BASIC’s Emerging Voices Network is a sustainable global network of high-potential, early career technical and policy experts who have begun to inherit the responsibility to manage nuclear threats.
What is the Emerging Voices Network?
The Emerging Voices Network (EVN) is a digital, global network of high-potential, early career researchers on nuclear weapons and nuclear policy issues. Today’s early career researchers on nuclear issues are increasingly geographically dispersed and alarmingly disconnected from each other, particularly in terms of engagement between different regions. As yet, there is no effective, networked method for enabling sustained dialogue and facilitating collaborative problem-solving between these young people. The EVN exists to fill this gap, and since 2020 has been continuing to work to do so as a 350-member strong network, through events, publications, networking and targeted outreach.
For our pilot cycle, Founding Members of the Network were invited to form working groups, and together, they produced the Network’s flagship policy outputs, centred around the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty conference. Working group topics for the pilot cycle were chosen by our members – reemphasising that the EVN is a members-first network. The EVN continues to review our membership and opens up for applications and nominations a few times a year. The Network is also designed to be reflexive and dynamic rather than static in nature – the design of the working groups, for instance, changes with what our membership perceive to be the most pressing issues for a given period. Furthermore, the Network aims to continuously diversify as it grows, with equity, inclusivity and accessibility being core tenets for the Network, reflected in our targeted outreach efforts in regions such as the Asia-Pacific. Gender parity is not the only marker of true inclusivity, but women and gender minorities make up more than 60% of the Network.
Network Members will either be between the ages of 18 and 35, or been working in the nuclear field for less than 7 years. They will be able to demonstrate formal study or interest in nuclear issues, and will attend in their personal capacity.
We seek to ensure that the EVN remains an equitable, accessible, and inclusive space. To do this, the Emerging Voices Network Code of Conduct has been developed by the EVN Board on behalf of membership which sets out the standards of behaviour that are expected of all members. We hope that it will serve as a useful resource to ensure a culture of safety, respect, and professionalism for all.
Latest Emerging Voices Network Content
See more about what the EVN has been upto below. You can find these posts within our various programme pages. Read more about the nature of our programmes and browse through them by clicking here.
You can find our current programmes by clicking here. To see our completed programmes, visit our archive.
Meet Our EVN Board
Lucia Madero
Lucia Madero is a Senior Associate at Foresight Strategy, and has been a member of EVN since its inception in 2020. She’s previously been the EVN PrepCom Consultant for LATAM, a CTBTO-CENESS Research Fellow, and a presenter at the ISYP Third Nuclear Age Conference, among others.
Nivedita S
S Nivedita is a research fellow with the Energy Law and Policy Team of the Centre for International Law (CIL), National University of Singapore (NUS), where her research explores law and policy issues across the energy, nuclear, ocean, security and environmental sectors. Her primary research interests centre around the intersections between different areas of international law and exploring interdisciplinary approaches that consider historical, social, and cultural dimensions in shaping legal frameworks.
Stephanie Verlaan
Stephanie was most recently a Political Affairs intern with the United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs, and previously worked for the International Peace Bureau and the Australian government. She holds an LL.M. International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, M.A. Intercultural Conflict Management, BA. Social Science, and has written on topics such as drone technology proliferation, contractual relationships between private tech companies and militaries, and nuclear disarmament.
Syeda Saba Batool
Syeda Saba Batool is an Islamabad based Researcher, a recognised woman expert with the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network (APLN), and an alumna of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in Vienna and Hanns Seidel Foundation. She holds an MPhil in International Relations from Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, and is an emerging expert on peaceful nuclear applications, nuclear safety, security, and energy security.
Shaza Arif
Shaza Arif is a Senior Research Associate at the Centre for Aerospace & Security Studies, CASS, Islamabad. Her research interests include emerging technologies with a focus on Artificial Intelligence.
Sophia Poteet
Sophia Poteet is a Research Fellow and Program Coordinator at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, where her work focuses on issues of multilateral nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament. She has previously been a Nuclear Futures Fellow with Ploughshares and a Nuclear Scholar with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Sara Al-Sayed
Sara Al-Sayed is a Kendall Fellow at the Global Security Program, Union of Concerned Scientists, U.S.A. She has a PhD in Electrical Engineering and MA in Philosophy of Technology, both from Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany. Her research focuses on trustworthy remote sensing configurations for nuclear weapons verification.
Mubashar Rizvi
Mubashar is an independent researcher specializing in International Relations and Security Studies, with a focus on Nuclear Deterrence, and the Geopolitics of South Asia. His work explores the intersection of Realpolitik and International Law, and how the two work in tandem to shape the foreign policy postures of smaller states.
Joel Christoph
Joel Christoph is a PhD researcher in economics at the European University Institute and founder of 10Billion.org, an initiative for global public goods. He works at the intersection of international cooperation, emerging technologies, and economic policy.