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International Network of Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation |
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International Network of Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation |
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The 10th International Summer Symposium on Science and World Affairs was held at MIT in Boston, Massachusetts, USA this past July 13-21. This series of annual meetings is intended to encourage and assist young scientists around the world to begin conducting policy-related research on arms control and security issues, and to help create an international community of such researchers. These meetings are co-organized by the Union of Concerned Scientists and a local host, in this case the MIT Security Studies Program. Funding for the meeting was provided by the W. Alton Jones Foundation and the Ploughshares Fund, both of which have supported these meetings for a number of years.
The Symposium originated in 1989 with a meeting at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and led to the establishment of the Center for Arms Control, Energy, and Environmental Studies. While the meetings now include scientists from a number of countries, there has been a special focus on attracting scientists from China, India, and Pakistan.
This year's meeting included 37 participants from 11 countries, including for the first time Iran and South Korea. For the second year the meeting included scientists from the Russian nuclear weapons labs, which are in the process of setting up centers at which experts will work on these issues. The largest group at the meeting was from China. The increasing emphasis in China on training arms control experts has been obvious in recent years, and has resulted in a very strong group of researchers. The organizers were again unable to find appropriate participants from France.
The Symposiums are structured around presentations by the participants. Each person is given 45 minutes to talk about work they have performed or are planning to perform, and to answer questions and receive feedback on the project. The talks are intended not only to describe the participant's research but to discuss the policy issues that motivate the project and the policy-relevant conclusions that result from the work. In addition, time is set aside at the meeting for discussions of particular topics of interest, as well as issues such as jobs and funding possibilities.
One of the key topics of this year's meeting was the nuclear situation in South Asia, and a day was devoted to discussing a range of topics by speakers from the region. This included technical analyses of what is known about the Indian and Pakistani nuclear tests.
Several participants gave presentations on using thorium in nuclear reactors, especially in connection with subcritical designs that have been proposed. In addition, talks were given on fissile material controls and disposition, on missile defense issues, and on a range of other issues.
Two senior guests also participated in the meeting: Frank von Hippel of Princeton talked about the "Growing Stockpile of Civil Plutonium" and Ted Postol of MIT talked about the "Danger from Shortfalls in Russian Early Warning".
Preparations are already under way for next year's Symposium, which will be co-hosted by the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, China. For more information, contact Lisbeth Gronlund, lgronlund@ucsusa.org, George Lewis, gnlewis@mit.edu or David Wright, dwright@ucsusa.org.
10th International Summer Symposium on Science and World Affairs Massachusetts Institute of Technology, July 13-21, 1998
Front row (left to right): Kang Jungmin, Bob van der Zwaan, Nadya Koroleva, van Blackwood, Chuck Ferguson, Manish, Zhang Hui, A.H. Nayyar, Annette Schaper, Sun Xiangli, Zhou Xiaoji, Seema Narain
Second row: Lisbeth Gronlund, Christoph Pistner, Saideh Lotfian, Yuri Yudin, Andrei Korolev, He Yingbo, David Wright, Walter Dorn, Timur Kadyshev, Eileen Gunn, Alexander Glaser
Top row: Shen Yaosong, Henrietta Wilson, V. Shankar Aiyar, Francis Slakey, Gleb Morozov, LI Yunsheng, George Lewis, Rolland Reimers, Huang Zuwei
Missing from photo: Merav Datan, Zia Mian, Susan Pickett, M.V. Ramana, Shen Dingli, Wu Chunsi
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