Ezra Friedman (Director)
Ezra Friedman is the strategic adviser covering foreign policy, MENA, energy, climate, and counter-terrorism at the British Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel. He has been particularly active in building the ISYP network across the MENA region and Europe. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Governmental Studies from Reichman University (2014-2017) and an MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics & Political Science (2018-2019). Professionally, Ezra has spent several years working on Israeli, US, and UK foreign policies, the nexus of climate change and national security, great power competition, and nuclear non-proliferation in the Middle East. Ezra has attended the ISYP conferences in Nagasaki (2015) and Astana (2017) as well as various track II dialogues throughout the MENA region and Europe. He has been a member of the ISYP leadership team since August 2017.

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Alice Spilman (Deputy Director)
Alice is a PhD candidate at the University of Birmingham and a Policy Fellow at the British American Security Information Council (BASIC). Her thesis research focuses on normative ideas and discourse around nuclear weapons, and in particular looks at the concept of nuclear responsibility. At BASIC, Alice has been a part of the Programme on Nuclear Responsibilities since 2019. She has co-facilitated a number of Track 2 and Track 1.5 dialogues and co-authored the recently published Nuclear Responsibilities Toolkit.

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Talia Weiss (Deputy Director)
Talia Weiss is a PhD student in experimental particle physics at Yale University. She leads the Yale Kimball Smith Series on science, ethics and international affairs, and she previously developed a similar program for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Talia received an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Chicago and a B.S. in Physics from MIT. She has written and spoken on the history of scientific self-regulation, lessons learned from the case of Nazi nuclear physicists, and how scientists who invented gene editing technologies viewed the ethics of their research.

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Elisabeth I-Mi Suh (Secretary)
Betty is a PhD fellow at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg (IFSH) and a Research Fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in Berlin. Her dissertation discusses North Korea’s nuclear signaling vis-à-vis the United States. Her work focuses in particular on military and security developments in the Asia Pacific. Betty is generally interested in issues of nuclear arms control, disarmament, and non-proliferation. She previously worked at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) and the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF/HSFK).

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Daniel Ajudeonu
Daniel Ajudeonu is the Deputy Partnerships Coordinator at Youth for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. He was a member of the organising team for the first Youth Meeting of State Parties to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons held in Vienna in June 2022. Previously, he was a contributing researcher at The Effective Institutions Project, and a research assistant at CoronaNet Research Project. In 2021, Daniel was an African representative at the Africa-Europe Partnership Summit hosted by the Council of European Municipalities and Regions. He was also an Expert at Common Purpose Global Leadership Experience’21. Daniel is a member of Common Futures Conversations at Chatham House, a Fellow and Honorary Global Advisor at the American Academy of Project Management (AAPM), and an active member of the Effective Altruism movement. He is an Honorary Doctorate Degree candidate at Commonwealth University, and an alumnus of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP).

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Nicolas Alejandro Ayala Arboleda
Nicolas is a research assistant and graduate student of Politics and Technology (M.Sc.) at the Technical University of Munich. His experience includes working in research and programme management at the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs and being co-founder and the head of partnerships for the Responsible Technology Hub. Nicolas focuses on the impact of technologies, such as space-enabled capabilities and neurotechnology, on peace and war.

Jasmine Auda
Jasmine Auda is the Co-Founder and COO of Ambit Advisory, a non-governmental organization working on security and development issues across the Middle East. Previously, she was the Deputy Managing Director at the Middle East Scientific Institute for Security (MESIS), an NGO based in Jordan, and associated with the Royal Scientific Society. In this capacity, Jasmine led the design and development of programs that addressed Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) risks to security in the region. Jasmine received her undergraduate degree in Political Science from New York University and a Master’s Degree in Political Economy from King’s College London.

Shira Cohen
Shira Cohen is a Political Science Ph.D. student at the University of California, Berkeley, specializing in International Relations and Methods. Her research interests include military strategy, emerging technologies, and religion. Shira holds a B.A. from the Honors Track in Security, Strategy, and Decision-Making and from the M.A. thesis track in Government, Diplomacy, and Strategy at Reichman University in Israel. Her MA dissertation explored the decision-making process of an ancient religious leader by using a multi-method approach, including Game Theory, Prospect Theory, and Applied Decision Analysis. Before starting her Ph.D., she worked as the academic director of the B.A. Honor’s Track, which she graduated from, and as a research assistant at various research institutes. Among her publications, she published an article on the first international crisis of AI in the West Point Journal of Politics and Security. Furthermore, she presented her MA dissertation at international conferences, including MPSA, EPSA, and ISPP.

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Elif Erginyavuz
Elif is a MA Student at Hacettepe University, where she also holds a bachelor’s degree from, studying International Relations. She is researching the nuclear disarmament pillar of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons for her MA thesis. She is a graduate of the OSCE-UNODA Scholarship for Peace and Security training programme. Previously, she worked as an intern at both the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs Directorate for EU Affairs in Turkey. She is currently a Leadership Team Member at International Student/Young Pugwash, research fellow at CTBTO-CENESS and a mentee within the Young Women in Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Mentorship Programme established by the VCDNP and IAI in the framework of the EUNPDC. She is a member of the CTBTO Youth Group and Women in Nuclear Global Young Generation. Her research interests are nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and gender related issues in the nuclear field.

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Pia Hecher
Pia is a Sustainability & Energy Analyst at Longevity Partners. She received her MA in Middle East Studies as a Fulbright Scholar (University of Chicago). Researching Non-Proliferation and Nuclear Policy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) during her MA studies fostered Pia’s interest in creative conflict solutions. Pia has published pieces on US-Iran relations with the IISS and the Atlantic Council. She holds an undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of Cambridge.

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Amnah Ibraheem
Amnah Ibraheem is a PhD Candidate at the University of Tennessee. Her dissertation research examines the role of civil society, domestic institutions, and political systems in the energy sector across the Arab Gulf states and the effects on nuclear energy development. She previously worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, also attending trainings at multiple US National labs including Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York and Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico. She is a member of the Middle East Next Generation of Arms Control Specialists (MENACS), a programme of the James Martin Center for Non-proliferation Studies (CNS) at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

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Haneen Khalid
Haneen is a PhD student at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, focusing on nuclear non-proliferation and arms control. She is a Board Fellow at the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists and connected with the Centre for International Strategic Studies and Program on Science and Global Security at Princeton. She completed her Masters as an Obama Foundation Scholar at the University of Chicago, and has led both policy and grassroots initiatives to advance the goals of arms control and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons in South Asia, the United States and beyond, winning the Audience Choice Award at King’s College London’s inaugural “Arms Control Idol” event. She is committed to bringing science and diplomacy closer together to advance peace and security for all, and building a networked approach for connecting leaders and professionals from these fields around the world.

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Dylan Land
Dylan recently received a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School, with a concentration in Nuclear Deterrence and Technological Innovation. Dylan’s continued research explores emerging technologies’ impact on strategic nuclear deterrence, with particular focus on multi-domain deterrence, novel weapons delivery systems, and U.S. grand strategy. Before attending the Fletcher School, Dylan received a B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Oregon Clark Honors College.

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Haruka Noishiki
Haruka Noishiki has worked as Program Officer for The Congressional Study Groups at Former Members of Congress since October 2021. She graduated from Tufts University in Boston, USA with a B.S. in Psychology and International Relations with a concentration in Security. She received High Honors for her Senior Honors Thesis on cartographic influences on threat perception in East Asian territorial disputes. She previously interned at the Center for Advanced Defense Studies, UN Office for Disarmament Affairs, Eurasia Group, U.S.-Asia Institute, Beyond the Bomb, and The Asia Foundation. At Tufts, she founded and advised Women in International Relations and served as Editor-in-Chief for Hemispheres, Tufts’ journal of international affairs. She was born and brought up in Japan, and has since spent a few months or years in California, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Paris before settling in DC where she is based out of currently. She joined the ISYP Leadership Team in the summer of 2022.

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Laura Rose O’Connor
Laura Rose is a Senior Project Officer at Ottawa Dialogue, where she has been for the past three years. She is also a Research Associate at the Council for Strategic and Defense Research, New Delhi, India. Her work focuses on Track Two, non-proliferation, environmental security, and gendered elements of conflict. She holds an undergraduate degree in Political Science and Communication from the University of Ottawa.

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Kseniia Pirnavskaia
Kseniia Pirnavskaia is doing her master’s degree in Science and Technology Policy at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST, South Korea), ​completing her minor track in nuclear policy together with Nuclear Non-Proliferation Education & Research Center (NEREC). Currently she is working as a research intern at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-proliferation (VCDNP). Prior to joining the VCDNP, she worked as an intern at the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) and the PIR Center, as well as a research assistant at the Korea Policy Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. She holds a BA in International Scientific and Technological Cooperation from National Research Nuclear University Moscow Engineering Physics Institute (MEPhI). Kseniia is also a graduate of the Peace and Security Scholarship funded through the UN Office of Disarmament Affairs and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, as well as a member of BASIC’s Emerging Voices Network and a member of Russian Young Pugwash. She is an educational coordinator for the CTBTO Youth Group; and NEREC Summer Fellowship and Stanford-MEPhI Young Professionals Nuclear Forum alumna. Kseniia is also a founder and a host of the YouTube non-proliferation and disarmament videocast “Nuclear Pep Tak” and the founder of the Moscow Science Diplomacy School. Kseniia is currently doing her research on the ways nuclear justice for the survivors of nuclear testing have been addressed in the cases of Marshall Islands and Kazakhstan.

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Natalya Samoylovskaya
Natalya is an associate editor of the Journal of International Analytics and junior researcher at the Center of Euro-Atlantic Security of the Institute for International Studies, MGIMO-University, Russia. She is also a chair of the Russian Student / Young Pugwash Group under the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Shane Ward
Alongside his role with ISYP, Shane is the Coordinator of Student Young Pugwash UK and sits on the board of Student Pugwash USA. His research focuses principally on transatlantic extended nuclear deterrence and nuclear modernization in the United Kingdom, his home country. Shane works as a transatlantic business development consultant with the European-American Business Organization, and formerly interned with the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington, DC. He has been published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and Nukes of Hazard and presented research at the 2021 CSIS PONI fall conference. He holds a BA in Politics with a Security concentration from Bates College.

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Lihao Yan
Lihao Yan is a PhD student at Yale University studying theoretical condensed matter physics. He grew up in Beijing, China and he received his B.S. from the University of Notre Dame where he double majored in physics and philosophy. He is particularly interested in the moral and political issues in the current society. His personal experience as an international student provides insights into the ethical and political issues surrounding the international science community. His experience also motivates him to actively engage in activities and conversations at the boundary of science and society.

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