The Johnson Government has set a decisive course away from the United Kingdom’s three decade-long trend of successive nuclear reductions and increasing transparency.
Sebastian Brixey-Williams
Co-Director
Sebastian Brixey-Williams is the Co-Director of BASIC, alongside Marion Messmer. He is a nuclear weapons expert and mediator, with expertise in disarmament politics, risk reduction, emerging technologies, international law, and UK nuclear weapons policy.
His central area of practice is on developing trust and international dialogue on states’ responsibilities in relation to nuclear weapons. He leads the Programme on Nuclear Responsibilities with Professor Nicholas J. Wheeler at the Institute for Conflict, Cooperation and Security, University of Birmingham. Their most recent publication Nuclear Responsibilities: A New Approach for Thinking and Talking about Nuclear Weapons (2020) aims to offer a way to shift the culture of global nuclear politics away from blame and towards responsibility.
A strong proponent of diversity and inclusion in the field, Sebastian established BASIC’s Emerging Voices Network and co-founded a breakfast series that produced the Gender, Think Tanks and International Affairs Toolkit (2021) with Chatham House and the Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy. Sebastian is a Gender Champion in Nuclear Policy, an ELN Mentor, and a member of the Younger Generation Leadership Network on Euro-Atlantic Security. He is a 2020-2021 N Square Fellow.
Sebastian has addressed three All-Party Parliamentary Groups – on Drones, on Global Security and Non-Proliferation, and on Future Generations – and has been called to give evidence to the House of Lords International Relations Committee. He regularly features on the national and international media including BBC News, BBC Radio 4, CGTN, The Economist, Forces TV, The Guardian, and Sky News, and has published in Arms Control Wonk, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the European Leadership Network, and the World Economic Forum. He is interested in finding new ways to engage and educate the general public on nuclear weapons issues, through multi-stakeholder collaborations with the media, private sector and artists.
Sebastian holds a first-class degree from the University of York in English and Related Literature, and a first-class Master’s in International Studies and Diplomacy from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), where he received the Postgraduate School’s Prize.
Office: +44 20 3488 6974
Read Sebastian Brixey-Williams’ Content
Discover below Sebastian’s posts ordered from newest to oldest
Report: Nuclear Responsibilities – A New Approach for Thinking and Talking about Nuclear Weapons
We seek in this report to suggest ways, and crucially propose a new method, to gradually shift the nature of the contemporary global conversation on nuclear weapons away from one characterised by rights, blame, and suspicion towards one framed by responsibility, empathic cooperation, and even trust.
Chapter: Prospects for Game-Changers in Detection Technology
We are delighted to share this new short chapter, ‘Prospects for Game-Changers in Detection Technology’,…
Will COVID-19 force a break in the UK’s Continuous At-Sea Deterrence?
The Times’ Lucy Fisher reported yesterday that the Royal Navy (RN) has been alternating between…
Securing Empathy to Prevent Misunderstanding Among the Nuclear Five
This article was co-authored with Professor Nicholas J. Wheeler, Institute for Conflict, Cooperation and Security…
Report: Differentiated Nuclear Responsibilities among Non-Nuclear Possessor States – Perspectives from the Hague
What are the Netherlands’ responsibilities around nuclear weapons?
Everything you need to know about the Programme on ‘Nuclear Responsibilities’
What are ‘nuclear responsibilities’ and what are they for? Find out everything you need to know about the BASIC-ICCS Programme on Nuclear Responsibilities.
Super Critical Podcast: ‘When the Wind Blows’
Tim Westmyer, the host of the Super Critical Podcast, invited BASIC’s Co-Director Sebastian Brixey-Williams to…
Meet Our Staff
Our dedicated and professional team brings a diversity of expertise, approaches and perspectives. Meet its members below.
Chris Spedding
Chris Spedding is a Policy Fellow and Programme Manager at BASIC, managing the Emerging Technologies Programme.
Amy Lightfoot
Amy Lightfoot is the Administrator for BASIC and the general contact for all administrative enquiries.
Laura Rose Brown
Laura Rose Brown is a Policy Intern supporting both the Nuclear Responsibilities Programme and the Emerging Voices Network within the Youth, Gender and Diversity workstream.
Emily Enright
Emily Enright is a Policy Fellow and Coordinator of the Emerging Voices Network.
Sebastian Brixey-Williams
Sebastian Brixey-Williams is the Co-Director of BASIC and Director of the Programme on Nuclear Responsibilities.
Dr Gry Thomasen
Dr Gry Thomsen is a Policy Fellow at BASIC working on the Nuclear Disarmament Programme.
Chiara Cervasio
Chiara Cervasio is a Policy Fellow, working on the Nuclear Responsibilities Programme.
Alice Spilman
Alice Spilman is a Researcher on the Programme on Nuclear Responsibilities with BASIC and the ICCS, University of Birmingham.
Marion Messmer
Marion Messmer is the Co-Director of BASIC and Director of BASIC’s Programmes on Risk Reduction and the Stepping Stones Approach to Nuclear Disarmament.
Timothy Choi
Timothy Choi is a Consultant on BASIC’s Emerging Technologies Programme.
Fabian Hoffmann
Fabian Hoffmann is a Policy Intern supporting the Nuclear Responsibilities Programme.
Dr Rishi Paul
Rishi Paul is a Senior Nuclear Policy Analyst at BASIC and leads our engagement in Southern Asia.
Meet Our Authors
Read more about our main contributors and browse their latest content and publications.
Zara Levy
Zara Rizvi joined BASIC in September 2016 to support the daily office operations and to help develop our communications strategy.
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…