UNIDIR, in collaboration with the European Union, is hosting a side event to the 81st session of the UN General Assembly First Committee to present findings from the first year of UNIDIR’s Science and Technology Watchtower horizon scanning effort, covering developments across the disarmament spectrum.
Keeping abreast of today’s fast pace of innovation requires the systematic identification of relevant developments, as well as the timely analysis of their potential positive and negative impacts on disarmament and international security. The three-year horizon scanning effort of UNIDIR’s Watchtower seeks to identify key scientific and technological innovations with relevance to selected disarmament domains.
The event will highlight scientific and technological developments identified over the past year in the areas of conventional arms and ammunition, nuclear weapons, and chemical and biological weapons. It will provide the diplomatic community with a succinct, accessible bird’s-eye view of emerging trends impacting their domain.
Agenda
- Welcome remarks
- Introduction and session framing
- Presentation of UNIDIR’s Science and Technology Watchtower horizon scanning findings
- Conventional arms and ammunition
- Nuclear weapons
- Chemical and biological weapons
- Q&A session
Speakers
- Sarah Grand-Clement, Senior Researcher, Security and Technology and Conventional Weapons Programme, UNIDIR
- Sarah Ruth Opatowski, Associate Researcher, Security and Technology and Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme, UNIDIR
- Clarisse Bertherat, Researcher, Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme, UNIDIR
Moderated by Federico Mantellassi, Researcher, Security and Technology Programme, UNIDIR
When and where
Tuesday, 20 October 2026 | 13:15 – 14:30 EDT | In person (Conference Room 8, United Nations Headquarters, New York) and online.
Check your local time here.
Participants
The event is open to State representatives, civil society, academics and industry experts working on, or interested in, science and technology issues pertaining to international peace and security, and disarmament and arms control.
Please note that participants joining us in person must have a valid visitor pass or long-term badge to enter United Nations Headquarters, as UNIDIR is unable to facilitate entry arrangements.
RSVP
For in-persone and online participation please register here.
Further information
For any questions, please contact Federico Mantellassi at unidir-stwatchtower@un.org.
In collaboration with
