Paul Ingram is Project Leader for the Stepping Stones to Disarmament Approach.
Maxwell Downman
Co-Director
Maxwell Downman was the Co-Director of BASIC, as part of the Executive Management Team, with full executive responsibilities for programme delivery and the strategic growth and development of the think tank until November 2019. His research focuses include nuclear risk reduction, NATO and the role of nuclear weapons in transatlantic diplomacy, as well as disarmament diplomacy in the NPT. He was also the Clerk for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global Security and Non-Proliferation, a cross-party group of UK parliamentarians working on WMD issues.
Prior to BASIC, Maxwell worked in the UK Parliament for a number of years on a range of policy issues, including counter-terrorism and Brexit. He holds an MA in International Studies and Diplomacy from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London and in Japanese Studies from the University of Edinburgh.
Maxwell Downman is an N-Square Fellow, an alumnus of Chinese MFA’s 2017 Young Sinologist Programme and has featured in numerous media outlets. Recent publications for BASIC include ‘Stepping Stones to Disarmament: Making progress in a polarise international climate’; ‘Re-emerging Nuclear Risks in Europe: Mistrust, ambiguity, escalation and arms-racing between NATO and Russia’ and ‘Peace through strength: Europea and NATO Deterrence beyond the US Nuclear Posture Review’ in International Affairs.
Areas of Expertise:
-
US Nuclear weapons policy
-
NATO
-
Multilateral disarmament and arms control initiatives
-
UK nuclear diplomacy and Trident
Read Maxwell Downman’s Content
Discover below Maxwell’s posts ordered from newest to oldest
Meet Our Staff
Our dedicated and professional team brings a diversity of expertise, approaches and perspectives. Meet its members below.
Alice Spilman
Alice Spilman is a Researcher on the Programme on Nuclear Responsibilities with BASIC and the ICCS, University of Birmingham.
Dr Rishi Paul
Rishi Paul was a Policy Fellow and Programme Manager at BASIC, managing the Programme on Nuclear Disarmament.
Sebastian Brixey-Williams
Sebastian Brixey-Williams is the Executive Director of BASIC.
Meet Our Authors
Read more about our main contributors and browse their latest content and publications.
Nick Ritchie
Nick researches and teaches in the areas of international relations and international security at the University of York. His particular…
Vinod Kumar
A. Vinod Kumar is Associate Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), and a Visiting Faculty at the Institute of…
Norman Moss
Norman Moss is an author, journalist and broadcaster. He was born in London in 1928 but was raised and educated partly in New York.
Anthony Rinna
Anthony V. Rinna is a Senior Editor with Sino-NK, a research organization dedicated to analyzing Northeast Asia. Formerly trained as an…
Rebecca Cousins
Rebecca Cousins was BASIC’s Programme Director for the Next Gen project. Prior to that, she was a diplomat in the British Foreign and…
Rachel Staley Grant
Rachel Staley Grant joined NTI in August 2016 and serves as the Director of Public Education. Between 2011 and 2016, Staley Grant…
Edmond Seay III
Ted Seay is an independent arms control and disarmament consultant currently based in London. He was assigned to the U.S. Mission to…
Ward Wilson
Ward Wilson Senior Fellow Ward Wilson was senior fellow and director of the Rethinking Nuclear…
Ian Kearns
Dr Ian Kearns is the co-Founder of the European Leadership Network and serves on the ELN’s Board of Directors. Dr Kearns served as…
Anne Penketh
Anne Penketh was BASIC Program Director in Washington from 2009 to 2012. Previously she was a staff journalist with major media…
Tim Street
Tim recently completed his PhD exploring the politics of nuclear disarmament at Warwick University as part of a collaborative…
Lianet Vazquez
Lianet Vazquez was the Herbert Scoville Jr Peace Fellow at BASIC in 2014.
Tabitha Sanders
Tabitha Sanders is one of the organisers of #NatSecGirlSquad, a US initiative to support women working in National Security. She was a…
Nina Sofie Pedersen
Nina Sofie Pedersen is a Researcher at BASIC. Her current responsibilities include researching and developing the Programme on…
John Thomson
Sir John Thomson was a British Diplomat who was High Commissioner to India and Ambassador to the UN. He served as adviser to BASIC.
Chris Lindborg-Pena
Christina Pena was BASIC’s Analyst and Programme Manager.
Ian Davis
Dr Ian Davis is an independent human security and arms control consultant, writer and founding director of NATO Watch…