Contributors
Ali Alkis
Ali Alkis is a nuclear security professional, currently pursuing his PhD in the field in Türkiye. He has recently been appointed as a Junior Associate Fellow at the Research Division of the NATO Defense College, where he collaborates with next-generation leaders and scholars through conferences, seminars, and professional development activities. In this role, he contributes to research on defense policy and strategic studies, enhancing his expertise in international security matters. As the Nuclear Threat Initiative’s (NTI) Emerging Nuclear Security Leader and the WINS Ambassador to Türkiye, Ali is at the forefront of critical issues related to nuclear security, nonproliferation, nuclear terrorism, and nuclear piracy. His extensive research and leadership in these areas contribute to the global discourse on nuclear security. Ali is also an active member of Harvard University’s Ukraine Nuclear Security Working Group, which operates under the Managing the Atom (MTA) program. He contributes to high-impact research on nuclear policy and regional security challenges and actively participates in the Gender Champions in Nuclear Policy initiative as the Gender Champion of the OdCNP, advocating for greater diversity and inclusivity in the field. Previously, Ali served as a Nuclear Scholar in the UK’s Nuclear Security Culture Programme, implemented by King’s College London, where he honed his expertise in nuclear security culture and policy. His insights into Turkish nuclear and foreign policies are widely recognized, and his thought leadership is increasingly acknowledged through his numerous published articles, book chapters, interviews, and op-eds. Committed to raising public awareness on nuclear security matters, Ali actively engages with the broader community through his social media platforms. His work continues to make an impact on both national and international nuclear security policy discussions.
Leila Hennaoui
Leila Hennaoui is a lecturer in International Law at the University of Chlef, Algeria. Her research explores the intersections between nuclear governance, international law, and the legacies of colonialism, particularly how the Global South engages with nuclear disarmament frameworks. Leila’s work focuses on decolonizing the global nuclear order, with a special interest in the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), nuclear testing, and environmental justice. She has participated in several international symposiums and conferences, contributing perspectives from the Global South on disarmament, justice, and sovereignty. She is especially committed to amplifying the voices of non-nuclear-weapon states and communities historically impacted by nuclear policies.
Elizabeth Ingrams
Elizabeth Ingrams is a writer and researcher affiliated to The Open University (UK). Her new play Tales From My Grandmother is based on her doctoral research with survivors of Hiroshima. She was joint editor of Japan: Literatures of Remembering a special issue of Wasafiri (2020) and she also edited a book of travel writing: Japan Through Writers’ Eyes (Eland books 2015). See: https://thelastsurvivorsofhiroshima.wordpress.com
Gina Langton
Gina Langton is a writer and music industry professional with over 30 years of experience. Starting her career as a solo performer in the late 1980s, she transitioned into publishing and producing live music shows. She holds an M.B.A. in Music Business Management and has been a dedicated music business consultant since 2002. As a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), she resides in Central London. In July 2013, as a longtime practising Nichiren Buddhist, Gina became increasingly aware of the dangers of nuclear weapons and decided to enrol in a graduate course at Hiroshima City University to deepen her understanding of the history and humanitarian, environmental, and developmental consequences of these weapons. This transformative experience solidified her resolve to utilise her expertise to advocate against the risks associated with nuclear weapons and nuclear testing. To create impactful opportunities, Gina began collaborating with stakeholders across the arts sector. In 2013, she founded 80,000 Voices, an arts organisation dedicated to producing significant musical events, roadshows, and exhibitions. In 2015, 80,000 Voices became a partner of ICAN, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017, and has continued to engage with their work and activism. In 2023, Gina commissioned the artist and photographer Patrick Boyd to travel with her to Japan to help create a striking collection of lenticular portraits, showcasing 52 survivors of the atomic bombings. In collaboration with various partners, 80,000 Voices has already exhibited this work at the United Nations in New York and the Soka Bunkyo Centre in Tokyo and aims to continue showcasing these impactful portraits in major museums and galleries worldwide. The high-resolution 3D digital photographs, presented in a twice-life-sized format, promise to leave a profound impression on viewers.
Nij
Nij is a miniaturist who works chiefly in pen and ink. She has recently become curious about the possibilities of image-editing software. Her creative process usually begins with an abstract idea that sternly resists materialisation—often successfully, but sometimes not. So her images represent ‘the failed efforts of some ideas to enjoy a purely cognitive existence’.
Jack Parvid
Jack Parvid is a philosopher, essayist, and short story writer currently living in the UK. His non-fiction work is mainly concerned with ethics.
Lijun Shang
Professor Lijun Shang, BSc, MSc, PhD, FPhysoc. FRSB, is the Professor of Biomedical Sciences at School of Human Sciences in London Metropolitan University (LMU). He is the founding director of Biological Security Research Centre at LMU. His research focuses mainly on ion channels in Health and Disease. Since 2015, he expanded his research interest into biochemical weapons and science convergence as he wished to incorporate studies of the social impact of the advances in the life sciences. Since 2020, Professor Shang is leading a series of projects in the effort to provide a civil society input into the broad Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC). For example, he is leading a Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust funded a project, titled as “building up an international biological security education network (IBSEN)” and introducing biosecurity education to school.
Andy Thomas
Andy Thomas is a creative writer and an independent researcher and critic. He has reviewed Chinese science fiction (in English) for the Shanghai Literary Review and other Chinese fiction (also in translation) for the University of Leeds’ programme in “New Chinese Writing”. His M Phil thesis was “The Chinese Space Programme in the Public Conversation about Space”. He was a Parliamentary candidate (Labour) in the 2017 and 2019 General Elections in the UK and is a CELTA qualified teacher of the English language. He is now a Research Fellow at Essca in France
N. S. Thompson
N. S. Thompson is a poet, critic and translator. He has worked as a gardener and museum curator in Italy and an academic and creative writing tutor in Oxford. His latest collections are After War (New Walk Editions) and Ghost Hands (Melos Press), both 2020.
Jonathan Chibuike Ukah
Jonathan Chibuike Ukah is a Nigerian-born poet from the United Kingdom. His poems have been featured in Propel Magazine, The Pierian, Clockhouse, The Journal of Undiscovered Poets, North Dakota Quarterly, Kingsman Quarterly and elsewhere. I won the Voices of Lincoln Poetry Contest in 2022, the Alexander Pope Poetry Award of The Pierian in 2023, the Editors Choice Award in Unleash Press in 2024, the Second Prize Winner in Streetlight Poetry Prize in 2024, Second runner-up at the Kingsman Quarterly Poetry Slam in 2024 and I was shortlisted for the Minds Shine Bright Poetry Award in 2024.
Stephanie Verlaan
Stephanie was most recently a Political Affairs intern with the United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs where she worked with the communications team. She has previously worked for the International Peace Bureau and for the Australian government’s disability and child protection social services sectors. She has written on topics such as drone technology proliferation, contractual relationships between private tech companies and militaries and nuclear disarmament. She holds an LL.M. International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law and M.A. Intercultural Conflict Management and BA. Social Science. Her research interests coalesce around nuclear weapons, security in outer space and international humanitarian law.
Ward Wilson
Ward Hayes Wilson is one of the most original minds working on nuclear weapons policy today. His first scholarly article was published in the foremost security studies journal in the world — Harvard’s International Security. His next article won the 2008 McElvaney Prize for the best essay on nuclear disarmament. His work has shaken the foundations of the nuclear weapons debate. He showed that atomic bombs did not force Japan to surrender, and has challenged both the origins and efficacy of nuclear deterrence. He is a powerful speaker. A recent talk at Kings College London inspired a young man to reverse his decision to join Britain’s nuclear forces. He has spoken in 23 countries, at the Pentagon, the State Department, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, Georgetown, the Naval War College, the Sorbonne, Kings College London, Nagasaki University and many others. He wins debates. He bested Sir Lawrence Freedman in a Chatham House debate and turned a pre-debate majority in favour of nuclear weapons at the Cambridge Union into a three to one drubbing against. His writing reaches across ideological boundaries. It has appeared in anti- nuclear journals like The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and Nonproliferation Review, military journals like Parameters, Joint Force Quarterly and Revue de Défense Nationale, foreign policy journals like Survival and Foreign Policy, as well as in news media like the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and others. Using fundamental challenges to established nuclear weapons thinking, he has created an entirely new approach to eliminating nuclear weapons.