ISYP Leadership

The International Student/Young Pugwash Leadership Team represents a range of geo-political regions and areas of expertise. Members of the Leadership Team are responsible for:

The organization of annual conferences and other international events;
The promotion and co-organization of regional events, such as workshops, consultations and meetings;
The relations of ISYP with the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs;
The future of International Student/Young Pugwash.

Ezra Friedman (Director)

Ezra Ezra Friedman is the Political Adviser for regional and security issues at the British Embassy Tel Aviv. Ezra co-founded the Israel Student Pugwash branch in March 2015. He has been particularly active in building the ISYP network within both Israel and other regional dialogue initiatives. Previously, Ezra was a Project Manager for the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Israel Office, where he managed the regional security portfolio (2019-2020). Ezra was also a research assistant as part of the Iran Programme at the Institute for National Security Studies (2017-2018). He holds a bachelor’s degree in Governmental Studies from the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (2014-2017), specializing in global affairs, conflict resolution, counter-terrorism, and homeland security as well as an MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics & Political Science (2018-2019). Professionally, Ezra has spent several years both working on and researching the Iran nuclear programme, MENA security dynamics, the nexus of climate change and national security, as well as great power competition in the Middle East. Ezra has attended the ISYP conferences in Nagasaki (2015) and Astana (2017) as well as various round tables throughout the MENA region (2014-Present). He has been a member of ISYP Leadership since August 2017.

Alice Spilman (Deputy Director)

Alice 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.

Talia Weiss (Deputy Director)

Talia 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.

Natalya Samoylovskaya

Natalya 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.

Elif Erginyavuz (Public Relations Co-Officer)

Elif Elif is a MA Student at Hacettepe University studying International Relations. Her research focuses mainly on nuclear disarmament. She is currently a CTBTO Youth Group (CYG) Member. Her interest in nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation further increased with her attendance to the 4th Edition of the OSCE-United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) Scholarship for Peace and Security training programme and the International Safeguards Policy and Information Analysis-Intensive Summer Course 2021 organized by the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS).

Pia Hecher (Advisory Board Coordinator)

Pia 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.

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.

Elisabeth I-Mi Suh (Secretary)

Betty Betty is a PhD fellow at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg (IFSH), a Research Fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) and a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP). Her dissertation discusses the role of its nuclear weapons (development) program in North Korea’s signaling vis-à-vis the United States. Her work focuses on issues of nuclear security and non-proliferation.

Shane Ward (Public Relations Officer)

Shane2 Shane is a recent graduate of Bates College in the United States, where he studied politics and history with a security concentration, and served as chapter president for the United Nations Association. Originally from the U.K., he spent the summer working for the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington, DC. He is now working with the European-American Business Organization in transatlantic business development consulting in New York City. His work has focused principally on transatlantic extended nuclear deterrence and nuclear modernization and policy in the United Kingdom.

Previous Leadership Teams

The ISYP Leadership Team was previously known as the Executive Board.

2018-20

Anna Péczeli (Chair)
Poul-Erik Christiansen
Koji Enomoto
Kentaro Ide
Moritz Kütt
Roberta Mulas
Mahsa Rouhi
Ezra Friedman
Natalya Samoylovskaya

2015-17

Anna Péczeli (Chair)
Poul-Erik Christiansen
Cameron Harrington
Kentaro Ide
Petr Korzun
Moritz Kütt
Roberta Mulas
Mahsa Rouhi
Tong Zhao

2014

Karim Kadry (Chair)
Ranieri Argentini
Sandra Ionno-Butcher (Liaison with the Pugwash Council)
Poul-Erik Christiansen
Kentaro Ide
Maryam Javan Shahraki
Moritz Kütt
Petr Korzun
Anna Peczeli
Tong Zhao

2013

Karim Kadry (Chair)
Ranieri Argentini
Sandra Ionno-Butcher (Liaison with the Pugwash Council)
Poul-Erik Christiansen
Kentaro Ide
Maryam Javan Shahraki
Moritz Kütt
Petr Korzun
Anna Peczeli
Benjamin Rusek
Tong Zhao

2012

Benjamin Rusek (Chair)
Ranieri Argentini
Sandra Ionno-Butcher (Liaison with the Pugwash Council)
Poul-Erik Christiansen
Maryam Javan Shahraki
Karim Kadry
Petr Korzun
Rian Leith
Kate Marvel
Tong Zhao

2011

Benjamin Rusek (Chair)
Ranieri Argentini
Sandra Ionno-Butcher (Liaison with the Pugwash Council)
Poul-Erik Christiansen
Maryam Javan Shahraki
Karim Kadry
Petr Korzun
Rian Leith
Kate Marvel
Tong Zhao

2010

Benjamin Rusek (Chair)
Ranieri Argentini
Jeffrey Boutwell (Liaison with the Pugwash Council)
Maryam Javan Shahraki
Karim Kadry
Rian Leith
Kate Marvel
Wakana Mukai

2009

Benjamin Rusek (Chair)
Ranieri Argentini
Jeffrey Boutwell (Liaison with the Pugwash Council)
Maryam Javan Shahraki
Karim Kadry
Rian Leith
Kate Marvel
Wakana Mukai
Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra

2008

Benjamin Rusek (Chair)
Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra
Jeffrey Boutwell (Liaison with the Pugwash Council)
Karim Kadry
Rian Leith
Kate Marvel
Irna van der Molen
Wakana Mukai

2007

Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra (Chair)
Benjamin Rusek (Secretary)
Jeffrey Boutwell (Liaison with the Pugwash Council)
Karim Kadry
Rian Leith
Kate Marvel
Irna van der Molen
Wakana Mukai

2006

Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra (Chair)
Benjamin Rusek (Secretary)
Jeffrey Boutwell (Liaison with the Pugwash Council)
Jessy Cowan-Sharp
Rian Leith
Irna van der Molen
Wakana Mukai
Nagappan Parasuraman

2005

Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra (Chair)
Benjamin Rusek (Secretary)
Arthur Petersen (Treasurer)
Jeffrey Boutwell (Liaison with the Pugwash Council)
Moira Goodfellow
Magdalena Kropiwnicka
Rian Leith
Nagappan Parasuraman

2004

Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra (Chair)
Joseph Rotblat (Liaison with the Pugwash Council)
Moira Goodfellow
Magdalena Kropiwnicka
Nagappan Parasuraman
Arthur Petersen (Treasurer)
Pablo Suarez
Youssouf Salami

2003

Hugo Estrella (Chair)
Joseph Rotblat (Liaison with the Pugwash Council)
Tom Borsen Hansen
Magdalena Kropiwnicka
Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra
Pablo Suarez
Youssouf Salami

2002

Hugo Estrella (Chair)
Joseph Rotblat (Liaison with the Pugwash Council)
Tom Borsen Hansen
Magdalena Kropiwnicka
Clayton Nall
Alberto Salazar
Youssouf Salami
Joe Wemin

2001

Hugo Estrella (Chair)
Joseph Rotblat (Liaison with the Pugwash Council)
Tom Borsen Hansen
Magdalena Kropiwnicka
Clayton Nall
Alberto Salazar
Gina van Schalkwyk
Joe Wemin