The Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy

About the Acronym Institute

Dr Rebecca Johnson

Dr Rebecca Johnson, who cofounded the Acronym Institute for Disarmament Diplomacy in 1995, holds a PhD from the London School of Economics (LSE), as well as an MA from the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and a B.Sc. (Hons) from the University of Bristol. Dr Johnson is currently Vice Chair of the Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and senior advisor to the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission (WMDC), chaired by Dr Hans Blix. She also serves on the advisory councils of several organisations, including the Centre for Policy Studies (PIR, Moscow), the Peace Depot (Japan), the UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Global Security and Non-Proliferation, and the Oxford Research Group (UK). Johnson has had extensive experience as a grassroots activist and organiser and is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and Women in Black.

While her present research priorities are WMD, space weaponisation and international security, Rebecca Johnson has authored numerous articles and reports on the United Nations system and multilateral disarmament and negotiations, notably the NPT and CTBT; civil society; and British defence policy, and gives papers and lectures on these subjects to a wide range of UN and other international conferences, seminars and meetings.

As well as her writings in Disarmament Diplomacy and the 13 ACRONYM reports on the NPT and CTBT, publications include: 'Is the NPT up to the challenge of proliferation?' UN Institute for Disarmament Research (Disarmament Forum, October 2004); 'Security without weapons in space: challenges and options', UN Institute for Disarmament Research (Disarmament Forum, March 2003); "Missile Defence and the Weaponisation of Space", ISIS Policy Paper, No. 11 (January 2003); 'Implications of the outcome of the NPT Review Conference', ISIS Special Briefing on UK Nuclear Weapons Policy (2001); 'Advocates and Activists: Conflicting Approaches on Nonproliferation and the Test Ban Treaty' in Ann Florini (ed), The Third Force: The Rise of Transnational Civil Society, (2000); 'Post-Cold War Security: the Lost Opportunities', UNIDIR, (Disarmament Forum, January 1999); 'Nuclear Arms Control through Multilateral Negotiations' in Nancy Gallagher (ed), Arms Control: New Approaches to Theory and Policy, (1998); British Perspectives on the Future of Nuclear Weapons, The Henry L. Stimson Center (1998); 'Ending Nuclear Weapon Testing: Getting and Keeping the CTBT', Verification 1997; 'Alice through the Fence' in J. Dewar, A Paliwala, S Picciotto and M Ruete (eds), Nuclear Weapons, the Peace Movement and the Law, (1986). Dr Johnson has contributed articles to various publications, including: The NonProliferation Review, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Nature, Le Monde Diplomatique, Arms Control Today and various international newspapers.

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