Team Diversity and Inclusion in Defence and Security: International Perspectives

About

Barbara T. Waruszynski is a senior Defence Scientist with Director General Military Personnel Research and Analysis under Chief of Military Personnel in the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND). Barbara has over 25 years of scientific research experience specializing in psychosocial research for the advancement of defence and security and science and technology. Her research areas include diversity and inclusion harassment and discrimination gender integration racism ethnic intolerance and inclusion in multinational military contexts and teamwork and collaboration in defence and scientific communities. She leads high priority departmental and international research projects including a NATO team for four years under the Human Factors and Medicine (HFM) Research Task Group (RTG) 301 where she produced a team Technical Report on ethnic intolerance and ethnic inclusion in multinational military settings titled Military Diversity in Multinational Defence Environments: From Ethnic Intolerance to Inclusion. Recently Barbara was awarded the 2023 Deputy Minister/Chief of Defence Staff Organizational Culture Award from DND for her research on diversity and inclusion in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). In 2012 Barbara was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for her research on teamwork and collaboration in defence and security in the CAF. Her doctoral dissertation Collaboration in Scientific Research: Exploring the Factors that Influence Effective Collaboration during a Period of Transformational Change was nominated by Royal Roads University for the 2018 Canadian Association for Graduate Studies/Proquest-UMI Distinguished Dissertation Award. The study findings continue to inform federal departmental policies programs and practices with the goal of improving how collaboration in scientific research is carried out across the federal community. In 2022 Barbara was part of the Canadian Women in Science (WIS) Task Force and WIS Learning Lab to help develop a WIS Toolkit to cultivate greater equity diversity and inclusion in the federal scientific community which won the Fighting Oppression Award from the Canadian Association of Labour. She is the principal editor of Team Diversity and Inclusion in Defence and Security: International Perspectives. She is a highly published author and has given over 150 presentations across DND the CAF the Canadian Federal Government and international fora on her research. Barbara holds a Doctor of Social Sciences degree from Royal Roads University (2017) Victoria British Columbia Canada. She received her Master of Arts in Sociology (1990) and Bachelor of Arts in Sociology (1988) from Concordia University Montreal Québec Canada.   Yantsislav Yanakiev is Captain (BGR-N) (ret.) and a full professor in sociology at the Bulgarian Defence Institute Prof. Tsvetan Lazarov. He graduated from the Naval Academy in Varna Bulgaria in 1982. After serving as a commissioned officer at the Naval Base Varna the Navy Headquarters and the Ministry of Defense he applied for a doctoral degree in 1988 at the Institute of Sociology Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in Sofia Bulgaria and received his Ph.D. in 1995. In addition he acquired the degree of Doctor of Science in sociology from the same institute in 2009. From 2011 to 2018 Yantsislav was Director of Defence Advanced Research Institute of Rakovski National Defence College. He was an International Research Fellow at the NATO Defense College in Rome Italy in 1999 at Cologne University Germany in 2001 and 2007 and G.S. Marshall Centre for International Security Studies in 2012. He was a Fulbright Visiting Research Professor at the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute (DEOMI) Patrick Air Force Base Florida from October 2012 to March 2013. While at DEOMI his research was related to diversity management and cross-cultural competence in defense organizations. Yantsislav has been the principal national representative to the NATO Science and Technology Organization Human Factors and Medicine Panel since 2005 and chaired the Research Task Group Improving Organizational Effectiveness of Coalition Operations. In addition he served as principal investigator for the Bulgarian U.S. NATO supported Project Factors that Influence Coalition Teamwork in 2009-2011. He currently chairs the Research Task Group on Human Systems Integration Approach to Cyber Security. He received an Individual Scientific Achievement Award of NATO Science and Technology Organization in 2018. Yantsislav is a member of the International Sociological Association Research Committee 01 Armed Forces and Conflict Resolution and is a founding member of the NATO Defense College Alumni Association in Bulgaria. Yantsislav has published more than 200 monographs articles and research papers in the field of sociology of the military human factors in defence organisations different aspects of civil-military relations interethnic relations in Bulgaria in Bulgarian English and Russian languages.   Daniel P. McDonald is an internationally recognized authority on organizational climate assessment performance improvement and organizational culture. He has over 30 years of experience as a scientist supporting the Department of Defense in various roles; and a consultant to hundreds of senior and executive leaders seeking excellence within their ranks. He developed and institutionalized the Defense Equal Opportunity Climate Assessment (DEOCS) Assessment to Solutions process throughout the Department. The DEOCS continues to support 17000 Commanders annually with assessments tools and resources giving a voice to over 3.6M members of the Force and supporting the prevention of discrimination harassment assault and suicide. For this sea change moment in the department he received the DoD Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service in 2015. Daniel has published over 100 scientific articles and reports. He has edited three books on diversity culture and organizational performance and held a Research Fellowship with the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area. He holds an MS in Industrial Engineering and Systems Management and a Ph.D. in Applied Experimental and Human Factors Psychology from the University of Central Florida. Daniel is also the owner and CEO of Performance Absolute LLC.