, as well as at freight airlines, within Australasia, Asia, and Europe. Most recently, he was Chairman of the Board of Nauru Airlines Corporation.
He has held regulatory responsibility for Air Operator Certificates and Certificates of Approval (Maintenance) issued by the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), the New Zealand CAA, and the Myanmar DCA.
Trevor is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, a Fellow of the Safety Institute of Australia, and a Liveryman of the Guild of the Honourable Company of Air Pilots.
Akbota Kaliyeva
Akbota Kaliyeva is an ICAO certified aviation security instructor and Senior Officer Safety Compliance and Aviation Security at Air Astana Airlines in Kazakhstan.
Akbota began her aviation career as a flight attendant before taking on the role as both a cabin safety and aviation security instructor, and human factors’ trainer. For the past nine years, Akbota has participated in developing training circulars in disciplines including cabin safety, aircraft security, and unruly passenger management, de-escalation tactics and restraint techniques for flight and cabin crewmembers. She is actively involved in the delivery process of classroom courses ensuring a high level of safety and security culture is established amongst operational staff.
She is an active volunteer in the Emergency Response Program at Air Astana, serving as a Special Assistance Team Leader.
Akbota continues to be a part of Air Astana Airlines, performing duties related to the monitoring, coordination, execution, and integration of safety compliance programmes for aviation security and cabin operations.
Aleksandra Kapela
After obtaining her MSc in Occupational Psychology in 2013, Aleksandra began working within the aviation industry. She has since developed considerable experience and expertise in creating mental health programmes focussing on the assessment and selection of student pilots, cadets and active pilots whilst also working at a more strategic level with a range of airlines, aviation companies and training organisations.
Addressing the lack of professional support generally available for pilots from experts in the field of aviation psychology, Aleksandra formed MyWingman to assist pilots throughout their journey and improve their chances of landing their dream job.
Aleksandra is accredited by the European Association for Aviation Psychology (EAAP) as an Aviation Psychologist, an assessor and KSA100 (addressing knowledge, skills and attitudes) assessment specialist.
Brian Kinane
Brian was head of aircrew security training at Emirates Airline for 15 years. He was a key part of the organising team and then chairman of the AVSEC Global conference in Dubai for all 5 events between 2013 and 2021. He has represented Emirates Security and Training departments at many international industry events speaking about prevention and management of unruly behaviour, human trafficking and security training within commercial aviation. In 2021 he left behind 30 years in aviation, joining his wife’s Dubai-based organic food business. He now lives in France with his wife and two teenage children.
Rania Lagopodis
Rania Lagapodis began her cabin safety career over 20 years ago as a loadmaster for Air Inuit, an operator providing essential services to the northern communities of Nunavik, Quebec. As operations developed, she transitioned to a flight attendant position. She has worked as a lead instructor and training coordinator for over 15 years, developing Transport Canada regulations-compliant cabin safety training programmes. Rania also prepares and provides all initial and recurrent flight attendant training.
Air Inuit’s operations are varied; they provide single- and multi-flight attendant operations from scheduled flights to medical evacuations to specialty charters, including prisoner transport. Multi-day pairings challenge crew with extreme weather and the realities of remote living. This unique and varied experience has led to Rania’s specialty expertise in unruly passengers. She has built a unique course combining Crew Resource Management (CRM) with unruly passenger prevention and response training, which she provides to all crew members.
Aaron Le Boutillier
For more than 25 years, Aaron been involved in all aspects of disruptive passenger and in-flight security training. In 1997 he was one of the first people to run a fully comprehensive unruly passenger training package for Virgin Atlantic and he has since trained more than 10,000 cabin crew at over 20 airlines. Currently, Aaron is in charge of running disruptive passenger management and inner management skills for cabin crew from one of the world’s most iconic airlines.
Aaron is also a defensive tactics instructor and has delivered programmes to law enforcement agencies and military personnel the world over. He holds a Master’s in criminology, is currently undertaking a Master’s in Neuroscience at Kings College, London, and is a Ph.D. candidate in Criminology at Rangsit University, Thailand. He is the author of ‘And Then One Morning’, which recounts his survival of the 2004 tsunami. Aaron ran the ‘Marathon Des Sables’ across the Sahara Desert in 2015 and the ‘Coastal Challenge’ across the rain forests of Costa Rica in 2017. In 2019, Aaron received his honorary Thailand Special Forces wings for his involvement in the Chiang Rai cave rescue.
Dr. Stanislav Lifshitz
Dr Stanislav Lifshitz MD is an emergency physician with broad experience in trauma management, military medicine and pre-hospital care. Combining experience of trauma with a solid grounding in physical interventions he provides bio-mechanical support to medical risk assessments of use of force interventions. He has assisted in medical and safety reviews of physical and mechanical interventions across a broad range of organisations that include children’s homes, mental health and custodial services. His knowledge and experience allow him to provide advice on physical intervention in specific vulnerable populations in care.
Dr. Sofia Mateou
Dr Sofia Mateou is an Aviation Legal Consultant and a Professor of Air Law. She provides training to a large number of aviation organisations and aviation professionals, lectures Law and Aviation at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels and is a thesis supervisor at Master’s and PhD levels. Sofia is also the author of ‘Air Law: A Practical Perspective’, co-author of ‘Flying in the Face of Criminalisation’, has written many book chapters and is a frequent speaker at international aviation conferences.
Sofia holds a PhD (dealing with the criminalisation of aviation professionals subsequent to an aviation accident and the effect on aviation safety), an LL.B. and a BA from the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa and has been a full-time university lecturer of Law and Air Law for over twenty-five years. She is currently lecturing at Prince Sultan University, Riyadh, KSA in the Aviation Management programme, CBA.
Intendent Daniel António de Sousa Magalhães
Intendent Daniel Magalhães is a senior officer of the Public Security Police (PSP) of Portugal, with experience in police operations, intelligence, criminal investigations, and airport security. He is a certified aviation security instructor, and was an aviation auditor. Daniel is a member of the Airpol Insider Threat Working Group and also of the Airpol Unruly Passenger Working Group.
From 2014 to 2022 he was the Airport Police Commander in Porto Airport – Portugal, leading on several emergency situations.
Doug Melia
Doug Melia is a professional use of force and restraint equipment specialist who advises government departments on the use of force and the implementation of personal safety equipment. His career as a trainer started when the security industry was regulated.
The Soft Restraint Kit, and the Safety-Cuff, have now been implemented not just across psychiatric care but also across the secure prison estate in Scotland and with the Ministry of Justice. The Soft Restraint Kit is used for deportations and are standard across several large fleets of cruise ships.
Doug delivers a use of force module on the Warwick Medical school emergency medicine course and lectures on the online Queen Mary’s University course. He has been featured on Panorama and in a documentary on French TV Vox pop. The Safer Handling DVD, produced on use of force, now forms part of Safer Handling online.
Doug has written for the Guardian, the Times Education supplement and Special children magazine and he is a regular speaker at conferences.
Daniela Modonesi
Daniela Modonesi is currently the Ground Staff Committee Chair at the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF), a European trade union federation representing 5 million transport workers in 41 countries. She is also the elected women’s representative in the civil aviation section of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) – an international trade union federation representing nearly 20 million transport workers in 150 countries – whilst also being the Regional Secretary for the Italian trade union FILT-CGIL.
Daniela works as ground staff for a groundhandling company at Bologna Airport. She graduated with a magna cum laude from Bologna University Alma Mater Studiorum and has a Master’s degree in International Studies on Philanthropy (Bologna University and IUPUI Purdue University Indiana). She became active in trade union work related to aviation issues at local and national levels and then, since 2010, at both European and international levels. Daniela is a keen fan of both rugby and volleyball, and she loves to study languages and history.
Akira Naito
Akira Naito began his aviation career in 1998 as a member of IT staff at All Nippon Airways (ANA) in Japan. He developed IT strategy within the company while planning office systems for cabin crew, pilots, and mechanics. In 2013, he joined the Japan Federation of Aviation Industry Union (JFAIU). JFAIU is the largest industrial labour union representing the airline industry in Japan, with over 45,000 members including 15,000 flight attendants. As the chair of JFAIU, Akira has worked with both the government and airlines to solve many industry problems at the workplace. In particular, he has long been passionate and professional about the issue of flight attendants who are being illegally photographed or upskirted on flights. In 2023, his efforts resulted in legislation addressing the crime of ‘sneak photography’.
Irene Patanè
Irene Patanè is a former flight attendant with a large international carrier who recently quit flying to join the European division of the External Affairs and Sustainability team at the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
She holds a Masters in Politics and International Relations from the University of Aberdeen and a Masters in Sociology from the Erasmus University Rotterdam. While currently focusing on policy-related aspects of the industry, Irene draws from her operational experience to raise awareness on the issue of non-compliance and the prosecution of unruly behaviour onboard aircraft.
Harel Peled
Harel Peled is an operational psychologist from Tel Aviv, Israel. Aside from his private practice, Harel has been consulting for various security agencies, providing them profiling services and advising them in high-risk crises. Harel is deeply familiar with cross-cultural therapy and assessment. Thus, he also provides consultancy related to sensitive issues with complex geo-political implications.
Harel is currently a PhD candidate at University College London (UCL) and is writing his thesis under the supervision of Professor Paul Gill. In their study, they examine the different unique profiles of hackers and cyber criminals through mixed qualitative and quantitive methods.
Frederick Reitz
Frederick Reitz is an aviation security professional with over two decades of operational experience in the field. As an innovative and results-focused leader, with a track record of excellence, Frederick is the founder and CEO of SAFEsky.
He started flying lessons aged 14, ushering in a lifelong passion for aviation. Following 15 years service in law enforcement, Frederick’s enthusiasm grew for the aviation sector as his mentors guided him through pivotal positions with both regional and international airlines
Frederick earned his undergraduate degree in Aviation Technology from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, where he subsequently obtained a Master’s in Aeronautical Science. He is now completing his Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis & Resolution at Nova Southeastern University.
Kaspars Rencis
Kaspars Rencis has more than 20 years experience in the aviation security industry, including airport security, ground handling security and emergency response. He is now acting Head of Security and Emergency Response for Air Baltic Corporation, the leading airline in Baltics. Air Baltic is one of the most punctual airlines in the world connecting the Baltic region with over 70 destinations in Europe, the Middle East, and the CIS. Air Baltic operates more than 40 Airbus A220-300 – one of the world’s greenest commercial aircraft in the sky.
Richard Strickland
Richard spent 30 years as a Metropolitan police officer, most of it working in the Public Order Department and retired as a sergeant in 2013.
In 2003, due to his extensive legal knowledge and real world experience of dealing with aggressive and violent individuals, he founded a training company delivering conflict management and physical intervention training to numerous companies and organisations including a number of airlines, such as British Airways and Citiexpress.
It was during a training session for British Airways CityFlyer in 2016 that he came up with the concept of redesigning their on-board restraint system. A few months later the Aviation Quik-Restraint System was brought to market and, after winning the tender process, British Airways placed the system on all their aircraft.
The Aviation Quik-Restraint System has been both medically and legally reviewed and endorsed and is being used successfully on a number of different airlines around the world.
Leif Svensson
Leif Svensson became the Head of Corporate Security & Emergency Response for SAS Group in 2017. His career began in the armed forces and he later spent nine years as the Security Director for Sweden Train stations, then five years as CEO G4S Sweden CIT and ten years as Head of Security at Arlanda Airport (CAA Sweden).
He was the winner of SAS Award 2018 for Improvement of the Year; the citation stated that, “Leif’s initiative in [the] Unruly Project has shown us that it is important for us to always improve. As our industry is put through changes, old ways of working must sometimes be scrutinised and evolved into better solutions.”
The Zero Tolerance against Unruly Passengers project has been driven by Leif and the Corporate Security Team at SAS, with a clear policy, guidelines, updated terms and conditions, and training programme for flight deck crew, flight attendants and ground staff. The project had led to an improvement in the capabilities of all staff and has enhancing their ability to handle unruly situations in the air.
Dr. Rebekah Tanti-Dougall
Dr. Rebekah Tanti-Dougall LL.B., LL.M. (IMLI), LL.D. is a partner at ‘Advocates, Tanti-Dougall & Associates’ law firm, providing aviation legal consultancy services.
She has authored numerous articles on various subjects including cyberterrorism in aviation and disruptive passengers. Rebekah has participated as a speaker, panellist and moderator at international conferences, having delivered presentations on aviation security, disruptive passengers, air accident investigation and cyberterrorism.
Rebekah lectures aviation law and is the legal advisor for the Bureau of Air Accidents Investigation in Malta. She is also Secretary to the European Network of Civil Aviation Safety Investigation Authorities.
She is a legal consultant on cyber security and is an observer on behalf of Malta on the ICAO Cyber Security Panel. She is also an experienced and approved aviation security trainer for JAA Training Organization (JAA TO), being the Faculty Manager and Instructor on the Course ‘Cybersecurity in Aviation’.
Alberto Tebaldi
Alberto Tebaldi is a passionate aviation professional with over 10 years of experience in the industry. He is currently a purser at SmartLynx Airlines but, prior to joing SmartLynx, he was a purser for Etihad Airways; he gained extensive experience in flying during his nine years there.
He is a highly motivated and dedicated individual with a strong work ethic, passionate about aviation and, always willing to go the extra mile, is eager to share his experience of managing an unruly passenger incident as a speaker at DISPAX World. In his spare time, Alberto enjoys spending time traveling and playing sports. He is an avid reader and loves to learn new things. Alberto is excited to continue his career in aviation and to share his passion with others.
Dr. Mizuki Urano
Dr. Mizuki Urano is an experienced safety and security specialist within the aviation industry having served in different roles both in-house at airlines and as a training provider. In her current role as a Regional Manager Asia-Pacific at Inflight Institute/Inflight Innovations Inc., she is dedicated to ensuring the high quality of cabin safety is upheld.
During her days at Japan Airlines as a cabin safety officer/cabin crew, she worked as a delegate member of ICAO’s Cabin Safety Working Group. She adapted her experience of developing the 2nd edition of Doc 10002 to create Japan Airlines’ original competency-based training and assessment methods.
Mizuki has long been passionate about ’empowerment’; this was reflected in her research on human security at the University of Tokyo from where she received her doctorate in 2022. Based on her experience, she believes that ’empowerment’ promotes a positive safety culture, and a competency-based approach is the best way to achieve that within the aviation industry.
Petr Zollman
Petr Zollman is responsible for the implementation and maintenance of the Security Management System (SeMS) at Smartwings, managing operational and long-term security and emergency response strategies with a continuous focus on process, procedures, and service innovation.
Petr is also an instructor of practical training for aircraft crew in the handling of security incidents on board aircraft, especially with regard to unruly passengers incidents, dealing with the issue of violent behaviour and providing crew with a comprehensive solution to management of incidents by promoting cooperation between the concerned entities (airports, carriers, state institutions, handling companies, etc.). He has more than 10,000 hours in the air as cabin crew operating international commercial flights.