Undersea Defence Technology (UDT) Australia 2026

An independent Maritime Consultant primarily working in Maritime Security, Adrian Pierce has worked with Governments, NGO’s and businesses, including extensively in Maritime Surveillance and Maritime Domain Awareness. With over 35 years’ experience in the Royal Navy at Sea, on operations, and in Headquarters roles, Adrian Pierce qualified as an Anti-submarine Warfare officer and specialist Navigator. He commanded Mine Counter-measures Vessels and Frigates and had Staff roles at sea and ashore, including in Joint and NATO Staffs. Since his last command at Sea, he had Joint and Maritime roles, including leading maritime warfare training and operational planning, where he was responsible for assimilating cross-government demand for the Navy and programme delivery across all Maritime Assets, including Ships, Submarines, Aircraft and Marines.

Hello there!

Dr Fletcher graduated from The University of Adelaide in 1999 with a Bachelor of Mathematical and Computer Sciences and Honours in Applied Mathematics. She was awarded a PhD in Electrical and Electronic Engineering by The University of Melbourne in 2005. Dr Fletcher has spent over 27 years in various roles at the Australian Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG), including leading teams undertaking sonar processing, undersea trials and experimentation and undersea sensing. Her research interests include signal and information processing for undersea sensors and Anti-Submarine Warfare. Her current role is Scientific Advisor – Maritime, where she is embedded with Navy, supporting DSTG to deliver impactful innovation, science and technology.

<p>Hazer Inaltekin is a Senior Lecturer at Macquarie University. He received his B.S. degree (High Honors) in electrical and electronics engineering from Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey, and his M.S./Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. Prior to joining Macquarie University, he held various researcher and faculty positions in Australia, Europe and United States. His research interests include resilient communications and networking, fog/edge computing, IoT, and information theory.</p>

<p>Erika Nakamura is an engineer at NEC Corporation working in defense-related underwater sonar technology. Since joining the company in 2019 after earning a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Tokyo University of Science, she has contributed to the development of technology for visualizing sonar detection coverage based on underwater acoustic propagation simulations.</p>

<p>Hiroki Tanaka received his Ph.D. in 2017 from Tokyo Institute of Technology. He joined NEC Corporation after completing his doctoral studies and has since been engaged in the development of acoustic systems for unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs). He currently leads a team developing acoustic communication technologies and systems.</p>

<p>Tanisha Soldini is a PhD Candidate at Flinders University, where her research sits at the intersection of engineering and cybersecurity, with a focus on maritime operations. She holds a Master of Electronic Engineering and a Bachelor of Robotics Engineering with Honours, completed in 2024 from Flinders University. </p> <p>Prior to her PhD, Tanisha worked at REDARC Electronics on control systems and embedded software development. She has since completed specialised SCADA training in securing critical infrastructure, a Digital Forensics course, a cybersecurity bootcamp with the Australian Cyber Collaboration Centre, and has competed in the NATO Locked Shields cyber defence exercise. </p> <p>Tanisha is a member of Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS). Her interests lie in bridging engineering and cybersecurity to build resilience across maritime and autonomous systems.</p>