Held on the margins of the ninth session of the Working Group for Strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), this event explored key considerations in designing a science and technology advisory mechanism for the Convention.
The event drew on the experience of comparable bodies to show the benefits of science and technology review mechanisms, highlight their value and inform and support ongoing design processes under the BWC.
Organized as part of UNIDIR’s Science and Technology Watchtower project, and in collaboration with the BWC Implementation Support Unit and its joint series of Technical Briefs on emerging technologies and the Biological Weapons Convention, this event focused particularly on questions surrounding the identification of topics within a scientific advisory body, the dynamics of consensus in such bodies, as well as questions surrounding their composition.
Event recording
Speakers
- Dr Andrea Leisewitz, Director of Integrity, Safety and Ethics in Research, Universidad San Sebastián.
- Madeleine Hamel, Project Lead, Science and Technology, United Nations University Centre for Policy Research.
- Anne-Sophie Stevance, Policy Director, International Science Council.
- Ljupčo Gjorgjinski, BioResilience, North Macedonia.
Moderated by Dr James Revill, Head of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme, UNIDIR.
When and where
Thursday, 20 August 2026 | 13:15 – 14:45 CEST | Building A, Room IX, Palais des Nations, Geneva and online.
Further information
For any questions, please contact Clarisse Bertherat at clarisse.bertherat@un.org or Federico Mantellassi at federico.mantellassi@un.org.
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