The research pole Conflict Studies develops a high-level expertise in the history of contemporary conflicts and the security and defence problems. The research activities focus on
- The historical analysis of the military conflicts since the First World War.
- The integration of Belgium in international structures.
- The military approaches to promoting security.
- History and geopolitics of Central Africa.
The EMMA research pole focuses on the relation between mechanical devices and their environment (vibrations, acoustics, ageing, air quality, sensing) as well as on the performance, stability and technology of mobility platforms in the air, sea, and land domains whether manned or unmanned.
The Laboratory for Plasma Physics of the Royal Military Academy is conducting experimental and theoretical research on plasma physics and fusion energy in the framework of the European thermonuclear fusion research programme and has focused more particularly on the development of Ion Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ICRH) systems. We study the theoretical aspects of the interactions of ICRF waves with fusion plasmas by means of analytical models and sophisticated numerical codes developed in the laboratory. The design of heating systems (antennas) is also an important aspect of our activities, and the LPP has developed antennas for various experiments: Textor (Germany), JET (UK) and W7-X (Germany). The LPP is also strongly involved in the design of an ICRF antenna system for the future international fusion experiment ITER.
The activities of the research pole are related to the synthesis, analysis, testing or assessing effects of Explosives, Propellants and Pyrotechnics (Energetic Materials).
Organizations (such as the military) that operate in crisis settings need to be able to adapt quickly to their complex, hostile and volatile environment. This is the focus of the Research Pole ‘Risk, Crisis & Disaster Management’ (RCDM). Recent work in this area focuses on:
- Disaster management within a changing disaster landscape
- The role of leadership style on the creation of learning organizations in deployed military units.
- Adaptive command in extreme contexts
- Crisis communication in public organizations
- Organisational trauma
The SIC develops a high-level expertise in C4I Command, Control, Communication, Computers & Information) systems. The research focuses on the processing of data recorded from a wide area of sensors (radar signals and images, optical and thermal images, navigation signals, radio signals, …) in order to support a decision process. The recorded data can be affected by passive or active countermeasures hampering the information extraction. The processing can range from a simple sensor-specific processing to a large scale AI-based multi-sensor & multi-temporal processing. The expertise that was build-up is applied in both security and Defence-related problems.
The LIFE research pole represents the biomedical pillar of research within Belgian Defence with the global research goals of sustaining and optimizing health and performance of all the operational personnel of the Belgian Defence.
The activities of the departement resolve around the evaluation of survivability of combat systems, the ballistic optimization of personal protection against fragments, bullets and blast, the effect of the impact of a less-lethal projectile on the human body. The experimental work is conducted in the acredited laboratory hosting a 100m indoor shooting range.
The departement conducts research in
- Military psychology and specializes in the use of quantitative methods within the realm of cognitive and behavioral sciences., Military Law, Military Ethics and Military Social Research.
- Military law, with both domestic law and international law, including the historical aspects.
- The ethical aspects of the military practice and profession with a special interest in the Just War Theory.
- The organizational analysis of Belgian and European military organizations and in surveys and market research around security and Defense issues, diversity and inclusion, recruitment, job satisfaction, organizational culture and image.
The departement conducts research in
- Symmetric cryptography, (post-)quantum cryptography and the verification of new cryptosystems.
- Steganalysis, i.e. the detection of hidden information, in digital media
- The modelling, simulation and optimization of entities and processes to generate data that can be utilized for managerial or technical decision making