Working group 5: Nuclear Disarmament in Policy and International Law
Leaders: Dr Sibylle Bauer and Dr Wilfred Wan
Working Group 5 considers the range of issues related to nuclear disarmament in the context of policy and international law. The group, consisting of international experts in the field, will exchange on the impact of ongoing developments in the strategic context, and explore pathways forward to help reinvigorate multilateral arms control and disarmament efforts. Research, anchored in the work of SIPRI staff and associates, will look to fill substantive gaps in the field identified by group members, diving into topics such as the future of arms control, outer space developments, and regional security dilemmas.
The group will also undertake activities aimed to increase broad awareness of nuclear issues and facilitate career entry of the next generation of disarmament experts, including in conjunction with SIPRI’s role as coordinator of the EU Non-proliferation and Disarmament Consortium.
Working group leaders:
Dr Sibylle Bauer
Dr Sibylle Bauer is Director of Studies, Armament and Disarmament at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), with responsibility for SIPRI’s work on arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation; dual-use and arms trade control; emerging technologies; and arms production, arms transfer and military expenditure. She is also the current Chair of the EU Non-proliferation and Disarmament Consortium.
Before joining SIPRI in 2003, Dr Sibylle Bauer was a Researcher at the Institute for European Studies (Université libre de Bruxelles) in Brussels. She holds a PhD jointly from the Free University of Brussels (ULB) and the Free University of Berlin.
Dr Wilfred Wan
Dr Wilfred Wan is the Director of SIPRI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme. His recent research focuses on nuclear weapon risk reduction, nuclear disarmament verification, and other issues related to arms control and disarmament. He is the author of Regional Pathways to Nuclear Nonproliferation (University of Georgia Press, 2018).
Previously he worked at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (Geneva, Switzerland). He has a PhD in political science from the University of California, Irvine.
Publications from Workinggroup 5
2023
Wilfred Wan, Vladislav Chernavskikh (Red.) (2023) Expanding Perspectives on Nuclear Disarmament
“This compendium of working papers features contributions by the members of the Alva Myrdal Centre (AMC) Working Group 5 on Nuclear Disarmament in Policy and International Law, and by students and early-career professionals selected following an open call for abstracts. The first part of the collection—from the Working Group members—features scene-setting pieces which reconsider the notion of ‘nuclear disarmament’ and relevant concepts in the contemporary strategic context. The second part of the collection—from the selected students and early-career scholars—feature original research on an array of topics. These have been sorted into four broad thematic areas: 1) the role of nuclear-armed states in the disarmament space, 2) key processes and mechanisms that can help facilitate disarmament progress, 3) potential impacts of technological advancements, and 4) frameworks and perspectives that can help recast disarmament concepts. Together, the compendium represents an effort to expand the current understanding of the topic, with view to reinvigorating efforts towards a world free of nuclear weapons.”