Speakers

Dr David Galligan joined the New Zealand Defence Force’s Defence Science and Technology (DST) organisation as an Operations Analyst in 2002. He led DST’s Operations Analysis team from 2007-2020. This included leading scientific campaigns covering concept development and experimentation, capability development, support to operations, and support to strategic planning. This wide-ranging scope has provided him with excellent insights into the opportunities for DST to have a significant impact on the New Zealand Defence Force and the wider security sector.

Dr Galligan was appointed as Group Director for Electronic Warfare Systems at DST in 2020, and two years later he was honoured to be appointed as the Director of DST. This current position encompasses the roles of New Zealand’s Chief Defence Scientist and New Zealand’s Principal on several international agreements, including Five Eyes S&T (formerly TTCP), which is the pre-eminent Five-Eyes Defence science and technology collaborative arrangement.
Dr Galligan has received international awards from Five Eyes S&T for ground-breaking research on network-enabled capability and countering improvised threat systems. He has engaged in international benchmarking activities and has regularly addressed national and international symposia. He has held executive chair roles across major international arrangements.

Since taking over as Director, Dr Galligan has led a change programme at DST, which aims for greater focus and clearer paths to impact for DST’s scientific portfolio. It emphasises increased use of partnering with the wider scientific ecosystem and ensuring excellence in underpinning the science system at DST. Such changes are designed to ensure that DST can deliver New Zealand the critical Defence science and technology support that is increasingly required within a challenging strategic environment.
Dr Galligan holds a PhD and MSc (Hons) in Physics from the University of Canterbury. He also holds a BSc in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Waikato and a National Diploma in Business (Level 5). He is a graduate of multiple leadership courses from the NZDF’s Institute of Leadership Development.

Dr Galligan’s doctoral research focus was on the analysis of radar-derived meteor data to help determine the structure of the interplanetary meteoroid cloud, and he has published extensively on this in peer reviewed scientific journals. He has held a post-doctoral fellowship collaborating with international researchers at the European Space Operations Centre.