Ross MacLeod works for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), helping lead partnership, advocacy and communications to prevent drowning across the UK and Ireland. He has led the development of the Float to Live campaign, and is also deputy chair of Water Safety England.

Dr Jorian (Jo) Kippax is a Retrieval Consultant with Ambulance Tasmania’s Critical Care and Retrieval Service (AT-CCR), a Trauma Specialist at the Royal Hobart Hospital, a reservist officer in the Australian Defence Force.

Dr. Sarah Spelsberg serves as the Director of U.S. Operations for World Extreme Medicine, the medical lead for Project NEPTUNE 100, works part time in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Mayo Clinic where she holds the academic rank of Assistant Professor and is a Wilderness Emergency Medicine physician.

For over two decades, Dave Weber has worked as a rescue technician, remote site medic, rescue helicopter manager, and skills instructor. He is the owner of the Mountain Rescue Collective, LLC, a technical training and rescue program assessment firm.

Halldór Kristinsson is a captain on the all weather lifeboat Björg on Snæfellsnes. 

Been in SAR for over 40 years in the field , Search Manager, director of training, Head of SAR department, financial manager and working in UNDAC for the Untied Nations. 

Sigurður Ingi Hauksson has served as Head of Radio Networks at Neyðarlínan (the Icelandic 112 services) since 2016, where his responsibilities include the operation of the TETRA network and the Icelandic Maritime Monitoring service (Vaktstöð siglinga). 

I am a viola player in the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, a guide and a great nature enthusiast.

My father, Jon Sigurgeirsson (1909-2000) was among the rescuers that saved the crew of Geysir, the airplane that crashed at Vatnajökull in 1950. It has been my passion to tell my fathers tale from this expedition and I build my lecture on his diaries and articles.

We are members of the Sæbjörg Search and Rescue Team in Flateyri. We were chair and vice-chair when the avalanches struck on 14 January 2020. That night, two large avalanches came down, both of which went over the avalanche defence barriers. One hit the harbour and swept away the boats, while the other struck a house where a teenage girl was buried.

Peter is the CEO of Eagle Eyes Search. He has a PhD in machine learning and over a decade of experience in robotics and autonomous systems. Prior to founding Eagle Eyes, he worked at Brain Corp, where he led perception and navigation teams for fleets of thousands of deployed robots. Since 2022, he’s been full-time on Eagle Eyes drone software for search and rescue, building the system from the ground up, both on the software and drone integration side.

CDRE Ásgrímur L Ásgrímsson Chief of Operations and Deputy Director General Icelandic Coast Guard Chief of Operations and deputy Director General of the Icelandic Coast Guard 2025. National Military Representative to NATO SHAPE and Deputy Military Representative to NATO HQ 2023-2025.

I am a nurse and work in the Emergency Department at Landspítali – The National University Hospital of Iceland. Alongside this, I have volunteered with ICE-SAR rescue teams for around a decade and am currently completing a master’s degree in Disaster Management at the University of Copenhagen. In my final project, I examine different approaches to strengthening response capacity in rural areas of the Arctic.

Involved in search-and-rescue work since the end of the last century Crew member aboard the rescue vessel Hafbjörg Served on the committee for the construction of new rescue vessels Current chair of the executive board of the rescue boat funds Head of Maritime Rescue at the Rescue School

Páll Ágúst is a PhD candidate in meteorology and a long time ICE-SAR member with previous experience as a weather forecaster from the Icelandic Meteorological Office and the private industry before entering the academic world. From the recreational outdoor life he has guiding experience leading tours as a mountain leader and glacier guide in Iceland, Sweden and Greenland.

Júlíus is a folklorist and worked for many years as a police officer, as well as having experience as a member of a search-and-rescue team. He is the author and publisher of the recently released book Í framlínu – lögreglumenn segja frá (On the Front Line – Police Officers Tell Their Stories). Júlíus is also one of the three authors of Til taks (Ready to Respond), published in 2024, which tells the story of the Icelandic Coast Guard’s helicopter unit.

I am a member of the SAR team in Isafjörður and have been an active member for 19 years. The last 14 years I have been active in marine rescue as a Captain and Chief Mechanic of the all weather life boats in Ísafjörður.

Jón Haukur has been active in the Icelandic mountain rescue scene for nearly four decades and has been managing trail development at Mt. Esja. The lecture is a semi historical overview or a summary over serious accidents on that mountain for the past 5 decades.

Joanne and Greg Varney were  search and rescue volunteers from 1996 until their retirement in 2025.  They responded to  hundreds of search and rescue missions for missing people, conducting interviews of family members on many of those missions.  They responded to missing person and human remains searches in urban areas, wilderness, mudslides, and building collapses.

Christina “Rocky” Combs is a former Senior Enlisted Leader at the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center (AFRCC), where she operated at the nexus of national-level search and rescue coordination across the continental United States.

Marcia Koenig has been in dog search and rescue training since 1972 in the United States. She has responded to disaster situations such as plane crashes, mud slides, fire scenes, tornados, hurricanes, snow, and water with her SAR dogs.

Dr. Alun Newsome is a senior search and rescue professional with operational, academic, and advisory experience across complex, multi-agency environments.

Dr. Barbara Olga Hild specializes in adventure tourism, safety training, and risk management in High Arctic environments. Her PhD research on guide competencies and tourist safety draws on years of field experience in Svalbard, Greenland, and Iceland.

I have been a SAR member with the Central Okanagan Search and Rescue in Canada for 15 years with being a search manager for the past 5.5 years. I have managed over 280 tasks so far.

Andrew is an emergency manager in Australia who recently completed a Churchill Fellowship researching how communities mobilise to help in a disaster. He will speak about the increasing role of community in search and rescue, and how emergency agencies can harness collective community action while mitigating risks.

Dario is professor emeritus in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of New Mexico (UNM), USA, and medical director for the International Mountain Medicine Center.

Jake Cleal-Cook is a Rescue Crew Officer with the Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter in Sydney, Australia, specialising in helicopter winch operations in the ocean environment.

Matt Wheble is an experienced emergency management and search and rescue practitioner with more than 20 years’ experience across frontline response, incident coordination, senior advisory, and governance roles in high‑risk, time‑critical settings. 

Charles Combs has more than two decades of experience in public safety, including emergency medical services, Search and Rescue, and incident response operations. He is a former tactical medic and emergency medical services director with extensive operational experience in high-risk, complex environments.

HEMS/SAR/USAR Critical Care Paramedic Registered Nurse with 20 years HEMS/2500 Mission experience base and 40 years in health. Currently based in Rural Victoria Australia which covers Alpine and Marine environments in a Paramedic based HEMS system.

Matthew believes in the volunteer and humanitarian spirit. Rescue provides the opportunity to create greater meaning and purpose in the marine environment he loves.

Aebhric is a former US Army Green Beret, a Tropical Nurse and a board-certified Critical Care Paramedic. He is the Founder and Dean Emeritus for the College of Remote and Offshore Medicine Foundation and a member of the Faculty Advisory Board for the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh.

I’m Vigdis Kristin, a PhD student at the University of Reykjavík. I study the mental health of trained volunteers who respond to natural disasters. The research I’m working on focuses on anxiety, depression, PTSD, and burnout among ICE-SAR volunteers following the Grindavík volcanic eruption.

I am a PhD in military psychology from Karolinska institutet in Stockholm. Currently I am working as a humanfactor specialist at a energy company in Sweden (vattenfall AB).

Colonel Brenda Dietzman (Retired) is an internationally recognized speaker and trainer specializing in resilience and wellness for high-stakes professions. 

Dr. Angela Trego, PE, PMP is a rocket scientist, dynamic keynote speaker, and award-winning professor who has inspired and trained thousands across six continents. She inspires, creates, and fosters confidence through her speaking and training, with a focus on imposter syndrome and soft-skills development. 

Julie is the Curriculum Director for Wilderness Medical Associates International and has been a Lead instructor with them since 2002. She is a paramedic, registered nurse, and flight nurse based in Haines, Alaska where she also serves as the EMS director for the Haines Volunteer Fire Department.

Kevin Grange is a critical care flight paramedic and also works as a firefighter paramedic with Jackson Hole Fire/EMS in Wyoming.

Dr. Anders Santoft is a consultant in anesthesiology, intensive care and HEMS, combining clinical practice with active experimental research in traumatology, hypothermia and human physiology in hypo- and hyperbaric environments. He also serves on the medical board of the Swedish Ski Areas Industry Organization.

Jamie Pattison is an experienced Paramedic and adventure athlete specialising in pre-hospital care in remote, cold, and high-consequence environments.

Kyle has been a member of the Chattanooga Hamilton County Rescue Service in Chattanooga, TN for 10 years. He has participated in numerous cave rescues around the Southeastern United States.

JC began working in public safety 2003 and has since worked in Bexar County - Tx, Billings Mt, and Chapel Hill NC in various roles of Fire and EMS.

Eoin volunteers with Exmoor Search & Rescue, where he serves as Chair, Team Member and Training Officer.

Dr. Smith is an EMS and Emergency Medicine physician practicing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and is a Clinical Assistant Professor for the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Seamus Bradley has actively involved in Mountain Rescue in Ireland since 1993. Operationally he has been the team leader of the North West Mountain Rescue Team and the Donegal Mountain Rescue Team in the North West of Ireland.

Benedetta Beltramelli, MD Anesthesiologist and critical care physician with experience in HEMS, Antarctic missions, and remote/hostile environments.

53y old commissioned officer (captain) at DEMA Danish Emergency Management Agency and have worked with national fire and rescue services for more than 30 years, both nationaly and international.