A small group of staff members of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung’s (KAS) Multilateral Dialogue office in Austria gathered in Vienna yesterday, 9 December 2020, to participate in a one-day workshop organized by Atomic Reporters to discuss the current state of nuclear arms control. 

Respecting Austrian Covid-19 precautions, Atomic Reporters staff, and a select group of international arms control experts briefed KAS staff, as well as Austrian defence and foreign ministry officials, on  issues such as the role nuclear weapons play in global security; how to keep the public and policy makers informed; international arms control treaties; and Atomic Reporters’ ongoing information and awareness raising activities. 

The invited expert speakers included: 

• Tariq Rauf, former head of Verification and Security Policy Coordination in the International Atomic Energy Agency and director of the Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Programme at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI);
• Julian Borger, The Guardian’s Washington, D.C.-based world affairs editor;
• Steven Pifer, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center on the United States and Europe, as well as the Director of Brookings’ Arms Control Initiative;
• Francesca Giovannini, Executive Director of the Harvard Belfer’s Initiative on Managing the Atom and non-residential fellow at the Centre for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University;
• Elisabeth Waechter, former head of public information for the Comprehensive Test-Ban-Treaty Organization (CTBTO)
• Benoît Pelopidas, founding director of the Nuclear Knowledges program at Sciences Po (CERI) and affiliate of the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) at Stanford University; and
• Tom Sauer, Assistant Professor in International Politics at the Universiteit Antwerpen and visiting professor at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (CERIS).

Peter Rickwood, founder and director of Atomic Reporters, moderated the event, while Alexander Nitzsche provided an overview of Atomic Reporters media and outreach work since its inception.

The event culminated in a lively and interactive panel discussion on gender equality in the maintenance of international peace and security, moderated by Francesca Giovannini and included: 

• Laura Holgate, former Ambassador to the Vienna Office of the United Nations and the IAEA and current Vice-President for Materials Risk Management at the Nuclear Threat Initiative ( NTI); 
• Mona Khalil, founder and director of MAK Law International and affiliate of the Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict; 
• Jenny Nielsen, information officer in the CTBTO; and 
• Renata Hessmann Dalaqua, Programme Lead for Gender & Disarmament at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR).

Recordings of the panel discussion and of selected interviews with the invited speakers will be published over the next days on the Atomic Reporters website and social media channels.

Recordings of the panel discussion and of selected interviews with the invited speakers will be published over the next days on the Atomic Reporters website and social media channels.

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