Professor John Simpson OBE
John Simpson reached the University's retirement age on 1 October 2008 and as a consequence relinquished his directorship of the Mountbatten Centre for International Studies. Professor Tony McGrew has become Acting Director of MCIS in his place, with Dr Darryl Howlett replacing Tony as Deputy Director.
John has directed MCIS since its inception and its success has been entirely due to his unstinting dedication to the cause of non-proliferation. His leadership is an inspiration to us all and we celebrated his achievements in January 2009.
John will continue to contribute to the Centre's work part-time for another two years on its ongoing EPSRC Research Project on 'A Sustainability Assessment of Nuclear Power', as well as continuing with the Centre's work on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and UK Nuclear Weapons issues. Keith Baker will continue to work on as a Post-doctoral research fellow on the Nuclear Power project.
Angela and Marion continued working in the Centre until the end of 2008, ensuring that everything is in order. Both Angela and Marion have given dedicated service to MCIS since its very early days and we are all indebted to them for ensuring everything ran smoothly and also for a very professional and happy working environment. Marion returned briefly in early 2009 to assist with the preparation of the 2009 Edition of the NPT Briefing Book, and again in eary 2010 and July 2010 to assist with the preparation of the 2010 Edition of the NPT Briefing Book (now the Revised July 2010 Edition of the NPT Briefing Book).
The research materials MCIS has collected in the past 20 years of its work on nuclear issues has been moved into the main University library as special collections. This will make these unique research archives available to a wider University audience.
Sustainable Nuclear Energy Project
MCIS is a member of a consortium of six university departments in the UK which have recently been awarded funding by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to investigate methods of deciding on the UK's future sustainable energy mix, including nuclear power. The MCIS contribution to this will be a collaborative one with Professor Gerry Stoker, Director of the other Politics and International Relations research centre, the Centre for Citizenship and Democracy. The work, which commenced in early 2008 with the appointment of a 3 year postdoctoral Research Fellow, Keith Baker, will focus on the domestic and international governance of the atom.
Darryl Howlett made a presentation at an International Seminar on Nuclear Energy organized by CEBRI (Centro Brasileiro de Relaçöes Internacionais) held in Rio de Janeiro on 6 and 7 December.
Nuclear Non-Proliferation
The 2009 Edition of the NPT Briefing Book is now available online.
John Simpson will serve as a member of The Royal Society's Group on Scientific Aspects of International Security for a three-year term from 1 January 2008 until 31 December 2010. He will represent the Royal Society at the forthcoming XVII Amaldi Conference of Academies of Sciences on Scientific Questions of Global Security (Hamburg, Germany, March 14-16) and present the findings of a Royal Society study group on "Strategy options for the UK's separated plutonium".
He has been involved in several significant events since the beginning of 2007. On 7 February he made a presentation in Vienna at a Seminar on the "NPT on trial: How should we respond to the challenges of maintaining and strengthening the treaty regime?" This was co-hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and the Center for the Promotion of Disarmament and Non-Proliferation.
He was in Washington DC on 8 February to attend a meeting of the CNS-MIIS "Alternative Nuclear Futures Project" and made a presentation on 'Future UK Nuclear Strategy'.
On 16 and 17 March he made a presentation at a workshop held in Annecy, France on the NPT, entitled: "Preparing for 2010: Getting the Process Right". This was organised by CNS-MIIS.
On 22 March he was at the Canadian High Commission, London where he participated and made a presentation in a video-link discusson on "The Future of Nuclear Non-Proliferation: The View from the United Kingdom".
During the period 29 April to 12 May he attended the NPT PrepCom Session in Vienna as Special Advisor to the UK delegation.
At the end of June he travelled to Monterey, California to attend a meeting of the CNS-MIIS Nuclear Strategy Group (MNSG). The theme of the meeting was: "Strengthening the Nuclear Nonproliferation Regime: Searching for Common Ground".
On 20 July he gave a lecture at the Royal College for Defence Studies, London on "Deterrence and The Changing Security Environment".
As a member of the CNS-MIIS MNSG, he was invited to Gstadd, Switzerland from the 13-15 September, to make a presentation at a joint high-level seminar entitled: "Energy and Global Security: Towards a Cooperative Approach". The event was in collaboration with GCSP, PIR Centre, and FDFA.
He attended a meeting of the CNS-MIIS MNSG Nuclear Chains Project held in Washington DC on 28 September.
On 27 October he was in New York for a Roundtable discussion on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty: "Preparing for 2010: Where are we and where do we want to go?". The event was held at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Indonesia and organised by CNS-MIIS.
Biological Weapons and Export Control
Jez Littlewood, formerly Research Fellow, MCIS (January 2002-April 2007) has been appointed as Director of the Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies (CCISS) at Carlton University, Ottawa, Canada. The Centre is based at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA).
British Nuclear History
On Thursday 12 and Friday 13 April the Southampton research team (John Simpson, Brian Jamison, Kristan Stoddart and John Walker) attended the British Rocketry Oral History Programme (BROHP) meeting held at Charterhouse. It included parallel sessions organised by Southampton as part of their Nuclear History Project funded by the AHRC. Sessions included presentations on: Chevaline; TSR2; US-UK Nuclear Defence Relations 1952-58; The Polaris Sales Agreement; Tactical Nuclear Weapons; The UK Nuclear Weapon Programme; Lessons for the future of Nuclear Non-Proliferation; and British Nuclear Weapons - New Perspectives. It also included a Witness Seminar as part of the project's Oral History programme.
A meeting of the Study Group was held in Southampton on Thursday, 15 November at the University's Wide Lane Sports Pavilion. Presentations were made on: Windscale 1957; The 1958 MDA: Some Key Questions; Role of the Ordnance Board in Relation to UK Nuclear Weaponry; and Anglo-French Nuclear Collaboration and UK entry into the EEC.