At the ICPEM Conference held on 3 May 2012, the annual Award of Excellence was awarded to Roger Young, FICPEM
Roger was nominated by Peter Simpson and seconded by Tony Moore.
Peter’s nomination stated:
Since 2004, Roger has been the project lead in discharging UK government strategy within its foreign policy for international counter terrorism and emergency management programmes through Cranfield University. I and other ICPEM members have worked with Roger since 2004 on international capability assessments and training projects in countries including Indonesia, Philippines, Kenya, Egypt, Malaysia and other countries. His international diplomacy, professional experience and academic knowledge coupled with impressive training skills has meant he is highly respected both personally and professionally within the international CT and emergency management community.
In the last 8yrs Roger has worked tirelessly to promote UK crisis and emergency management capability, Cranfield University Resilience Centre and the work of ICPEM to friendly governments and international partners. I have owe much of my personal and professional development to Roger and hope the panel will recognise his achievement.
Introduction
In 2003, Cranfield University were awarded a contract by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to run its Counter Terrorism programme in targeted countries overseas. The work is funded through the FCO Strategic Programme Fund for Countering Terrorism and Radicalisation (CTR) (http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/about-us/publications-and-documents/publications1/annual-reports/strat-prog-fund1) which aims to enhance the counter terrorism capabilities and to strengthen the resilience of key foreign Government based on the 4 key strands set out in the UK’s counter terrorism strategy CONTEST.
Roger Young’s role in the programme
Realising that this was likely to be a full-time commitment, Cranfield University advertised for a manager to run the programme. A number of people applied but at the interviews it quickly became apparent that Roger Young, a former Chief Superintendent in the Thames Valley Police Service, was the best candidate. He therefore took up the post in October 2004. The original programme featured four countries, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia and the Philippines. Egypt was subsequently added. All have been subjected to terrorist attacks. In fact for much of the time, Indonesia and the Philippines had ongoing problems with internal terrorist groups.
The programmes have principally been aimed at incident commanders from the first responding agencies, plus support organisations such as the intelligence agencies, business and Non-Governmental Organisations. The aim of the programmes have been to develop their knowledge, skills and understanding of good incident management, including the need for proper planning and organised, effective response and to impress upon them the need for realistic multi-agency exercises. In order to do this, Roger has had to identify and use subject specific experts depending on the nature of the programme and its content. This has entailed the bringing together of individuals and moulding them into teams for the duration of the course.
The fact that, despite strong opposition from those who would like to be running this programme, Cranfield University has now been responsible for it for 7½ years, is due in no small part to Roger’s personality, enthusiasm and dedication, which has been recognised by those working at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London, and the high esteem that those working in the diplomatic missions of the countries concerned hold him.
What people have said about Roger
Two of those who have worked with Roger on this programme have written about him. The first writes:
“Roger is an excellent team player and has strong capabilities as a teacher. He has excellent listening skills and a quick analytical brain. His sense of loyalty is strong and properly placed. He has a ‘fun’ side that enhances his work and develops others when he interacts with them as a leader, teacher, friend or colleague.”
The second writes:
“I have had the privilege to work with Roger on a range of international projects since 2006 in his role as Programme Manager. During that time I have found Roger to be the consummate professional. He is an intelligent and energetic individual, who has brought considerable policy and academic insight to our work. He has excellent diplomatic, organisational and diverse team-building skills, which are vital to the success of overseas projects. He is a highly conscientious individual who pays particular attention to both client and staff needs making him an excellent leader and manager. Roger can cope with highly complex and sensitive issues and has always delivered, whatever the circumstances.”
Clearly Roger’s nomination met the Aim and Objectives of the Institute:
a) promoting public safety and protecting the lives of not only the people who reside in the countries in which the programme has been run for the last seven or so years but also all people visiting those countries.
b) encouraging various bodies in the countries that the programme has been run to study the response to terrorist incidents worldwide and, indeed, other civil emergencies, in order to identify lessons as to how best to respond to such incidents;
c) constantly pressing those countries to adopt the highest possible standards of professional practice.
d) supporting the FCO in promoting the development of emergency management internationally, albeit under a slightly different name.
In addition, whilst the programme is primarily aimed at incident commanders, i.e. at Gold and Silver level, at the same time he has been encouraging, within the countries concerned, the education and training of those lower down the organisation, in terms of the skills they need to ensure an effective response.
Previous recipients have been:
- 2005 Steve Gregory
- 2006 Muriel McLenahan OBE
- 2007 Dr Anne Eyre
- 2008 Tony Thompson
- 2009 Not awarded
- 2010 Bill Blake and Tony Moore
- 2011 Dr. Peter Jefferson and Dr. Walter J Ammann