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Dr Ian Greatbatch FRGS first became involved in Search & Rescue whilst working as a Ranger in the British countryside, locating lost people in nature reserves. At university he became involved in surf lifesaving and later became a lifeboat crewman for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. He is currently a tactical advisor to two SAR organisations, an advanced swiftwater rescue technician and a search controller. His PhD concerned the nature of prominence in mountain features, and he developed new techniques for measuring prominence in these features. He is currently working on a number of SAR-related research projects, in the disciplines of terrestrial, maritime and urban search and rescue (USAR). He is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a member of the editorial board of the The Cartographic Journal.

Alun Newsome is a search and rescue professional, academic and strategist with more than twenty years of contribution to emergency response, resilience and interoperability in the United Kingdom and internationally. He holds a BSc and PhD in Medical Biochemistry from Swansea University, supported by postgraduate study in specialist rescue. His scientific background underpins an evidence based approach to operational planning, doctrine development and decision making in complex environments.

Alun, as a Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator and Search Advisor has extensive experience in the management of major operations in both Maritime and Land SAR. He has applied advanced incident command principles across multi agency settings and is trained in Gold, Strategic and Tactical command. He has served as the UK lead for lost and missing persons search for a national emergency service, representing the organisation on the National Search Governance Board and within the UK SAR Operators Group, where he contributed to national standards, doctrine and capability development.

Alun has engaged with search and rescue organisations around the world, ranging from under resourced independent volunteer teams to well-funded national bodies, including lifeboat, dog, drone and other specialist groups. He is able to calibrate his advice and expectations to each organisation’s culture, capability and maturity, drawing on strong communication and governance skills to support safer practice, effective compliance and sustainable team development in diverse operational environments.

He has delivered lost and missing persons search training internationally and continues to support SAR teams and organisations in advancing professional knowledge and practice. Alun is a Chartered Manager and Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, a Fellow of the Institute of Search and Technical Rescue and a Fellow of the Institute of Civil Protection and Emergency Management. He remains active in education, consultancy and knowledge exchange with a focus on evidence informed SAR coordination, international interoperability and the mentoring of future practitioners.

Robert Koester first joined the Appalachian Search & Rescue Conference in 1981 and since then has participated in hundreds of searches, including over a hundred as Incident Commander responding to the mid-Atlantic region. He holds a MS and is currently a research associate at Kingston University in London. He became an EMT in 1980 and went onto to become a WEMT and medic. He served as a state SAR coordinator as a disaster reservist for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management along with continuing his service as a SAR instructor. His contributions to search and rescue include seminal research on lost person behavior (with an early emphasis on dementia) along with creating the International Search and Rescue Incident Database (ISRID), and past-president (15 years) of the Virginia Search and Rescue Council. Robert has also worked for the United States Coast Guard (conducting visual sweep width experiments), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (conducting missing aircraft radar research), National Park Service (responding to major searches and writing the draft NPS SAR Field Manual), Federal Emergency Management Agency (as an instructor), SAR Institute of New Zealand (conducting sound and light sweep width experiments), and Justice Institute of British Columbia (reviewing management texts). He is the CEO of dbS Productions which provides research, publications, and training services. Robert has authored numerous books and research articles on search and rescue, including Lost Person Behavior. He has presented internationally in nine different countries.