Scientific Advisory Group: Informal Intersessional Work

Intersessional Progress on the TPNW

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» Scientific Advisory Group

Gender and Nuclear Weapons

Complementarity

Security Concerns

The First Meeting of States Parties decided to create a Scientific Advisory Group composed of 15 members, taking into account the need for a comprehensive spread of relevant fields of scientific and technological expertise, gender balance and equitable geographical distribution. It was mandated to report to the second Meeting of States Parties on the status and developments regarding nuclear weapons, nuclear weapon risks, the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons, nuclear disarmament and related issues, as well as to identify and engage scientific and technical institutions in States parties and more broadly to establish a network of experts to support the goals of the Treaty. The SAG was established in February 2023.

The Scientific Advisory Group presented two reports at the Second Meeting of States Parties: one on their activities and one on the current status of nuclear weapons risks and humanitarian impacts. This report provided an overview of existing and new research on these topics and provided suggestions for further research. Other working groups requested information from the Scientific Advisory Group at the Second Meeting of States Parties.

At the third Meeting of Stats Parties to the TPNW, the Scientific Advisory Group presented a report on its work during the intersessional period (November 2023 to December 2024) and reflections on future activities in 2025.

In Decision 4, the third Meeting of States Parties to the TPNW established an intersessional consultative process, between 3MSP and the first Review Conference, to evaluate the renewal of the mandate and terms of reference of the Scientific Advisory Group. The review process among States Parties and signatories, with the involvement of the Scientific Advisory Group and other relevant stakeholders and experts, is tasked to make recommendations to the Review Conference in this regard. Mexico was appointed as coordinator for this consultative process.

Members

Kouamé Rémi Adjoumani is Technical Advisor to the Radioprotection, Nuclear Safety and Security Authority of Côte d'Ivoire, he is also an IAEA expert in nuclear security. He is an engineer in medical imaging and has 21 years of experience in radiation and nuclear safety, security.
Bashillah Bt. Baharuddin is a Senior Research Officer at the Malaysian Nuclear Agency, managing the Nuclear Governance and CTBT Unit. With over 20 years of experience, she advises the government on nuclear governance and emerging technopolitical issues particularly 3S and non-proliferation. She holds a PhD in Politics and International Studies from Warwick University, and MSc in Geology .
Erlan Batyrbekov is the Director-General of the National Nuclear Center of Kazakhstan. He has worked on nuclear reactor operation and on converting the Semipalatinsk Site from military uses. He serves on the UN group of government experts on nuclear disarmament verification and is chair of CTBTO Working Group B.
André Johann Buys is a nuclear engineer and after 30 years as a senior manager in the South African nuclear and defence industries, he was a professor at the University of Pretoria. He has contributed to many national and international projects in areas such as nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.
Jans Fromow-Guerra MD, MSc, PhD has worked for nuclear disarmament within IPPNW since 1991, serving now as LA Vice-president. His main areas of interest are the effect of arms spending on health and development and the link between nuclear arms and climate change from a global and public health perspective.
Ivana Nikolic Hughes is President of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and a Senior Lecturer in Chemistry at Columbia University. She holds a BS from Caltech and a PhD from Stanford University in chemical engineering. Her recent scholarly work focuses on assessment of radiological conditions near former nuclear testing sites.
Bwarenaba Kautu
Moritz Kütt leads the Working Group „Science and Disarmament“ at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg. He studied physics (PhD) and political science (BA) at Technische Universität Darmstadt. He researches the elimination of nuclear-weapon programmes and plans to establish a nuclear disarmament laboratory.
Patricia Lewis (co-chair) has held leadership positions at Chatham House, Center for Nonproliferation Studies, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) and VERTIC. A dual national of Ireland and the United Kingdom, Dr Lewis holds a BSc in Physics (Manchester) and a PhD in Nuclear Structure Physics (Birmingham).
Zia Mian (co-chair) is a physicist and co-director of Princeton University's Program on Science and Global Security. He is co-editor of the international technical journal Science & Global Security, co-chair of the International Panel on Fissile Materials (IPFM), and a co-founder of the Physicists Coalition for Nuclear Threat Reduction.
Sébastien Philippe
Petra Seibert is a retired professor of meteorology in Vienna, Austria. Her work includes atmospheric modelling applied to nuclear-power-related risks and CTBT verification. She is a member of the International Nuclear Risk Assessment Group (INRAG), and, since 1999, of the Austrian delegation to CTBTO's technical working group B.
Noël Francis Stott works for VERTIC with a focus on establishing regional research and innovation ‘hubs’ in Africa, Central Asia and Latin America as a means to support global capacity for nuclear disarmament verification. He previously led a project at ISS to enhance Africa’s role in international efforts to strengthen disarmament and non-proliferation.
Gerardo Suárez is a professor at the Institute of Geophysics at the National University of Mexico (UNAM). He is an engineer from UNAM and has a PhD in geophysics from MIT. He served as Vice President of Scientific Research at UNAM and as the first director of the International Monitoring System of the CTBT.
A K M Raushan Kabir Zoardar is Chief Scientific Officer and Head, Nuclear Safeguards at Bangladesh Atomic Energy Regulatory Authority. He is responsible for ensuring Bangladesh’s compliance with the IAEA Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement under the NPT. He has 25 years of experience in radiation and nuclear safety, security & safeguards.