Young Deep Cuts Commission

is a Research and Policy Analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), where she monitors online narratives, tactics and actors, and advices on platform regulation and policy. Sara previously worked at the Federal Ministry of Defence and NATO HQ. She also gained experience at the Delegation of the EU to the US, the International Crisis Group and the German Embassy in Copenhagen. Her interest in nuclear arms control developed during class debates on the JCPOA, the role of strategic stability and NATO’s nuclear deterrence posture. Sara holds an MA in International Security with a concentration in Intelligence Studies from Sciences Po Paris and a BSc in European Studies from the University of Southern Denmark. She is fluent in German and English, and proficient in French.

Expertise

Euro-Atlantic security | Nuclear deterrence, arms control and disarmament | Deterrence signaling | Social media research methods | Online narrative and discourse analysis | Intelligence cycle

is a Research Assistant at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Previously, he was a Research Associate at the Center for Energy and Security Studies (CENESS) where his worked focused on issues of regional nuclear nonproliferation and Russia-U.S nuclear relationship. He also was a Graduate Research Assistant at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) and an intern at the WMD Branch of the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs. Vladislav holds a dual master’s degree in WMD Nonproliferation, Nuclear Policy and Global Security from MGIMO University and Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. He is fluent in English and Russian. Vladislav is passionate about arms control, nonproliferation and disarmament because he sees nuclear weapons as an outstanding issue of global security which can only be resolved through a common effort.

Expertise

Nuclear deterrence, arms control and disarmament | Deterrence signaling | US-Russian relations | Non-Proliferation | Korean Peninsula

Patricia Jaworek is a Senior Program Officer in the Global Nuclear Policy Program at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) in Washington, DC. She supports NTI’s efforts to reduce global nuclear risks, focusing on disarmament, arms control, and Euro-Atlantic security. She holds a joint master’s degree in Transatlantic Affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and the College of Europe and a law degree from the University of Hamburg with a focus on European and public international law. Jaworek is a member of the Younger Generation Leaders Network on Euro-Atlantic Security (YGLN).

Expertise

Euro-Atlantic security | Nuclear arms control | Innovative approaches to disarmament | Global effects of nuclear weapons use | Global existential risks

Aleksandra Zubenko is a MA Candidate in Dual degree Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies Program between Moscow State Institute of International Relations in Russia and Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, current fellow of Marie Sklodowska-Curie IAEA Program. Previously she worked as a research assistant in Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in PIR Center as a coordinator of “Oral History of Nuclear Nonproliferation” project and Junior Research Fellow of “Nuclear Nonproliferation and Russia” Program. Furthermore, she is a recipient of Evstafiev Award for the best research paper in the field of international security (2023). She was a member of PIR Center NGO delegation to the X NPT Review Conference, participated in a number of conferences organized by PIR Center, MGIMO, GCSP, CNS, Carnegie Endowment.
Her current master thesis is on prospects for engagement of France and UK in nuclear arms control dialogue with Russia.

Expertise

Nuclear arms control | Nuclear programs of France and Britain | European security and defense | CBRN terrorism

is a first-year law student at Yale Law School. Previously, she was a James C. Gaither Junior Fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Grace received an M.A. in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies from Stanford University and graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the College of William & Mary with degrees in Government and Russian Studies. She has also studied at Saint Petersburg State University and the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) and is proficient in Russian. Grace is passionate about arms control, non-proliferation, and disarmament because of the truly global impact of nuclear weapons.

Expertise

New technologies and arms control | The impact of arms control negotiations on the broader U.S.-Russia relationship

Frank Kuhn is a doctoral researcher and the project coordinator for the Cluster for Natural and Technical Science Arms Control Research (CNTR) at Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF). Previously, he was a research assistant for the EU Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Consortium and the Department for Press and Public Relations at PRIF. Frank holds an MA in International Studies/Peace and Conflict Research from Goethe University Frankfurt and Technical University Darmstadt.

Expertise

Nuclear deterrence | Arms control and nonproliferation | Military technology and strategy

Merle Spellerberg is a former member of the German Bundestag, where she acted as Deputy Spokesperson for foreign affairs for her party group Alliance 90/The Greens. From 2021 to 2025 she served in the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Defense Committee as well as the Sub-Committee on Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-Proliferation and the Study Commission on Afghanistan. Furthermore she was member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, serving as rapporteur in the Sub-Committee on Resilience and Civil Security.

Her focus throughout her time in parliament, as well as now outside of it, has been on nuclear policy and arms control/disarmament more broadly, a comprehensive understanding of security including total defence and hybrid warfare and a feminist perspective on both. She now continues her work in these fields outside of parliament, both at university and through independent policy work.

Expertise

Arms Control, Disarmement, European Security, Integrated Security and Resilience

is a Research Associate at the Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations and serves as a Consultant at the International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe. From January to July 2018, Daria was an intern at the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs in the WMD Branch, in which capacity she acted as a member of the Secretariat of the Preparatory Committee for the 2020 NPT Review Conference. Daria holds dual Master’s degree in Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) and Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS). She is fluent in Russian and English. Daria is highly interested in arms control, nonproliferation and disarmament, because failure to adequately address these issues can mean the difference between life and death for millions of people and even for the entire mankind, which makes them extremely important and fascinating research subjects.

Expertise

Nonproliferation | Disarmament | Nuclear arms control | NPT review process | History of the NPT’s negotiation | P5 process | Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula

Ekaterina Lapanovich is a senior lecturer at the Department of Regional Studies, Ural Federal University. She holds Bachelor’s degree in Oriental and African Studies and Master’s degree in International Relations. Ekaterina does teaching and research in the area of international security. Her particular focus is on nuclear deterrence, nuclear disarmament, the humanitarian initiative and the ban treaty. In 2021-2022, she was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation. Ekaterina is also an alumna of the Arms Control Negotiation Academy at Harvard University Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies.

Expertise

Nuclear deterrence | Nuclear disarmament | Humanitarian initiative | Ban treaty

Reja Younis is the associate fellow with the Project on Nuclear Issues in the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She is also a PhD student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, a predoctoral fellow with the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs, and a Board Fellow with the Board of Directors at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. At CSIS, she leads research on nuclear deterrence issues, nuclear strategy, and emerging technologies. Prior to working at CSIS, she completed a year-long fellowship with the Stimson Center, where she conducted research on nuclear deterrence and escalation in the context of South Asia. Reja holds a BS in social sciences and liberal arts from the Institute of Business Administration and graduated with highest honors in political science. She completed her MA in international relations from the University of Chicago.

Expertise

Nuclear deterrence issues | Nuclear strategy | Emerging technologies

Lydia Wachs is a PhD candidate in International Relations at Stockholm University. Her PhD research focuses on the Soviet Union's/Russia's role in the global nuclear order, in particular its nuclear nonproliferation policy. Prior to that, Lydia worked as a Research Associate at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin, focusing on nuclear issues, mainly Russian nuclear strategy. She has also previously worked in the Proliferation and Nuclear Policy Programme at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London. Lydia holds an MA in Arms Control and International Security from King’s College London and a BA in International Relations from Dresden University, Germany, and Saint Petersburg University, Russia.

Expertise

Nuclear deterrence | Nuclear arms control and nonproliferation | US-Russian strategic relations

Lindsay Rand is a postdoctoral fellow at the Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) and a Fellow at CISSM. She completed her PhD in international security and economic policy at the UMD School of Public Policy in 2023. Her dissertation examined the social, technical, and strategic factors that shape perceptions of new technologies and their consequences for deterrence and strategic stability.

Prior to CISAC, Lindsay was a Stanton predoctoral fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Lindsay also has experience working as an adjunct research associate at the RAND Corporation, a research associate at the Center for Global Security Research at Lawrence Livermore National Lab, a NSF fellow on the DHS Science and Technology Directorate quantum technology task force, and a research intern at the Naval Research Laboratory. She is fluent in English and has working proficiency in Spanish and Latin.

Expertise

Nuclear arms control | Non-proliferation and disarmament | Quantum information science technologies | Emerging technologies and arms control

Noah Mayhew is a Senior Research Associate at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation (VCDNP) where he focuses on nuclear non-proliferation, international nuclear safeguards and nuclear verification, nuclear arms control, and US-Russia relations. Since he joined the VCDNP, Mr. Mayhew has worked extensively on safeguards matters, including a focus on the State level concept for safeguards, safeguards outreach and capacity building, safeguards and naval nuclear propulsion, and other issues. He also works on US Russian arms control issues, including on questions of verification and monitoring. In addition, his duties at the VCDNP include assistance in the VCDNP’s capacity building activities and the implementation of an ongoing project on the nexus between nuclear security and the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology.

Expertise

US-Russian relations, both broadly and in the nuclear field | IAEA safeguards and nuclear verification | Nuclear non-proliferation and the NPT review process | North Korea’s nuclear programme | The past, present and future of arms control

is a Researcher at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg (IFSH) and a PhD candidate at Radboud University Nijmegen. Previously, he was an EU Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Consortium Intern at the Peace Research Center Prague and a Visiting Fellow at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute for International Studies at Monterey. He is part of the trilateral Young Deep Cuts Commission, a group of next-generation nuclear arms control experts from Germany, the United States and Russia. Tim Thies holds a Master’s degree from the University of Hamburg in Peace and Security Studies and a B.A. in International Relations from Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences in Kleve, Germany.

Expertise

Arms control, non-proliferation, and disarmament | Nuclear policy | Emerging technologies and strategic stability