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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Paris:20210412T080000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20210412T170000
DTSTAMP:20260514T060938
CREATED:20210412T114503Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240527T114657Z
UID:13705-1618214400-1618246800@nonproliferation.eu
SUMMARY:Young Women in Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Mentorship Programme Launch Event
DESCRIPTION:Young Women in Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Mentorship Programme Launch Event\nOn 12 April 2021\, the International Affairs Institute (IAI) and the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation (VCDNP)\, as part of the Young Women and Next Generation Initiative (YWNGI)\, held the first meeting of the recently established Young Women in Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (YWNPD) Mentorship Programme. \nThe YWNPD mentorship programme\, which is organized in the framework of the EU Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Consortium (EUNPDC)\, pairs 19 young women (mentees)\, carefully chosen through a highly-competitive selection process\, with well-established experts (mentors) to engage in a mentoring relationship that envisions\, among other things\, regular video-conferencing sessions. Mentees are also expected to attend conferences\, seminars\, social events\, and other activities to be exposed to networking and career opportunities. \nOpen Nuclear Network Director Laura Rockwood gives her keynote address.\nThe launch event was opened by VCDNP Executive Director Elena Sokova and EUNPDC Chair Sibylle Bauer. Afterwards organisers laid out expectations for the programme and a round of introductions followed. The launch event concluded with a keynote address by Laura Rockwood\, Director of the Open Nuclear Network and member of the YWNGI Advisory Board. Ms. Rockwood provided participants with an overview of her career in the field and tips for how to succeed. She shared stories and anecdotes from her experience\, in particular her work at the International Atomic Energy Agency\, where she served 28 years in the Department of Safeguards and was the principal author of the document that became the Model Additional Protocol. She also provided valuable insights and recommendations on how to thrive in the field\, highlighting that sometimes the best career path is not the most direct nor the one you thought you would take. In her experience\, Ms. Rockwood noted that active listening\, strong writing skills and learning how to structure your thoughts and arguments\, have proved valuable. \nAside from mentors and mentees\, the event was attended by members of the EUNPD Consortium\, of the YWNGI Advisory Board\, and by representatives from the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI). \nRead the event agenda
URL:https://nonproliferation.eu/evenement/young-women-in-non-proliferation-and-disarmament-mentorship-programme-launch-event/
CATEGORIES:Young Women in non-proliferation and disarmament Mentorship Programme
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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Paris:20210413T150000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Paris:20210413T180000
DTSTAMP:20260514T060938
CREATED:20210426T080807Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210426T081115Z
UID:10677-1618326000-1618336800@nonproliferation.eu
SUMMARY:EU Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Next Generation Follow-Up Meeting
DESCRIPTION:Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic\, there are currently few opportunities for the next generation to meet around the world and think together about the great challenges of our times. With these words\, Elena Sokova\, Executive Director of the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation (VCDNP)\, opened the 2021 EU Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Next Generation Follow-Up Meeting. \nThe event – jointly organized by the VCDNP and the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) within the framework of the EU Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Consortium – follows the Next Generation Workshop on non-proliferation and disarmament\, an initiative held annually that brings together outstanding young scholars\, students and professionals to present fresh ideas and solutions to current non-proliferation and disarmament challenges. \nAs stressed by Ettore Greco\, Executive Vice President of IAI\, it is essential to substantially involve the younger generation on these issues in order to not only identify gaps and barriers in the existing policies\, but also to let fresh ideas and new perspectives help to promote innovative forms of cooperation in an era of daunting challenges for multilateralism. Under the same auspices\, the Young Women in Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Mentorship Programme was launched during the same week. \nThe meeting was attended by more than 120 participants\, including women and girls from all over the world and with the most diverse backgrounds. The event was organised in two tracks. The first track was highly informative\, during which two prominent experts addressed respectively biosecurity challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the most current cybersecurity concerns in relation to non-proliferation. The second track of the event was dedicated to networking. Noting that the COVID-19 pandemic has left many young individuals isolated and detached from ongoing activities and has severely limited academic exchanges and training opportunities\, the goal of the second track was to provide a framework for young people to meet\, exchange ideas and promote their work. \nVIEW THE MEETING AGENDA\nThe Impact of COVID-19 and other Bio-Security Challenges\nThe first topic was addressed by Dr. Filippa Lentzos\, Senior Research Fellow at the King’s College London. As pointed by Federica Dall’Arche\, Researcher at IAI and moderator of the panel\, the topic was particularly timely due to recent discussions on the origin of the virus. In order to reach an assessment of the health and societal impacts caused by COVID-19\, Dr. Lentzos walked the participants through an accurate and anguished timeline of the pandemic stressing\, in particular\, the evolution of the Chinese government’s narrative on the spread of the virus\, the role of the World Health Organization and the progressive recognition of the modalities of human-to-human transmission. As the pandemic escalated\, however\, many questions remain unanswered\, according to Dr. Lentzos. The direct impact of the virus on health is still poorly understood and the extent of the indirect and long-term consequences will only fully emerge with time. The enormous socioeconomic effects of the virus\, however\, are already clear. Dr. Lentzos noted how the virus led to the disappearance of 225 million full-time jobs around the world and has exacerbated long-standing economic\, racial and gender divides. Women\, in particular\, are paying the highest price\, comprising 70% of global health and social care personnel. In addition to the consequently increased exposure to risk\, women are also victims of what UN Women has called “the shadow pandemic\,” i.e. a worrying increase in gender-based violence and domestic violence. \n\nThe effects of the pandemic still remain at least partially unknown\, and this is even more true for its origin. As essential as it is to reconstruct a clear picture of what happened to reduce the risk of the introduction of new viruses to the human population\, we still know little about the time\, place and causes that led to the break out of COVID-19. “What should have been a routine science question\,” Dr. Lentzos argued\, “has instead become extremely politically charged.” In early April 2021\, a WHO-China Joint Mission on COVID-19 released a study listing four different possibilities on the origins of the outbreak of the pandemic. The first hypothesis listed is that the virus jumped from an animal directly to a human; the second\, that the virus jumped from an animal to an intermediate host and then to a human; the third hypothesis is that the virus was imported to China via frozen food; the last hypothesis is that it spread because of a lab leak. While\, according to the report\, the second theory seems to be the most likely\, the joint nature of the report raises significant doubts on its mandate and independence. The lack of adequately grounded evidence to favour one hypothesis over another is also a cause of particular concern\, according to Dr. Lentzos. Yet\, understanding the origin of COVID-19 would be essential to strategise on how to prepare for future pandemics. \nDr. Lentzos concluded her remarks noting that biological threats are not limited to the current pandemic. Among other risks\, she included: the potential accidents in biosafety laboratories\, noting that many laboratories are currently under-monitored and under-regulated; deliberate biothreats caused by a growing technical capacity to modify pathogen and transfer them to the human body; and biological information warfare possibly targeting specific individuals or groups. Remarkably\, the effects of biological information warfare are substantially indifferent from those of real\, internationally prohibited biological warfare. This makes disarmament efforts particularly difficult. \nCyber Security and Implications for Non-Proliferation\nThe relevance of cyber security\, as reminded by Mara Zarka\, Project/Events Manager and Research Associate at the VCDNP and moderator of the second panel\, has recently been brought into the spotlight because of the alleged cyberattack to the Natanz nuclear plant in Iran. Although cybersecurity has been on the policymaking eye for over a decade\, these events show that the answers we have come up with still remain largely unsatisfactory. According to Dr. Alexi Drew\, Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Policy Institute at King’s College London\, “most of the cyber issues that we see in international security arise out of a lingering series of misperceptions about what cyber security actually is\, and who does it.” The actors involved are indeed changing rapidly with drastic consequences within the arms control arena. What was traditionally negotiated between States and within international institutions\, is now addressed in far more complex negations because of the growing role of the so-called cyber emerging technologies. As a consequence\, continued Dr. Drew\, today private industries are the new predominant group of actors shaping the cybersecurity field\, with a variable role left to the States. Remarkably\, both private actors and States are increasingly aware of the new balance of power and of who can really set the standards. Cutting-edge technology is no longer directed solely by States’ interests\, with enormous consequences on international governance dynamics. In fact\, according to Dr. Drew\, while technology might seem neutral and apolitical\, it is the result of ethical and political choices. The kind of decisions now happening are about the importance of privacy in next generation technologies and algorithms\, or about how domestic and international standards should be set. And these standards are increasingly set by private actors. \n \nAnother crucial and often underestimated aspect of cyber security has to do with supply chains that contribute to creating broader attack surfaces\, linking private and public digital infrastructures. However\, as Dr. Drew explained\, not everything that takes place in the cyber space can or should be considered as a form of warfare. In the large majority of cases\, it is about cyber espionage\, never intended to cause physical damage. This difference is widespread and yet difficult to explain\, since it is incidents such as the one that happened at the Natanz nuclear plant – actually intended to cause physical damage – that make the headlines. The consequent general failure in grasping these nuances between espionage and attacks remains one of the main barriers to effective policymaking on cybersecurity. The key of the instability risk that should be addressed by cybersecurity is indeed the possibility of escalation due to lack of knowledge\, resulting from a deliberate policy on the side of both States and institutions involved in a cyber event. For instance\, NATO members have never defined the standard beyond which a cyber incident can be considered a full-fledged attack\, thus expanding the deterrent potential. However\, this makes it hard to establish where the line is and represents a critical risk of escalation or “splash effect.” Dr. Drew concluded her remarks noting that cyber capabilities are rapidly proliferating\, both in terms of defence and attack capabilities. \nNetworking session\nDuring this session\, participants were divided in groups and provided with ice-breaking questions. \nThe discussion in the different groups covered both the main pressing challenges to non-proliferation and disarmament as well as ways in which the EUNPDC and its members could do to better engage the next generation and young women in the field. \nREAD TAKEAWAYS FROM THE NETWORKING SESSION
URL:https://nonproliferation.eu/evenement/eu-non-proliferation-and-disarmament-next-generation-follow-up-meeting/
CATEGORIES:Next generation workshop,Young Women and Next Generation Initiative
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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20210429
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20210430
DTSTAMP:20260514T060938
CREATED:20210512T081044Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20210824T161009Z
UID:10732-1619654400-1619740799@nonproliferation.eu
SUMMARY:The European Union’s Role in Non-Proliferation and Disarmament and Its Engagement with Academia and The Younger Generation
DESCRIPTION:On 29 April 2021\, as part of the Young Women and Next Generation Initiative (YWNGI)\, the VCDNP and the International Affairs Institute (IAI) in Rome\, Italy\, with the support of the EU Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Consortium (EUNPDC)\, organized the second public outreach event focused on the EU and its policies on non-proliferation and disarmament\, as well as its engagement with academia and the younger generation. The panellists included former High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice‑President of the European Commission\, Rector of the College of Europe\, Federica Mogherini\, Special Envoy for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation of the European External Action Service (EEAS)\, Ambassador Marjolijn van Deelen\, and the EUNPDC Chair\, Dr. Sibylle Bauer. \n \nIAI’s Executive Vice President Ettore Greco provided welcome remarks and VCDNP’s Executive Director Elena Sokova moderated the session. Over 300 individuals attended the event\, including many of the Young Women in Non‑Proliferation and Disarmament Mentorship Programme participants and other EUNPDC next generation conference and training course individuals. The high level of interest demonstrates the strong need for these discussions and opportunities to interact. \nMs. Federica Mogherini\nFederica Mogherini shared her experience working as the former High Representative\, highlighting the role her team played in 2015 in the final months of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) negotiations with Iran. Stressing that negotiations on the JCPOA are again taking place in Vienna\, Austria\, Rector Mogherini noted the crucial role of the EU in maintaining and monitoring the agreement\, despite the US’s withdrawal in 2018. The EU had a unique role to play in the negotiations as it served as the facilitator and the depository for the text of the agreement. The EU also conducted a fair amount of detailed\, technical work on the agreement to make sure nothing was left to interpretation\, especially regarding sanctions related issues and nuclear commitments. The facilitator role provided the EU with the institutional basis to reach out to the other parties to the JCPOA after the US withdrew\, to ensure that the agreement was preserved and monitored. According to Rector Mogherini\, the EU has a role to play in non‑proliferation and disarmament\, especially given Europe’s history and experience of devastation when arms control fell short\, emphasizing that the EU should become champions in solidifying the international community’s reliability in arms control\, non‑proliferation and disarmament infrastructures and regimes. \nAmbassador Marjolijn van Deelen\nSupporting arms control architecture and treaties\, strengthening multilateral institutions\, and supporting third countries in developing their arms control\, non-proliferation and disarmament architecture is at the core of the EU’s non-proliferation and disarmament strategy. Ambassador Marjolijn van Deelen highlighted that the EU is committed to strengthening the international security environment and recognizes that it cannot tackle global challenges\, like those posed by proliferation risks\, alone. The EU has multiple institutions focused on non-proliferation and disarmament ranging from the EEAS\, which serves as the EU’s diplomatic service\, to the EU Commission which manages the EU’s policies on dual-use export controls and the EU Chemical\, Biological\, Radiological\, and Nuclear Risk Mitigation Centres of Excellence\, to the Joint Research Centre focused on technical issues related to disarmament verification. Nuclear safeguards in the EU are implemented by EURATOM that also provides valuable expertise on international safeguards development to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and EEAS office. In international fora the EU is active in taking common positions in support of existing treaties\, encouraging other States to accede to treaties they are not yet party to\, and supporting institutions\, like the IAEA and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization\, that support these treaties. The EU strongly believes in the powers of multilateral diplomacy to resolve problems peacefully and is devoted to ensuring the international system is fit for purpose. To do this\, the EU works closely in partnership with other institutions and academia. \nDr. Sibylle Bauer\nThe European network of independent non-proliferation and disarmament think tanks\, was established in 2010 with the full support of all EU Member States to contribute to independent research and education activities in non-proliferation and disarmament. Dr. Sibylle Bauer shared with the audience the make-up of the Network\, comprised of over 100 members\, and of the Consortium that coordinates its activities . Dr. Bauer also talked about the various activities\, of which the YWNGI is included\, that the Consortium implements with the support of the EU. Importantly\, it was emphasized that the EUNPDC focuses on a wide range of issues in non-proliferation and disarmament\, ranging from nuclear\, to conventional\, to biological\, to outer space and emerging technologies. It was also stressed that the EUNPDC is not limited to institutions in EU Member States but also includes members from third countries outside the EU. For more information on the EUNPDC and its activities please consult the nonproliferation.eu website. \nThe prepared remarks were followed by a second round of questions seeking panellists’ advice for young women and the next generation interested in entering the field of arms control\, non‑proliferation and disarmament. Rector Mogherini emphasized the importance of leading by example\, noting that the EU delegation sometimes was only composed of women whereas their interlocuters were solely comprised of men. She also noted that to really address the imbalances in the field\, it is important to start with academia and the curricula they encourage their students to follow. The panellists all agreed on a strong list of seven skills and qualities for both professional and personal growth presented by Dr. Sibylle Bauer: \n\nClear thinking and solid analysis;\nExcellence;\nCommitment;\nAuthenticity;\nIntegrity;\nEmpathy\, in which active listening and really caring was stressed; and\nCreative Problem Solving.\n\n“What also is really important\, I think\, is to help others not just get a foot in the door but then to help them stay in the field and climb up.” – Sibylle Bauer \nAdding to this list\, other panellists emphasized the importance of working in teams\, indicating that every role in a team is important and no one role should be perceived as any more or less significant. \n“You need a mix of people that have different competences and when you put those together you can be much stronger.” – Marjolijn van Deelen \nThere was resounding agreement that passion and interest in what one is doing is the best guide to navigating one’s career. Also\, the panellists encouraged participants to not be afraid to try new things and to be willing to go into depth on topics that may not fall within their educational background\, whether it be more policy-oriented or technical. \n“I think passion in what you are doing is the only thing that really counts.” – Federica Mogherini \nSome highlights from the question-and-answer session include insights into the difficulties in forming a common position in the EU\, noting the diversity of the group and the need for fierce\, internal debates. Once a common position or statement has been agreed\, it serves as an umbrella under which other like-minded countries can align themselves. All speakers stressed that given the divergent views within the EU\, when a common position has been adopted\, especially on controversial matters\, it is a powerful statement that can offer hope to the larger international community and refocus energy on where agreement exists\, and action can be taken.
URL:https://nonproliferation.eu/evenement/the-european-unions-role-in-non-proliferation-and-disarmament-and-its-engagement-with-academia-and-the-younger-generation/
CATEGORIES:Young Women and Next Generation Initiative
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