Young Deep Cuts Commission
Sara Bundtzen 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.
Research interests:Euro-Atlantic security | Nuclear deterrence, arms control and disarmament | Deterrence signaling | Social media research methods | Online narrative and discourse analysis | Intelligence cycle
Vladislav Chernavskikh is a Research Associate at the Center for Energy and Security Studies (CENESS) where his work focuses on issues of regional nuclear nonproliferation and Russia-U.S nuclear relationship. Previously, he 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.
Research interests: U.S.–Russia arms control | Nuclear disarmament and the NPT framework | Iranian nuclear program and the JCPOA | Nuclear nonproliferation on the Korean peninsula.
Patricia Jaworek is a Program Officer in the Global Nuclear Policy Program at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) in Washington, DC. Her work focuses on disarmament, risk reduction and non-proliferation in the context of the NPT and the global catastrophic risks of nuclear weapons use. Patricia is passionate about finding innovative and interdisciplinary solutions for arms control and disarmament to manage a changing security environment and ensure that nuclear weapons are never used again. She holds a Master’s degree in Transatlantic Affairs from the Fletcher School and the College of Europe and a law degree from the University of Hamburg with a focus on public international law. Alongside the YDCC, Patricia is a member of the Younger Generation Leaders Network and BASIC’s Emerging Voices Network. She is fluent in German, Polish, and English, proficient in French, and learning Russian.
Research interest: Euro-Atlantic security | nuclear arms control | innovative approaches to disarmament | global effects of nuclear weapons use | global existential risks
Grace Kier 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.
Research interests: new technologies and arms control | the impact of arms control negotiations on the broader U.S.-Russia relationship
Artem Kvartalnov is currently a Government PhD Student at the University of Texas at Austin. In 2020-2022, he was an Intern and subsequently a Junior Research Fellow at Moscow-based PIR Center. Artem did internships at the United Nations Development Program in 2022 and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2019. He was a Fellow of the Monterey Summer Symposium on Russia in summer 2022 and is a Monterey Trialogue Fellow in 2022. Artem Kvartalnov holds BA and MA degrees from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO University). His research focuses on international security, arms control, status in international relations, and the security-development nexus.
Research interests: nuclear arms control | tactical arms control | U.S.-Russia strategic relations | status issues in international politics.
Ekaterina Lapanovich is a PhD candidate and an assistant at the Department of Theory and History of International Relations, Ural Federal University (Yekaterinburg, Russia). She holds Bachelor’s degree in Oriental and African Studies and Master’s degree in International Relations, both from Ural Federal University. Ekaterina does teaching and research in the area of international security. Her particular focus is on nuclear deterrence, nuclear disarmament, humanitarian initiative and the ban treaty. She shares the idea of achieving security through disarmament and achieving disarmament through progressive arms control. Ekaterina is a member of the Ural Nonproliferation Group and the CTBTO Youth Group. She is a Nuclear History Boot Camp (Wilson Center and University of Roma Tre) and PIR Center alumna. Ekaterina is fluent in English. She is also able to speak Turkish and has a basic knowledge of German.
Research interests: nuclear deterrence | nuclear disarmament | humanitarian initiative | ban treaty.
Daniel Leichte is currently a student at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at Hamburg University. He holds a B.A. in International Studies from Leiden University, specializing in the Middle East. Additionally, he graduated from the Leiden Honours Academy. He is fluent in German, English and Spanish and speaks some Persian. He volunteers at Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research as a conflict analyst and member of the communication team. After his studies, he plans to continue his journey in academia. Daniel is an ardent supporter of nuclear disarmament because he would like to experience a future that cannot be ended by the push of a button.
Research interests: space politics | nuclear arms control | new technologies.
Noah Mayhew joined the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation in July 2018 as a Research Associate, focusing on nuclear non-proliferation, IAEA safeguards and nuclear verification, arms control, US–Russia relations, and the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology. Some of his previous contributions to nuclear discourse have been published by Stiftung Entwicklung und Frieden, the Nonproliferation Review, and the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority. Noah has also contributed to an ongoing Vienna Center project on the nexus between the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology and nuclear security. Before joining the VCDNP, Noah completed an internship with the IAEA. Noah is a member of the first graduating class in the dual master’s degree programme in non-proliferation studies of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. His thesis addressed US-Soviet and US-Russian policy with regard to North Korea’s nuclear programme. Noah is fluent in Russian and is learning German.
Research interests: 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.
Lindsay Rand is a PhD student at the University of Maryland and focuses on the technology-nuclear nexus. Her dissertation will analyze the impact of quantum sensing on nuclear force structure decision-making. She is also a research fellow at the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland, where she conducts sociotechnical analyses on nuclear and emerging technology sectors. Lindsay holds an M.S. degree in nuclear health physics from Georgetown University and a BA in physics and classical studies from Carleton College. She is fluent in English and has working proficiency in Spanish and Latin. Lindsay is passionate about arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament and believes that the collective security risks posed by new technologies must be leveraged to reinvigorate dialogue on cooperative threat reduction.
Research interests: nuclear arms control, non-proliferation, and disarmament | quantum information science technologies | emerging technologies and arms control.
Daria Selezneva 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.
Research interests: nonproliferation, disarmament, nuclear arms control | NPT review process | history of the NPT’s negotiation | P5 process | denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
Tim Thies is a Researcher at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg (IFSH). In his research he focuses on the impact of emerging technologies on deterrence. Tim holds a Master’s degree in Peace and Security Studies from IFSH where he graduated with a thesis on the implications of hypersonic weapons for crisis stability in the Euro-Atlantic region. Previously, he was a Visiting Fellow at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. He is fluent in German, English and Spanish. Tim is passionate about arms control, non-proliferation, and disarmament because, even if deterrence seemed to work well enough until today, we cannot trust that it will prevent nuclear war forever.
Research interests: arms control, non-proliferation, and disarmament | nuclear policy | emerging technologies and strategic stability.