ARPAS-UK AGM - ARPAS UK

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Excited to welcome Craig Lippett and Amanda Smith at ARPAS-UK’s Board and Advisory Board.

Graham Brown stepped down as Chair of ARPAS-UK but remains a Director, focusing on Education and Careers in Drones.

Cranfield University provided an excellent venue to hold the ARPAS-UK AGM and Annual Conference – and they even came through on the weather. What a sun-filled, glorious day! We extend our thanks to Professor Braithwaite’s Team and Alex Williamson for all their help and support.

Evolution of the Board of Directors

The AGM covered Association business.

We thank Chris Daniels of FlareBright for his time and support as a Director as he steps down as Director but remains engaged with the organisation as part of the Advisory Board.
Aleks Kowalski stepped down by rotation and was re-elected as a Director.
In addition, members elected Craig Lippett, of Eagle Eye Innovations, as a Director. Craig will focus on Policy and Regulation.

Craig stated, ‘I’m delighted to be appointed as a Director of ARPAS-UK for the coming year. I look forward to bringing my drone sector experience, knowledge and network to bear in addressing the key questions and challenges facing our members in the various drone use cases they seek to deliver and expand in the future. The focus naturally is on the evolving regulation landscape, how they may impact member’s business cases and how the Association will support them in engaging with the regulator to provide feedback on key subjects such as UK SORA and Drone Class Marking. I aim to provide a focal point for those efforts in the coming months‘.

Graham Brown has now stepped down as Chair of ARPAS-UK but remains a Director, focusing on Education and Careers in Drones. We thank him for all his tireless energy in promoting the UK drone industry and ARPAS-UK members for the past 7 years.

The Board of Directors at ARPAS-UK

Evolution of the Advisory Board

Amanda Smith, Drone Programme Lead at Sellafield Ltd, steps up to chair the Advisory Board and takes on Graham’s mantle of Drone Promotion. Amanda will serve as ARPAS-UK’s figurehead championing industry adoption and engagement with end-users. We welcome her to the role.
Joining her on the Advisory Board are Emily Butt, Leicestershire Search & Rescue Drone Lead, Phil Hicks, Pravo Consulting, Mike Hibberd, Texo, Rowley Cory-Wright & Matt Rake, StirlingX.

A strong team!

1 May 2025

Anne-Lise Scaillierez, Director and CEO, also presented the 2024 financial results of ARPAS-UK.

Find out more about Cranfield University

Would you like to get in touch with us? Contact [email protected]

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We’re delighted this year’s ARPAS-UK AGM & Annual Conference 2025 will take place at Cranfield University – a leading institution in aerospace and autonomous systems, and a long-standing ARPAS-UK member.

It’s the ideal setting for a day of insight, discussion, and networking. We know travel isn’t always possible, so the event will be hybrid, with the option to attend in person or online via Microsoft Teams.

Following the AGM, the programme will include talks and discussions across key industry themes. We’ll hear from end-users and sector leaders on market adoption, with speakers including Sellafield Ltd and Esri UK, followed by policy and regulation from the DfT and CAA, and sessions on innovation and airspace.

Interactive SLIDO will be run during the day to gather your views and questions.

Unable to attend in person? Submit your Proxy Vote to the Chair via the Registration Form – link below

We look forward to welcoming you – in-person or online – for what promises to be an engaging and valuable event!

AGM & Annual Conference 2025 | Agenda

28042025 – AGM & ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2025 Download

Register to Attend & Proxy Voting

Need to cancel? You may transfer your place to a colleague or contact [email protected]

March 2025

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ARPAS-UK Annual Conference Roundup

The ARPAS-UK Annual Conference was held on Thursday March 2nd 2023 at DARTeC, Cranfield University.

It was so good to see our members again in person after holding the AGM virtually for the last couple of years. Professor Graham Braithwaite of DARTeC mentioned how important conversations over coffee are – and we couldn’t agree more! Connecting, reconnecting, finding common points of interest, or the solution to a problem that’s been bugging you: the importance of holding a conversation, sharing a cup of coffee, or meeting someone who you’ve only connected with previously on LinkedIn can’t be underestimated.

The AGM:

The Annual Conference talks can be found here:

and the:

ARPAS-UK update: Priorities, webinars, Regulation SIG, Engagement with Graham Brown, Chair, Anne-Lise Scaillierez, CEO, and Elena Major, Operations

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ARPAS-UK AGM Outcome (resolutions)

The ARPAS-UK AGM was held on Thursday March 2nd 2023 at DARTeC, Cranfield University.

So, firstly we would like to say thank you to all those who were able to attend in person.

We do however recognise that this isn’t always possible, so thank you too to those who registered for the virtual event as well.

Outcome of the Resolutions: Three resolutions were put to the Membership:

We asked members if they would like to make the attendance to the AGM and the voting process as easy and inclusive as possible for all members by formally allowing hybrid general meetings and remote voting via digital proxy or online voting tools. This was agreed.
Aleks Kowalski was appointed as director by the board of directors in August 2022, and we proposed to confirm his appointment by a vote in the General Meeting. This was confirmed.
Chris Daniels was appointed as director by the board of directors in August 2022, and we proposed to confirm his appointment by a vote in the General Meeting. This was confirmed.

In addition, we would like to thank Stuart Keenan, our outgoing Chair, and Rupert Dent, Director of Regulations and Policy, for their time and commitment to ARPAS-UK. They have volunteered their time to improve the professionalism of the industry and support it as it continues to develop. They have embodied what is the very best in this developing industry: the ability to put the individual to one side for the benefit of the whole.

Rupert Dent was made Director Regulations and Policy in September 2017. He has devoted hours and hours to numerous CAA committees, talking through regulative issues with Members, spent time at Exhibitions and Conferences talking to would be members, and advocated hard on behalf of the UK drone industry at all levels.

Stuart Keenan joined the ARPAS-UK Committee in 2021 and became Chair later that year. His support for the industry is deep rooted and he has been an excellent advocate on behalf of ARPAS-UK.

The presentation from the AGM is attached.

2023-03-02-ARPASUK-AGM Download