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On Friday, 18 July 2025, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced the appointments to the panel that will update the world’s knowledge on the impacts of nuclear war.
The panel is mandated to examine “the physical effects and societal consequences” of a nuclear war “on a local, regional and planetary scale, including, inter alia, the climatic, environmental and radiological effects, and their impacts on public health, global socioeconomic systems, agriculture and ecosystems, in the days, weeks and decades following a nuclear war”.
This diverse group of scientists will work together over the coming two years, producing a report that should guide policymaking on nuclear weapons issues for decades to come.
While there is already a wealth of robust research on the effects of nuclear weapons, this has not been comprehensively brought together in 35 years. In this time, there has been major progress in climate and scientific modelling tools and this new study will allow scientists to review the improvements in our understanding of the effects of nuclear war. There have also been major societal and planetary changes, and the resolution recognises “today’s level of interconnectedness and the likelihood of global events having complex, cascading impacts on global systems and societies,” as well as “the fragility of those systems and our planetary boundaries.”
ICAN Executive Director Melissa Parke welcomed the panel’s establishment, saying “we look forward to working together to encourage global understanding of the cascading, cumulative and comprehensive impacts of nuclear weapons.”
The panel will include the following 21 individuals in their personal capacity:
- Arlene Alves dos Reis, Head, Division of Dosimetry at the Brazilian Nuclear Energy Commission (CNEN);
- Ana María Cetto Kramis, former Deputy Director General, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Full research professor at the Physics Institute of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Founder and current holder of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Chair on Science Diplomacy and Heritage at UNAM;
- Manvendra K. Dubey, Senior Scientist and Fellow, Earth Systems Observations, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL);
- Friederike Renate Friess, Senior Scientist, BOKU University, Department of Landscape, Water and Infrastructure, Institute of Safety and Risk Sciences;
- Abel Gonzalez, Senior Adviser to the Argentina Nuclear Regulatory Authority, Olenum member of the National Academy of Sciences of Buenos Aires, the Argentine Academy of Environmental Sciences, the Argentine Academy of the Seas, and the International Nuclear Energy Academy;
- Md Ahsan Habib, Professor at the Department of Chemistry, University of Dhaka, Fellow, Chinese Academy of Sciences;
- Andrew Haines, Professor of Environmental Change and Public Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), Co-Director World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre on Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Health;
- Gi Hoon Hong, former President and Research Professor, Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology;
- Togzhan Kassenova, Senior Fellow, Center for Policy Research, University at Albany, State University of New York, former member of the Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters (ABDM);
- Ausrele Kesminiene-Suonio, Senior Visiting Scientist, Environment and Lifestyle Epidemiology Branch, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC/WHO), former head of the Lithuanian Chernobyl Medical Centre;
- Peter Klimek, Director of the Supply Chain Intelligence Institute, Austria, Associate Professor, Section for Science of Complex Systems, Medical University of Vienna;
- Karina Meredith, Director of Environment Research and Technology at Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Adjunct Professor in the Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences school at University of New South Wales;
- Thobela Nkukwana, Senior Lecturer, University of Pretoria, Sub-editor for the South African Journal of Animal Sciences, Editorial Board member and Sub-editor of Welwitschia International Journal of Agricultural Sciences;
- Sébastien Philippe, research scholar at the Princeton University Program on Science and Global Security, member of the Scientific Advisory Group of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons;
- Laura Revell, Associate Professor in Atmospheric Chemistry at the University of Canterbury, member of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Environmental Effects Assessment Panel (EEAP) panel;
- Neil Rowan, Professor, Faculty of Science and Technological Health, University of the Shannon, Adjunct Professor to the School of Medicine, Nursing and Biomedical Science at the University of Galway;
- Rabia Sa’id, Professor of atmospheric and space-weather physics and a researcher at Bayero University Kano, Co-founder of Nigeria’s Association of Women Physicists;
- Georgiy L. Stenchikov, Professor Emeritus at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Professor of Earth Sciences, Division of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Earth Sciences and Engineering Program, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology;
- Masao Tomonaga, Emeritus Director, Atomic Bomb Hospital, former Director of the Japanese Red Cross Nagasaki Atomic Bomb (Genbaku) Hospital, President of Nagasaki Prefecture Hibakusha Association and current President of IPPNW Nagasaki Branch. A hibakusha from Nagasaki;
- Hüseyin Yalçinkaya, Ankara University Institute of Medical Sciences, Department of Animal Nutrition and Nutritional Diseases, Veterinary Officer at the Turkish Directorate General for Food and Control/Department of Border Control for Animal and Animal Products; and
- Zhao Wuwen, Professor at the Center for Strategic Studies, China Academy of Engineering Physics.