UNIDIR Expert Network on Nuclear Dangers

The UNIDIR Expert Network on Nuclear Dangers brings together experts to explore various aspects of addressing nuclear dangers through nuclear risk reduction tools and wider arms control and disarmament.

The network provides a platform to explore new ideas and bring fresh, diverse perspectives to the evolving nuclear dangers and is linked to UNIDIR’s work around nuclear risk reduction, nuclear disarmament verification and work on the nuclear dialogue.

Key responsibilities and strategic objectives of the network include:

  1. Exploring perspectives of nuclear risks and measures to mitigate them alongside network experts from around the world
  2. Discussing opportunities for broader policy options in nuclear disarmament verification, including verification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and a future Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty-related agreement
  3. Promoting and facilitating multilateral cross-regional dialogue on nuclear disarmament, nonproliferation and arms control

The network serves as a mechanism for generating new ideas related to nuclear risk reduction, arms control and disarmament, developing them within the expert community, and presenting them to Member States and other stakeholders.

The UN Security Council Chamber in New York (© 2018, UN Photo/Ariana Lindquist)

This work is carried out across several UNIDIR projects in cooperation with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at Nanyang Technological University, Princeton University’s Program on Science and Global Security, the University of the Western Cape, the Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg, the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association (CACDA) and Open Nuclear Network, amongst others. 

Expected outcomes

The network aims to achieve the following outcomes:

  1. Broaden and deepen the communities of practice engaged in addressing nuclear dangers with a particular focus on global south perspectives.
  2. Draw on this network to co-produce and socialize technically and politically feasible approaches to enhancing transparency.
  3. Share findings from across the network in international process and other activities linked to nuclear disarmament.

Underlying this approach is the core objective of reducing nuclear dangers and bolstering the wider nuclear arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation regimes.