Theresan Military Academic Forum 2025 (TMAF 2025)
The Theresan Military Academic Forum 2025 (TMAF 2025) is a scientific symposium that seeks to further transfer knowledge and develop the necessary skills, responsibility, and autonomy inherent to successful basic officer education. The TMAF includes a general orientation as well as a cyber specialisation, conceived to help military leaders cope with future challenges.
The theme of TMAF 2025 is "WarTech Nexus: Industrialising the Future of Autonomous Warfare". We believe that scientific-based knowledge is vital to increase operational readiness. Digitalisation, automatisation, and autonomisation have had a profound impact on modern warfare. The use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are just two examples of developments that are influencing the characteristics of warfare today while challenging—among others—military planners, Western values, and the international legal framework. Recent developments show that not all powers share these concerns; consequently, we must ask: “Is the Global West losing its warfighting edge?”
Participation opportunities
Options for participation a maximum of three persons per institution may participate as follows:
| Priority | Contribution | Administration |
| 1 | Lecture with publication | Free board & lodging |
| 2 | Lecture without publication | Free board |
| 3 | Participation | Conference fee (€45,-/day) |
| 4 | Publication | No charges |
Submitted contributions will be subject to a double peer review. They will be published by our cooperating partner, "The Defence Horizon Journal" (online), as well as in "Armis et Litteris" (hardcopy). The TMAF focuses on the education of future generations of military officers. Therefore, we integrate officer cadets and students into the symposium. Thus, we kindly invite participants to bring an officer cadet or student from the home institution and include them in the presentation, if possible. Considering the priorities listed above, the organising team will assign the available slots on a first-come, first-served principle. For the programme design and the necessary preparations, we require your binding commitment to participate. Therefore, we ask you to verify your ability to participate through your national (military) diplomatic chain of command before accepting the invitation.
The deadline for registration is 23rd March 2025!
Please note that for participation with priority 1, regardless of the number of integrated speakers, accommodation and meals free of charge will be provided to only one (1) person/author. In addition to thematic discussions, numerous side events will be offered to promote, deepen, and broaden (military) cultural exchanges; the nature of these exchanges will be decided depending on the pandemic situation, the weather and the interests of the participants.
Procedures for publication
Interested participants are cordially invited to apply with an abstract according to the following guidelines:
| Phase | Deadline |
| Call for Papers (submission of abstract with up to 250 words; endnotes not included; CV; template format) | 06th January 2025 |
Information to the author about acceptance of the article by the TMAF Scientific Committee | 19th January 2025 |
Submission of the article for publication (3000-5000 words endnotes not included; template format) | 07th March 2025 |
| Review phase | 07th March - 09th May 2025 |
| Re-submission date for required modifications (if necessary) | 30th May 2025 |
| Publication availability online (TDHJ) | 30th May 2025 |
| Availability of the publication "Armis et Litteris" | 30th September 2025 |
For submitting abstracts (including a CV), please use the format template "TMAF Short Essay", which you can find below respectively on www.emilyo.eu/node/878 and send them to tmaf@bmlv.gv.at. If a contribution is accepted, we request a picture of the author & speaker for designing the programme and the publications.
Download: Milestones, Call for Papers, Fact Sheet, Short Essay, Long Essay
Quality management of publication entries
All publication submissions are subject to a double peer review,
- in cooperation with "The Defence Horizon Journal (TDHJ)",
- under the auspices of the TMAF Scientific Committee and are published
- in TDHJ (ISSN: 2710-3722 online; www.thedefencehorizon.org) respectively "Armis et Litteris"
Provisional time-schedule
| Monday, 5th May 2025 | arrival and icebreaker |
| Tuesday, 6th May 2025 | TMAF (presentation, discussion, reflection) |
| Wednesday, 7th May 2025 | TMAF (presentation, discussion, reflection) |
| Thursday, 8th May 2025 | A cultural excursion to our federal capital, Vienna, will be organised. |
| Friday, 9th May 2025 | departure |
Location
The challenging topic and the unique atmosphere in Wiener Neustadt make the TMAF a special event for participants interested in addressing the burning issues for selecting, training, and assessing military leaders.
Theresan Military Academy
Burgplatz 1
2700 Wiener Neustadt
Application
Registration for the TMAF 2025 has to be made with the registration form by 23th March 2025 at the latest.
Accommodation and rates
Accommodation for the speakers (option 1) will be provided at the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel in Wiener Neustadt, which is located near the Theresan Military Academy. We kindly ask you to book personally by e-mail, stating the password "MilAk-TMAF-Speaker" for your intended participation. Please send us your booking confirmation so we can cover your stay's costs. Please note that we will only cover the costs for the room and breakfast from 5th to 9th May. Further catering will be provided at the Theresan Military Academy.
In addition to the Hilton Garden Inn, the organisation team recommends the Hotel Zentral (0.6 km) and the Hotel Le Park (1.7 km). Both hotels are located near the event location and the Theresan Military Academy and are easily and quickly accessible either by foot or with the offered shuttle service. Transfer to and from the TMAF will be provided exclusively to Hotel Le Parc. The following reduced prices can be guaranteed by booking via mail or phone using the keyword „MilAk-TMAF-participant“only.
Participating students from our EMILYO partner institutions will be provided with free military accommodation and catering.
The cost of accommodation is:
Hotel Hilton Garden Inn (www.hiltonhotels.de/oesterreich/hilton-garden-inn-wiener-neustadt):
€ 115,- for a single - or € 125,- for a double occupancy per night (breakfast: € 25,- per person)
Hotel Le Parc (www.leparc.at/das-hotel):
€ 90,5 for a single - or € 118,- for a double occupancy per night (breakfast: € 18,- per person)
Hotel Zentral (www.hotelzentral.at):
€ 83,- for a single - or € 98,- for a double occupancy per night (breakfast: € 16,- per person)
Transport – exclusively – from/to the above-mentioned hotels to the venue will be provided.
Meals
The daily rate is € 45,00 for all participants and includes lunch and dinner as well as drinks and snacks during the forum.
During the in-processing on the first day, the respective amount of money for all participating days will be requested in cash (paying via credit card is not possible!).