— BOOT CAMP & CONFERENCE SPEAKERS
Speakers
The ACONA program includes speakers who are experts in the fields of history, regional studies, international affairs, negotiation, diplomacy, national security, and nuclear issues. Scholars and practitioners give lectures and participate in discussions with ACONA Fellows.
OER 170 SPEAKERS SINCE 2020
— A SELECTION
Halla Tómasdóttir
President of Iceland
Anatoly I. Antonov
Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United States
Margot Wallström
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Sweden
Baroness Catherine Ashton
Former High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
Izumi Nakamitsu
Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, United Nations
Beatrice Fihn
Executive Director, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), 2017 Nobel Peace Prize-Winning Campaign Coalition
— FULL DIRECTORY
All Speakers, A–Z
Sorted by surname.
A
Ray Acheson
Director of Reaching Critical Will at the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
Nobumasa Akiyama
Professor of International Relations, School of International and Public Policy and the Graduate School of Law at Hitotsubashi University
Michael Albertson
Deputy Director, Center for Global Security Research (CGSR), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Former Senior Policy Advisor, Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), Office of Nuclear and Missile Defense Policy
Anatoly I. Antonov
Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United States
Thóra Arnórsdóttir
Managing editor, Icelandic National Broadcasting Service (RÚV)
Marat Atnashev
Advisor, Negotiation Task Force
Co-founder, MetaGames Lab Ltd, Cyprus
Rabia Akhtar
Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lahore
William Alberque
Director of the Strategy, Technology, and Arms Control Programme, International Institute for Strategic Studies in Berlin
Jónas Allansson
Director General, Directorate for Defence, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Iceland
Alexei Arbatov
Head of the Center for International Security, Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations
Baroness Catherine Ashton
Former High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
B
Eileen Babbitt
Professor, Practice of International Conflict Management, The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Co-Director, Program on Human Rights and Conflict Resolution, The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Faculty Associate, Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School
Sibylle Bauer
Director of Studies, Armament and Disarmament, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
Arvid Bell
CEO, Anadyr Horizon
Tim Bettis
Military Attaché, U.S. Department of War
Sarah Bidgood
Director, Eurasia Nonproliferation Program, James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies
Philipp C. Bleek
Professor in Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies, Middlebury Institute of International Studies
Mariana Budjeryn
Senior Researcher, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Andrey Baklitskiy
Senior Research Fellow, Center for Euro-Atlantic Security at the Institute of International Studies, MGIMO University
Senior Researcher, WMD Programme, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research
Andrey Baykov
Associate Professor, Department of Applied International Analysis, MGIMO University
Jón Atli Benediktsson
Rector, University of Iceland
Belén Bianco
Senior Project Advisor, United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC)
Tom Blanton
Director, National Security Archive, George Washington University
Alexander Bollfrass
Senior Researcher, Center for Security Studies, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
Associate, Negotiation Task Force, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies
Matthew Bunn
Professor of the Practice of Energy, National Security, and Foreign Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government
C
Ville Cantell
Ambassador, Embassy of the Republic of Finland to Iceland
Susan Corke
Senior Fellow and Director of the bipartisan Transatlantic Democracy Working Group (TDWG) with The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF)
Tarja Cronberg
Distinguished Associate Fellow, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
Former Member of European Parliament
Lu Chuanying
Senior Fellow, Director of Research Center for Global Cyberspace Governance, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies
Thomas Countryman
Chairman of the Board, Arms Control Association
Former Acting U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security
D
Christopher Daase
Deputy Director, Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF)
Nicole Deitelhoff
Executive Director, Peace Research Institute Frankfurt
Clarissa Duvigneau
Ambassador, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany Reykjavík
Nikita Degtyarev
Research Consultant, Open Nuclear Network (ONN)
Abdolrasool Divsallar
Co-leader of the Regional Security Initiative at the Middle East Directions Programme of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies
Policy Leader Fellow at the School of Transnational Governance, European University Institute
E
Rut Einarsdóttir
Independent Consultant
Tytti Erästö
Senior Researcher, Weapons of Mass Destructions Programme, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
Jóna Sólveig Elínardóttir
Director of the Hybrid Threats Department, Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Martin Eyjólfsson
Permanent Secretary of State, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Iceland
F
Anna-Katharina Ferl
Research Associate, Peace Research Institute Frankfurt
Christopher Ford
Professor of International Relations and Strategic Studies, Missouri State University's School of Defense and Strategic Studies
Beatrice Fihn
Executive Director, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), 2017 Nobel Peace Prize-Winning Campaign Coalition
Andrew Futter
Professor of International Politics, University of Leicester
Member, Cyber-Nuclear Security Threats Task Force, Nuclear Threat Initiative
G
Nancy Gallagher
Director, Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM)
Research Professor, University of Maryland's School of Public Policy
Oceane Van Geluwe
Project Engineer, Omexom P&P, Vinci Energies Belgium
Francesca Giovannini
Executive Director, Project on Managing the Atom at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs
Oleksii Goncharenko
Member of Parliament, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
Alexander Graef
Senior Researcher, Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg (IFSH)
Hugh Gusterson
Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs, George Washington University
Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir
Foreign Minister, Iceland
Sarah Gamberini
Senior Policy Fellow, National Defense University (NDU), Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction (CSWMD)
Rebecca Gibbons
Associate Professor, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Southern Maine
Malte Göttsche
Professor for Peace Research in Natural Sciences, Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF) and Technical University Darmstadt
Rose Gottemoeller
Former Deputy Secretary General of NATO
Frank E. and Arthur W. Payne Distinguished Lecturer, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University
Thomas Graham, Jr.
Former U.S. Special Representative for Arms Control, Non-Proliferation, and Disarmament; Acting Director and Acting Deputy Director, U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
Rita Guenther
Senior Program Officer, Committee on International Security and Arms Control (CISAC), National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM)
H
Sascha Hach
Postdoctoral Researcher, Helmut-Schmidt-University Hamburg
Guðmundur Hálfdánarson
Professor in History, University of Iceland
Nan Hao
Lead Analyst, East Asia Programme, The ECSSR
Valeriia Hesse
Researcher, Odesa Center for Nonproliferation
Jenny Hill
Ambassador, Embassy of Canada to Iceland
Emily J. Holland
Assistant Professor, Russia Maritime Studies Institute at the United States Naval War College
Visiting Scholar, NYU Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia
Melissa Hanham
Deputy Director, Open Nuclear Network
Pia Hansson
Director, Institute of International Affairs at the University of Iceland
Jingjie He
Postdoctoral Researcher, Security Studies Division, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Renata Hessmann Dalaqua
Head of Gender and Disarmament Program, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research
Timothée Hillier-Davis
Researcher, Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF)
I
Edward M. Ifft
Retired Member, U.S. Senior Executive Service
Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
Tynchtykbek Israiilov
Project Manager, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
Vincent J. Intondi
Former Director of Research for American University's Nuclear Studies Institute
Igor Istomin
Associate Professor, Department of Applied International Political Analysis, MGIMO University
Davis Senior Scholar, Harvard University's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies
J
Moriba Jah
Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, University of Texas
Former Spacecraft Navigator, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Dominik P. Jankowski
Policy Adviser, Office of the Secretary General, NATO
María Antonieta Jáquez
Counselor, Secretariat of Foreign Affairs of Mexico
Tianjiao Jiang
Associate Professor, Development Institute
Katrín Jakobsdóttir
Prime Minister of Iceland
Tinatin Japaridze
Director of Policy and Strategy, The Critical Mass
Peter Jones
Associate Professor, Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa
María Mjöll Jónsdótti
Director General, Directorate for International Affairs and Policy at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Iceland
K
Angela Kane
Sam Nunn Distinguished Fellow at NTI; Former UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, and Under-Secretary-General for Management
Vasily Kashin
Senior Research Fellow, Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies, National Research University–Higher School of Economics
Research Fellow, Institute of the Russian Far East
Laura Kennedy
Former U.S. Ambassador to Turkmenistan
Former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs
Former U.S. Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva and Special Representative for Biological Weapons Convention Issues
Soo Kim
Policy Analyst, Rand Corporation
Adjunct Instructor, American University
Alexander Kmentt
Ambassador and Director of Disarmament, Arms Control and Nonproliferation, Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affairs
Former Permanent Representative of Austria to the Political and Security Committee of the European Union
Alexander Kolbin
Consultant, PIR Center
Dmitry Kovchegin
Independent Researcher and Consultant, Nuclear Regulatory Analysis
Former Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom/Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, Harvard Kennedy School
Chen Zak Kane
Project Head, Middle East Weapons of Mass Destruction Project, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)
Togzhan Kassenova
Senior Fellow, Center for Policy Research, University of Albany
Christine Keung
General Partner, J2 Ventures
Daryl G. Kimball
Executive Director, Arms Control Association
Matt Kokkinos
Coordinator, Negotiation Task Force
Andrey Kortunov
Director General, Russian Affairs Council
Moritz Kütt
Professor, Hamburg Nuclear Disarmament Laboratory, University of Hamburg
L
Alfredo Labbé
Vice-President, International Humanitarian Fact Finding Commission
Laura Lepsy
Junior Expert and Researcher on Arms Control Matters
Dave Levin
Head of Strategic Initiatives, Anadyr Horizon
Herbert Lin
Senior Research Scholar, Center for International Security and Cooperation
Hank J. Holland Fellow in Cyber Policy and Security, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
Jyri Lavikainen
Researcher, Finnish Foreign Policy, Northern European Security and NATO Research Programme, Finnish Institute of International Affairs
Kerstin Leitner
Former UNDP/WHO staff member
Robert Litwak
Senior Vice President and Director of International Security Studies, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Former Director for Non-Proliferation, National Security Council
M
Rósa Magnúsdóttir
Professor, University of Iceland
Thilo Marauhn
Professor for Public Law and International Law, Justus Liebig University Giessen
Rose McDermott
David and Mariana Fisher University Professor of International Relations, Brown University
Steven E. Miller
Director of the International Security Program, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard University Kennedy School
Igor Mikolic-Torreira
Director of Analysis, Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), Georgetown University
Jeffrey Mankoff
Senior Associate, CSIS Russia and Eurasia Program
Adlan Margoev
Analyst, Institute for International Studies, MGIMO University
Oliver Meier
Senior Researcher, Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg
Former Deputy Head, International Security Division, German Institute for International and Security Affairs
Sanna Magdalena Mörtudóttir
City Councilor, City of Reykjavík
N
Izumi Nakamitsu
Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, United Nations
Amy Nelson
Fellow, Foreign Policy, Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology, Brookings Institution
Michiru Nishida
Professor, Nagasaki University
Former Special Advisor for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
Nomsa Ndongwe
Research Associate, James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies
Qiyang Niu
Co-Head of China Programme, Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD)
O
Jón Gunnar Ólafsson
Former Acting Director of the Institute of International Affairs at the University of Iceland
Silja Bára Ómarsdóttir
Professor at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Iceland
Christian F. Ostermann
Research Professor, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland
Former Director of the History and Public Policy Program (HAPP), Woodrow Wilson Center
Jón Ólafsson
Professor of Cultural and Russian Studies, University of Iceland
Brynja Huld Óskarsdóttir
Defence Specialist, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Iceland
P
Jules Palayer
Researcher, Governance of Artificial Intelligence Programme, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
Melissa Parke
Executive Director, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)
Steven Pifer
Affiliate, Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), Stanford University
Non-resident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine
Joseph Pilat
Senior Advisor in the National Security Office, Office of the Director, Los Alamos National Laboratory
William Potter
Professor, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey
Director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies
Pavel Palazhchenko
Former Personal Interpreter to President Mikhail Gorbachev
Senior Advisor, The Gorbachev Foundation
Carrin F. Patman
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Iceland
Anna Péczeli
Senior Fellow, Center for Global Security Research (CGSR), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Affiliate, Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), Stanford University
Pavel Podvig
Senior Researcher, Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme, UNIDIR
Giordana Pulcini
Fellow at the University of Roma Tre
Q
Bo Qu
Associate Professor, China Foreign Affairs University (CFAU)
Jan Quosdorf
Student Assistant, Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF)
R
Darius Rahimi
Head of the Nuclear Arms Control, Non-proliferation and Disarmament Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Federal Republic of Germany
Tariq Rauf
Former Director, Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-proliferation Programme, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
Former Head of Verification & Security Policy, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Guy Roberts
Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs
Maria Rost Rublee
Professor of International Relations, University of Melbourne
Mahsa Rouhi
Research Fellow at the Center for Strategic Research, Institute for National Strategic Studies, at the National Defense University
Ali Rached
Senior Policy Officer and Head of Multilateral and Regional Affairs, Strategic Partnerships Directorate, INTERPOL
Policy and Strategy Advisor to the Executive Director for Partnerships and Planning, INTERPOL
Thomas Reinhold
Postdoctoral Researcher, Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF)
Laura Rockwood
Director, Open Nuclear Network
Nickolas Roth
Senior Director, Nuclear Threat Initiative
Lynn Rusten
National Security Consultant
Former Vice President of the Global Nuclear Policy Program, Nuclear Threat Initiative
S
Alice Saltini
Research Coordinator, European Leadership Network
Svetlana Savranskaya
Director of Russia Programs, National Security Archive, George Washington University
Sayaka Shingu
Doctoral Candidate, Hitotsubashi University, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
Dmitry Stefanovich
Research Fellow, Center for International Security, Russian Academy of Sciences
Danny Stoian
Fellow, Negotiation Task Force; Former Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Legislative Affairs, U.S. Department of State
Lev M. Sokolshchik
Postdoctoral Researcher, Higher School of Economics
Elisabeth Suh
Associate, German Institute for International and Security Affairs
Olamide Samuel
Track II diplomat and researcher in arms control
Former Coordinator of SCRAP Weapons 2019-2021
Jack Shanahan
Retired U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General
Adjunct Senior Fellow, Center for a New American Security (CNAS)
Former Director, Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, U.S. Department of Defense
Ingólfur Bjarni Sigfússon
Correspondent, RÚV
Mallory Stewart
Executive Vice President, Council on Strategic Risks
Jacob Stokes
Fellow for the Indo-Pacific Security Program, Center for a New American Security
Nikolai Sokov
Senior Fellow, Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation
Dmitry V. Suslov
Deputy Director, Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies, National Research University – Higher School of Economics
T
Adnan Tabatabai
Center for Applied Research in Partnership with the Orient (CARPO)
Halla Tómasdóttir
President, Iceland
Jenny Town
Senior Fellow, Stimson Center
Christopher Twomey
Associate Professor, Naval Postgraduate School
Lead Organizer, US-China Strategic Dialogue; Former Director, Center for Contemporary Conflict at NPS
Moshik Temkin
Visiting Scholar at the Middle East Initiative at Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Chair in Leadership and History at Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University
Gleb Toropchin
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Novosibirsk State Technical University, Faculty of Humanities
Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Eurasian Studies, Tomsk State University
Associate Professor, University of Tyumen, Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities
Non-Resident Expert at RIAC and Institute of Contemporary International Studies, Diplomatic Academy of the Russian MFA
Bruce Turner
U.S. Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament
U
Sergey Utkin
Independent Researcher
V
Ali Vaez
Iran Project Director & Advisor to the President, Crisis Group
Jane Vaynman
Assistant Professor of Strategic Studies, Johns Hopkins University
W
Michael Waller
President of Georgetown Research
Vice President for Government Relations at the Center for Security Policy
Marc Weller
Chair of International Law and International Constitutional Studies, University of Cambridge
Former United Nations Senior Mediation Expert
Elayne Whyte Gomez
Professor of Practice, Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)
Former Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica
Former Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations in Geneva
James Wilson
Researcher, US Department of State Office of the Historian
Casper Wits
Lecturer, Institute for Area Studies, Leiden University
Amy Woolf
Nuclear Weapons Policy Specialist, Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress
Margot Wallström
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of Sweden
Nicholas Wheeler
Professor of International Relations, University of Birmingham
Heather Williams
Director, Project on Nuclear Issues
Senior Fellow, International Security Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Sam Winter-Levy
Fellow, Technology and International Affairs Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Jon Wolfsthal
Senior Advisor, Global Zero
Member, Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Former Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Former Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Former Special Assistant to the President for National Security and Senior Director for Nonproliferation and Arms Control at the National Security Council
Austin Wright
Deputy Director and Policy Advisor, Deputy Administrator's Action Group, NNSA Office of Defense Programs
X
Y
Yue Yuan
Assistant Professor, The Institute of International Relations, China Foreign Affairs University
Z
Tong Zhao
Senior Fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Katarzyna Zysk
Professor, Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies
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