Defence Codex - The journal for defence engineering & science

Science with a purpose

Frances Saunders looks to the future

Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) is moving forward. With a desire to respond and communicate with its customers it is entering a new era as part of a major change programme that will ensure that Dstl remains effective and relevant in a fast moving technological world. Dstl Head and Chief Executive Officer, Frances Saunders finds time in her busy day to talk to Codex Assistant Editor, Wendy Jacob and explain their work.

Saunders is early and eager to talk about their broad range of work and plans for the future. It is an exciting time for Saunders as she leads the organisation through a time of change and reorganisation while they continue to focus on the scientific challenges of defence and in particular supporting current operations.

Dstl is home to a 3,500 strong workforce including some of the nation’s most talented scientists and whilst most of their work is for the MOD and the UK’s Armed Forces, their expertise is called upon by other parts of government including the Home Office, Cabinet Office and Department of Health.

Choosing to meet in the open reception area, she immediately seeks to dispel the long standing myths that have kept the image of Porton Down so secretive since it was established over ninety years ago. She has even taken on the indispensable communication tool of the 21st century, creating a weekly blog, keeping her in touch with her staff: “People want to know what a Chief Executive does. This helps them understand my day and the issues and challenge that we are facing together. I also like to chat about my other interests, such as music, and hopefully let people know I’m human!”

Communication is important to Saunders and her passion for science has moved way beyond test tubes and experiments. She is interested in how science can contribute and make a difference, not only in defence but in other areas. Dstl is about science with a purpose, and our primary purpose is defence security. But as an applied scientist I like to think of my science being used, which is why I became a scientist. It is about how the world works and how to work with it and make changes,” she explains.

Along with the rest of MOD, Dstl is facing the demands of supporting current operations with the latest advice and supporting the supply of new or modified equipment to meet evolving threats. There is also the challenge of working within MOD’s new acquisition processes and the need to embed Through Life Capability Management (TLCM) within equipment and systems. Add to these, their role in the Government response to counter the threat of terrorism and it becomes clear that Dstl fulfills a number of functions. This means that it is crucial that Dstl continues to develop relationships with science and technology suppliers across defence and beyond to create effective mechanisms that will deliver scientific expertise to where it is needed.

Saunders is realistic about the problems and believes that the benefits (not only for defence) need to be clear for all involved. “Suppliers have to see there is value in it for them, I am very interested in how organisations work and the systems that they adopt. I am particularly interested in this in relation to the defence enterprise and how we can motivate more of them to become interested in this area.”

So, how do you motivate scientists and engineers? “Academics are motivated by interesting and difficult problems and the feeling that if they can solve a problem it will be good for their reputation and that of their University. Small companies may see an opportunity to develop new business; big companies may think that new ideas will offer them an edge – new thinking, new ideas, not just evolution of old ideas they’ve had in the past.”

Understanding and finding ways to motivate is one area that MOD has firmly in its grasp. Universities, existing suppliers, SMEs and entrepreneurs are becoming increasingly involved in defence innovation due to initiatives such as the Centre for Defence Enterprise.

Dstl has an important role in supporting the Centre for Defence Enterprise, reviewing submitted applications and developing the ‘calls’ for specific technologies that help encourage innovation that can meet current and future defence requirements.

Saunders has also perceived another barrier to becoming involved with MOD which, she believes can be overcome. “There is a natural reluctance for some companies to take in ideas from outside [defence] and include them in their solution. We need to think about how we can give incentives to big companies to take additional risk. We need to challenge the culture of ‘not invented here’ and the thinking that a company can just ‘buy in’ a person or a company and get the same effect. We need to show that we have something to offer here and that there are benefits to working with us”.

She is convinced that they can help industry bridge the gap between technology performance and whether it has an impact on defence. This can be done, she explains, by helping them understand that simply improving equipment performance may not be the right answer: “Not all equipment needs to get better in terms of performance. Sometimes the issue is can we do it cheaper? Or maybe we just need a ‘tweak’ – a bit lighter, last a bit longer, easier to maintain, better fuel consumption.”

Earlier this year MOD launched Capability Visions, as part of the Defence Technology Plan, in a push to inspire and fund innovation in specific areas to enhance future battle-winning capability. Driven by MOD Science and Technology Director, Paul Stein, the initiative has an aggressive programme to drive forward the development and demonstration of capability changing systems, ‘revolution, not evolution’. Saunders is excited by the opportunities that this presents to anyone who takes up the challenge.

“There’s a natural desire in the defence system to build on what has been done in the past and the evolutionary approach may be the right approach in many cases. But Capability Visions provides opportunities to deliver military capability in a different way. It is asking for solutions and breaking down barriers. Asking questions such as, what do you need to do to make these a reality? What problems do you have to overcome?”

This, she believes will encourage people to come up with answers in areas such as power, materials, and sensors. Dstl is actively supporting MOD to develop and manage the programme and will be helping industry understand how to make best use of any propositions. “Sometimes it is not intuitive where you want the increased performance. It might be that it needs to be lighter, or it could be endurance that is needed. We are helping people to understand what features of their solution will be most attractive in terms of military capability. Analysing, modelling and developing an understanding of what attributes of a solution have value.”

She believes that analysis is crucial to ‘getting the balance right’ and that it is ill conceived to spend money and develop equipment if you forgo investment in the ground work and analysis that determines the need and future requirements. “Studies can help focus on attributes that need improving and help make sure that the right thing is built.”

And this is where Dstl and their experience are second to none. Saunders is convinced that their understanding of military equipment and how it is used is essential for future developments. Their research looks at areas such as the amount of training required, how it can be used in operations, etc. “You have to think about the big issues and the logistics. We do a lot of work on chemical and biological detection which uses masses of chemical agents. We look at how to reduce the logistics burden of a piece of equipment, so we are not only thinking about the inherent performance but about the wider dimensions and that is what studies do.”

An example of this is that a solution may be too complicated and difficult to use under the pressure of front line operations. A simpler solution, with possibly reduced performance but which is used effectively may, she explains, provide better value, require less training and be easier to use.

Functionality is predominant in Saunders’ view and she sees a number of examples in everyday life that have features that are rarely used: “Microsoft Windows has masses of functionality that the average user may not access. You pay for it but don’t use it”. Warming to her point she compares ‘over functionality’ in everyday use to military systems where meeting specified requirements has not provided benefits in theatre: “In reality, if because of operational pressures military staff are only trained to use a proportion of the functionality available to them, why would we buy the functionality we are not using?”

The challenge, she believes is to understand better the operational need and buy only what is really needed and will be used. “So in some areas we should buy the ability to upgrade as we have in the Type 45 destroyer which will allow us to ‘bolt in’ future capability. There is a big push at the moment for open systems and we need to persuade industry to create the interface standards that will allow people to ‘plug and play’ down stream.”

“There is some good debate going on at the moment around the whole area of systems engineering and how can we make this work in practice. There is a lot of complex scrutiny that goes on in defence procurement and throughout the acquisition processes. It is sometimes quite difficult to persuade people to make an investment in this ‘upgradeability’ as it might cost more initially to create an open system, but you get benefit in reduced costs through life.”

Another problem with casting widely for the best innovation is that not all the ideas which receive initial funding will make it through to the next stage. Saunders is well aware that this is disappointing: “Only a few are going to go all the way but there are other gains. They will have increased their skills and in the academic community they will have the opportunity to publish their work. But, I do understand that for SMEs it is harder, especially now, to receive news that their innovation will not go through to the next step.”

Reflecting views expressed by MOD Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Mark Welland (see Profile) Saunders is equally sanguine about issues related to ‘classification’ and how this may affect bringing in new ideas to MOD: “Of course, there are areas of work which must be closed, but in reality there isn’t enough money to develop all solutions all the way. It is healthy to have two or three ideas running at an early stage and look at what they do. Then you need to set challenges and have clear break points where you select which ones work best.”

For Saunders, it is the results of Dstl’s work that offers the most satisfaction: “At the moment we have a large number of urgent operational requirements that we are working on – mostly armour and personal protection, but also in the field of countering improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The real challenge is not just in pulling something through quickly, but in realising that if you do it too quickly and do not manage the technical risks it may not work as intended when it is needed. Our top priority is to help keep our people safe in theatre.”

Saunders is excited about the future and believes that Dstl will retain and enhance its reputation for cutting-edge science and dedication to customers.