Maksymilian Stela is a CBRN expert at the Biohazard Prevention Centre at the University of Lodz in Poland. During his more than 25 years of military service at the Military Institute of Chemistry and Radiometry, he served as Head of the CBRN Reconnaissance and Decontamination Department, as well as Head of the Laboratory for the Verification of the Chemical Weapons Convention. He also chaired the military standardisation subcommittee on equipment for defence against Weapons of Mass Destruction and was a member of the NATO JCRBND CDG Detection, Identification and Monitoring Panel. He is currently an expert and technical coordinator for CBRN-related projects under the Horizon Europe Programme, the Internal Security Fund, and the EU CBRN CoE Initiative. His main areas of interest include the detection and identification of chemical contamination, the testing of such systems, CBRN incident response procedures, and the CBRN protection of public spaces.