Topics covered include:
- International developments vis-a-vis arms control
- Student/Young Pugwash UK
- PeaceJam UK
- British Pugwash Lecture at Hay: Jim Al-Khalili
- Multimedia from events
- Welcoming our Patrons
- The Joseph Rotblat Memorial Trust
April 2021 Newsletter – British Pugwash
Topics covered in the British Pugwash April 2021 Newsletter include:
- OxPeace 2021 – Peace in the Nuclear Era (Conference) – 15th May
- British Pugwash Lecture at Hay – Margaret MacMillan – 1st June
- A selection of articles from around the web
- VIDEO – Cyber & Digital in Warfare (SYP UK workshop)
The newsletter can be found online here…
British Pugwash statement on the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy (March 2021)
British Pugwash is troubled to note the UK Government’s decisions, announced in the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, to increase the UK’s stockpile of nuclear warheads and no longer to reveal the number of these weapons that will be kept operational.…
VIDEO: Peace Workshops, SYP UK, March 2021
Throughout March, Student/Young Pugwash (SYP) UK ran a series of online ‘peace workshops’, bringing together international researchers and policy practitioners to discuss opportunities for international co-operation, arms control and peace.
Some of the sessions were recorded (below).…
SYP’s Project on Ethical Science – Get involved!
The fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) are full of complex ethical questions about risk, responsibility, legality and lethality.
It is vital that the UK’s emerging cohort of STEMists consider ethics questions as part of their daily practice.…
VIDEO: China’s Surveillance Technology Abuse and the Uyghur People
On 20th January, Oxford Student/Young Pugwash hosted Dr. Darren Byler and Rahima Mahmut, to discuss China’s deployment of digital surveillance technologies against Muslim minority groups and the experience of the Uyghur people.…
VIDEO: Ethics & Digital – Feminist cybersecurity and Decolonising AI (5th Nov)
In this SYP UK webinar, Dr Kanta Dihal (Leverhulme Future of Intelligence Centre) discussed her work on Decolonising AI and Julia Slupska (Digital Ethics Lab) talked about feminist cybersecurity.
The Chair was Niamh Healy (UCL), SYP UK President.…
VIDEO: The challenges of UK radioactive waste disposal (15th Dec) – Post-AGM talk
This British Pugwash talk covered the history, science and ethics of radioactive waste management in the UK.
Our guest speaker was Dr Ian Crossland, a specialist with more than 50 years’ experience of the nuclear industry (here).…
VIDEO: Science and Indigenous Peoples (24th Nov)
In this webinar, SYP UK hosted Riley Taitingfong and Dr Hilding Neilson discussed science and technology from the perspective of Indigenous communities.
Riley Taitingfong, a PhD candidate at UCSD (here), introduced her work on gene drives on Pacific Ocean islands in the context of historic and ongoing impacts of settler colonialism and military experimentation.…
VIDEO: Codes for Coders – Killer robots, ethics and the law (17th Nov)
This SYP webinar looked at the role of tech workers and STEM students in efforts to challenge the rise of lethal autonomous weapons (‘killer robots’).
Our guest speaker was Taniel Yusef (WILPF UK), who is researching the views of and current regulatory frameworks for STEMists working on robot-relevant tech.…
VIDEO: Ethical responsibility in open source (nuclear) research (9th Nov)
In this webinar, SYP UK hosted Adina Pintilie, who specialises in applying open sources to research tasks at Ridgeway Information (bio here). Her work involves finding new tools and refining novel research techniques, particularly supporting the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).…
British Pugwash newsletter – November 2020
Topics covered in the British Pugwash November 2020 Newsletter include:
- Remembering Frank Barnaby
- Nuclear Responsibilities Report Launch (BASIC)
- BPG’s AGM and Lecture on nuclear waste policies
- Festival of Ethical Science
- NPT RevCon 2021 – provisional date
- VIDEO: China’s nuclear weapons, with Dr Tong Zhao (SYP UK)
The newsletter can be found online here…
Report & Briefings: Pugwash workshop on hypersonic weapons
In December 2019, International Pugwash hosted a workshop on hypersonic weapons in Geneva.
The meeting brought together 30 participants from various continents, including current and former government officials, scientists, engineers, academics and experts from think tanks and other non-governmental organisations.…
VIDEO: China’s nuclear weapons – Policies, arms control and engagement
On 16th October 2020, a Student/Young Pugwash UK webinar hosted Dr Tong Zhao, a senior fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, based at the Carnegie–Tsinghua Center for Global Policy in Beijing.
… 
Video: Future of the NPT – Russian and European views
On 24th September 2020, British Pugwash Chairman Peter Jenkins CMG spoke in an online roundtable titled ‘Future of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons: A View from Russia and Europe’.
VIDEO: Verification in the Age of Google Earth – Webinar 3
On 9th September 2020, British Pugwash Group Exec member, Dr Richard Guthrie, spoke in a CISD webinar showcasing different open source verification projects, and exploring possible overlaps and synergies between them.…
Video: Post-Covid multilateral cooperation – a chance to achieve a nuclear-weapons-free world?
On 8th September 2020 and to mark the International Day Against Nuclear Testing, SOAS University and the UK Embassy of Kazakhstan hosted a webinar on titled, “Post-COVID Multilateral Cooperation – A Chance To Achieve A Nuclear-Weapons-Free World?”…
VIDEO: Iran and Nuclear Weapons (SYP webinar)
On 3rd August (5pm), Student/Young Pugwash (SYP) hosted its third webinar.
The guest speaker was Sahil Shah, a Policy Fellow at the European Leadership Network and expert on the Iran Nuclear Deal (‘JCPOA’).…
Video: Killer robots? (SYP Webinar)
SYP UK held its second webinar, on the ethical, political and technical issues around lethal autonomous weapons (or ‘killer robots’), on 30th June 2020.
Speakers included:
- Laura Nolan, a software engineer who recently resigned from Google in protest over its involvement with the US DoD’s ‘Project Maven’ – Starts at 0min20s – Slides here
- Elizabeth Minor, an Advisor at Article 36, an NGO that works to develop new legal standards to prevent civilian harm from weapons – Starts at 20mins30s – Slides here
- David Ellwood, a theoretical physicist, mathematician, and Exec Committee member of British Pugwash (former Research Director of the Clay Mathematics Institute) – Starts at 37mins – Slides here
The webinar was chaired by Orlanda Gill, a University of Warwick graduate.…
Video: The pandemic and non-proliferation (SYP webinar)
SYP UK held its first webinar, on the topic how COVID-19 is affecting the fields of arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament (16th June 2020)
The guest speaker was Sebastian Brixey-Williams, Co-Director of the arms control think tank British American Security Information Council (BASIC).…
British Pugwash Newsletter – June 2020
Topics covered in the British Pugwash June 2020 Newsletter include:
- Video – British Pugwash Lecture at Hay Literary Festival – Jim Al-Khalili on ‘The World According to Physics’ (online 2020)
- SYP UK Webinar: The pandemic and non-proliferation, 16th June
The newsletter can be found online here…
British Pugwash Newsletter – May 2020
Topics covered in the British Pugwash May 2020 Newsletter include:
- Pugwash statement on the Open Skies Treaty and New START
- Pugwash statement on NPT Review postponement and risks post-pandemic
- Obituary – Julian Perry Robinson
- Dr Frank Boulton on ‘Nuclear war and public health’
- A selection of relevant articles
The newsletter can be found online here…
New Video: Hypersonic Missiles vs Strategic Stability
Student/Young Pugwash UK has released a video of Matteo Frigoli discussing his research on developments with hypersonic missiles. The presentation is based on research commissioned by British Pugwash.
The presentation covers:
- Technical issues
- Destabilising potential of hypersonics
- US, Russian and Chinese perspectives
- Arms control options
Enjoy!…
British Pugwash Group Annual Report 2019
Topics covered include:
- International developments vis-a-vis arms control
- Student/Young Pugwash UK
- Pugwash mission to Moscow
- Hypersonic missiles research
- EuroPugwash conference
- British Pugwash development / changes
Multimedia from Technology & Peace Conference (SYP UK), 7 March 2020
Student / Young Pugwash UK held its fifth Annual Conference in March 2020, titled ‘Warwick Technology & Peace Conference‘, in association with the Warwick Pugwash Student Society.
It was a multidisciplinary conference about the risks posted by emerging technologies, as well as political and technical solutions to control them.…
British Pugwash welcomes new Patrons from science and defence
British Pugwash Group is delighted to announce the appointment of seven Patrons, all of whom are leading figures from the worlds of science or defence.
Our Patrons are public supporters and advocates for the work of British Pugwash, which seeks to apply independent, scientifically-informed analysis to some of the most challenging issues in international security, arms control and environmental sustainability.…
New on YouTube: People of Science – Sir Joseph Rotblat (Co-founder of Pugwash)
Royal Society / Pugwash Collaboration:
People of Science – Sir Jo Rotblat (featuring Prof Brian Cox & Lord Martin Rees)
We are delighted to announce that the Royal Society video on Pugwash and its founder (Sir Joseph Rotblat) is now available on YouTube (here).…
New research: Hypersonic weapon systems – Implications and arms control (Dec 2019)
Student/Young Pugwash UK is delighted to release a new report on developments with hypersonic missile technology. The paper covers the latest technologies, the key states involved, the risks posed and the potential ways forward for arms control and non-proliferation.…
Major General Sir Hugh Beach – some Pugwash recollections 2002-2019
By Dr Christopher Watson, BPG Exec Committee
Hugh Beach, who died on 4 September 2019, was born on 23 May 1923 to Constance and William H Beach (who was latterly a Major-General & engineer-in-chief of the Indian Army).…
Multimedia available – Ethical Science? – Nottingham University – 23rd October 2019
British Pugwash co-hosted with University of Nottingham Physics Department a mini-conference about ethical issues in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
The conference was open to all ages and disciplines. The agenda is below.…
Pugwash at APPG on drones: ‘Drones, swarming and the future of warfare’
Our Executive Committee member, Sebastian Brixey-Williams, spoke about some of his recent research on marine drones to a meeting organised by three different All Party Parliamentary Groups.
The presentation touched on some of his Pugwash-funded research on how trends in unmanned underwater vehicles might impact submarine-based nuclear weapons systems.…
The Salisbury poisonings – Multimedia from public lecture – SOAS, 15th April 2019
On 26th April 2019, British Pugwash co-hosted a public lecture at SOAS, titled:
The Salisbury poisonings – one year after
Our guest speaker was Dr Richard Guthrie, a member of British Pugwash Executive Committee and an expert on chemical and biological weapons.…
British Pugwash at ‘Capturing Technology. Rethinking Arms Control’ in Germany
On 15th March 2019, a conference was held at the German Federal Foreign Office titled ‘Capturing Technology. Rethinking Arms Control’.
The aim of the Conference was to promote a well-informed international dialogue on the nature and implications of the current technological trends and to discuss whether new solutions are needed to ensure that the global arms control architecture can effectively capture new technologies.…
Pugwash delegation in Moscow to discuss arms control
From 27-29 January, a Pugwash delegation comprising the Secretary General, Paolo Cotta-Ramusino, Chair of British Pugwash Group, Peter Jenkins, and Pugwash Council Members Götz Neuneck, Alexander Nikitin, and Alexander Dynkin had a series of meetings in Moscow to discuss the future of arms control as part of a new Pugwash project.…