Executive Director
Risk Reduction | Nuclear Disarmament | International Organisations
Sebastian Brixey-Williams is the Executive Director of BASIC, a Fellow at the Harvard Belfer Center’s Managing the Atom Program, and an Honorary Research Associate at the School of Government at the University of Birmingham.
Sebastian’s research and practice centres around how to ensure that nuclear-armed states manage their nuclear weapons in as legal, morally responsible, and transparent manner as possible while advancing multilateral efforts towards a more sustainable global security system that does not rely on nuclear deterrence. His research at Harvard (2024-2025) uses a foresight methodology to examine the evolution of international law into the near future and its possible impact on states’ nuclear targeting policies.
Sebastian regularly advises world-leading forums for discussion on nuclear weapons policy and diplomacy, including the P5/N5 Process, the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters, the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism, and three All-Party Parliamentary Groups in the British Parliament. Since 2023, he has served as one of three British delegates to the Expert Level Track to the P5/N5 Process. He is regularly invited to speak at universities, most recently by Harvard, Oxford, and Stanford.
Outside of work, Sebastian is a multi-instrumentalist who has been known to dabble with pianos, guitars, fiddles, accordions, synthesisers, and music production.
Office: +44 20 3488 6974
Discover below Sebastian’s posts ordered from newest to oldest
We are delighted to announce that BASIC’s Executive Director Sebastian Brixey-Williams has been awarded a Fellowship at Harvard’s Managing Atom Program and Senior Policy Fellow and Programme Director Dr Gry Thomasen has been promoted to Research Director.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Global Security and Non-Proliferation has formally closed its doors after 24 years of operations in the British Parliament.
BASIC is pleased to become a member of the Rethinking Security Network, a community of policymakers, academics, and civil society organisations thinking holistically about security policy can be shaped to be more equitable, just, and ecologically-grounded.
We are delighted to formally announce BASIC’s new Mission Statement.
Read it here
Read more about our main contributors and browse their latest content and publications.
Nick researches and teaches in the areas of international relations and international security at the University of York. His particular…
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 is an author, journalist and broadcaster. He was born in London in 1928 but was raised and educated partly in New York.
Anthony V. Rinna is a Senior Editor with Sino-NK, a research organization dedicated to analyzing Northeast Asia. Formerly trained as an…
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 joined NTI in August 2016 and serves as the Director of Public Education. Between 2011 and 2016, Staley Grant…
Ted Seay is an independent arms control and disarmament consultant currently based in London. He was assigned to the U.S. Mission to…
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 was BASIC Program Director in Washington from 2009 to 2012. Previously she was a staff journalist with major media…
Tim recently completed his PhD exploring the politics of nuclear disarmament at Warwick University as part of a collaborative…
Lianet Vazquez was the Herbert Scoville Jr Peace Fellow at BASIC in 2014.
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 is a Researcher at BASIC. Her current responsibilities include researching and developing the Programme on…
Sir John Thomson was a British Diplomat who was High Commissioner to India and Ambassador to the UN. He served as adviser to BASIC.
Christina Pena was BASIC’s Analyst and Programme Manager.
Dr Ian Davis is an independent human security and arms control consultant, writer and founding director of NATO Watch…