Alexander Ghionis

Dr. Alexander Ghionis is a Fellow in UNIDIR’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme and a Harvard Sussex Program Research Fellow in Chemical and Biological Security based in SPRU (Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex). He is also an associate researcher with CBWNet and a member of the Chemical Weapons Convention Coalition. His expertise lies in the chemical and biological weapons (CBW) prohibition regime, with a particular interest in the socio-technical dynamics of governance regimes.

Alexander’s doctoral research critically examined processes of organisational changing and cultural evolution in the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Part of this work analysed how counterterrorism and non-state actor narratives and responses developed within, and shaped, the OPCW’s implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). As part of his doctoral studies, Alexander interned in the OPCW’s Office of Strategy and Policy.

Having worked on chemical weapons issues since 2014, he is currently co-investigator on a research project exploring the challenges and policy implications posed by artificial intelligence for the CBW prohibition regimes. Alexander has written and presented widely on CWC issues, including recently on the OPCW-civil society relationship, and on the 2023 CWC 5th Review Conference, published with UNIDIR.