Joint ICTP-SGS Princeton School on Science and Global Security

Administration

Description

The call for applications is now closed.

The Princeton School on Science and Global Security invites applications from next-generation scientists and engineers interested in technical and policy perspectives on understanding, reducing, and ending the threats created by nuclear weapons and emerging technologies.

The School includes talks by leading disarmament scientists and global security policy experts. It provides skills and insights for participants for their research, encourages investigation of new ideas for a safer, more peaceful, and just world, and fosters a broader research community. Organized by the Princeton Program on Science and Global Security (SGS), the School is being held together with ICTP for the first time.

All participants must give a technical talk on issues related to nuclear weapons or emerging technologies in the context of global security and disarmament. Applicants should be graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, or junior faculty in natural or applied sciences, engineering, or mathematics. Applicants of every gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability status, and socioeconomic status are encouraged. SGS will notify successful applicants by May 2026.

Topics

Nuclear weapon effects, impacts of nuclear testing and nuclear war
Impacts of emerging and dual technologies (quantum computing, space-based systems, artificial intelligence, and robotics) on nuclear weapon risks and global security
Nuclear weapons, reactors, and military activities in space
Missiles, hypersonics, drones, and missile defenses
Verification of nuclear warheads, delivery systems, and nuclear weapon programs
Nuclear archeology, forensics, monitoring and safeguarding of fissile materials
Safety and monitoring of nuclear reactors and nuclear weapon facilities

Speakers
Frank von Hippel, Princeton, USA
Stewart Prager, Princeton, USA
Igor Moric, Princeton, USA
David Wright, MIT, USA
Sébastien Philippe, University of Wisconsin, USA
Sharon Weiner, American University, USA
Moritz Kütt, Hamburg University, Germany

Research Abstracts: In the application form, applicants must submit a 200-word abstract of their proposed presentation. Please use ICTP templates available for download below under ‘Abstract Template’.

Grants: Cost of travel, visa, accommodation, and meals are covered by the organizers for participants. There is no registration fee.

Material

Abstract Template Final List of Participants Poster

Joint ICTP-SGS Princeton School on Science and Global Security | (smr 4311)

Go to day

Sunday, 26 July 2026

19:00 - 21:00

19:00 Welcome Dinner 2h0'

All Participants are cordially invited to the Welcome Dinner on the Leonardo Terrace

Monday, 27 July 2026
- 08:00 - 17:30
  - 08:00 Breakfast on the Leonardo Terrace 1h0'
  - 09:00 Welcome Remarks and Introductions 1h15'
  - 10:15 Tech Break 10'
  - 10:25 Coffee Break 20'
  - 10:45 The Technology of Nuclear Weapons 45'
    
    Speaker: Alex Glaser (Princeton University, USA)
  - 11:30 Understanding Nuclear Deterrence as Policy and Politics 45'
    
    Speaker: Sharon Weiner (American University, USA)
  - 12:15 Group Photo 5'
  - 12:20 Lunch Break 55'
  - 13:15 Modeling Nuclear War and its Effects 45'
    
    Speaker: Sébastien Philippe (University of Wisconsin, USA)
  - 14:00 The Impact of Nuclear Fires on Emissions and Plume Development 45'
    
    Speaker: Noelle Dwyer (Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center, San José State University, USA)
  - 14:45 Tech Break 10'
  - 14:55 Coffee Break 20'
  - 15:15 Nuclear War Modelling: Climate Disruption & Radiological Fallout 45'
    
    Speaker: Ananth Ranjithkumar (Department of Mathematics & Statistics University of Exeter, UK)
  - 16:00 Evaluating the Direct and Cascading Effects of Nuclear War in Mexico 45'
    
    Speaker: Gerson Garcia (University of Wisconsin - Madison, USA)
  - 16:45 Cascading Disruptions in Global Natural Gas, Fertilizer, and Food Trade Following a Nuclear War 45'
    
    Speaker: Pavel Kiparisov (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austria)
- 19:00 - 21:00
  - 19:00 Dinner on the Adriatico Terrace 2h0'
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All Participants are cordially invited to the Welcome Dinner on the Adriatico Terrace
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Tuesday, 28 July 2026

08:00 - 17:45

08:00 Breakfast on the Leonardo Terrace 1h0'
09:00 Uranium in the World’s Majority Cobalt Supply 45'

Speaker: Ryan Manzuk (Princeton University, USA)
09:45 OSINT-Based Early Warning Indicators for Unauthorized Fissile Materials Extraction in Conflict-Affected Regions of Nigeria 45'

Speaker: Geraldine Okoye (Ahmadu Bello University Department of Physics, USA)
10:30 Tech Break 10'
10:40 Coffee Break 20'

11:00 Drones for nuclear justice: Measuring Nuclear Weapon Test Contamination 45'

Speaker:

Annika Simon (University of Hamburg Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Natural Sciences Department of Physics, Germany)

11:45 Impact of Radiological Release of Radionuclides on Food Safety and Developing Remediation Strategies 45'

Speaker: Priscilla Oforiwaa
12:30 Lunch Break 1h0'
13:30 Confronting Autonomous Weapons and Data-intensive Systems 45'

Speaker: Ray Acheson (Princeton University, USA)
14:15 Secure-by-Design AI Agents: Threat Models, Guarantees, and Global Security 45'

Speaker: Egor Zverev (Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) ETH Zurich, Austria)
15:00 Tech Break 10'
15:10 Coffee Break 20'
15:30 Application of Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models in Modern Warfare 45'

Speaker: Mona Amer (Faculty of Applied Science Department of Civil Engineering, Canada)
16:15 Ghana's Commitment to Global Nuclear Non-Proliferation: The GHARR-1 HEU-to-LEU Conversion Programme 45'

Speaker: Wilfred Massiasta (National Nuclear Research Institute Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, Ghana)
17:00 Monitoring Fissile Material Production in Fast Reactors 45'

Speaker: Laura Mertes (Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF), Germany)

18:00 - 19:30

18:00 Panel on Nuclear Energy, Fissile Materials, Proliferation, and Risks 1h30'

Chairpersons: Ralf Kaiser (ICTP, Italy), Zia Mian (Princeton University, USA), Yihui Dong (IAEA, Austria)

The panel discussion is organized together with participants from the Joint ICTP-IAEA Nuclear Energy Management School

Speaker:

Frank von Hippel, Gordon MacKerron, Denia Djokić, Alex Glaser (Princeton University, USA, University of Sussex, UK, Denia Djokić, University of Michigan, USA, Princeton University, USA)

19:30 - 21:30

19:30 Dinner Reception on the Leonardo Terrace 2h0'

All Participants are cordially invited to the Welcome Dinner on the Leonardo Terrace

Wednesday, 29 July 2026

08:00 - 16:00

08:00 Day Off 8h0'

No lectures. Participants may spend the day as they wish. Please note that your meals and
activities are at your own expense, and the weather is expected to be quite hot during the day.

Thursday, 30 July 2026

08:00 - 17:45

08:00 Breakfast on the Leonardo Terrace 1h0'
09:00 Space Sustainability and Security in the Era of Megaconstellations and Novel Space Activities 45'

Speaker: Roohi Dalal (Princeton University, USA)
09:45 The Geometry of Keep-out Zones in Geosynchronous Orbit 45'

Speaker: Kate Futrowski (Georgia Institute of Technology School of Physics Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, USA)
10:30 Tech Break 10'
10:40 Coffee Break 20'
11:00 Assessing the Impact of Prompt Effect of a High-Altitude Nuclear Explosion on Non-Military LEO Satellites 45'

Speaker: Zhengqing Fang (School of Aerospace, China)

11:45 When is a Satellite a Weapon? A Framework for Definition and Identification 45'

Speaker:

Milan Pathak (Support for Arms Control in Space Junior Research Group Department of Social Sciences and Public Affairs Universität der Bundeswehr München, Germany)

12:30 Lunch Break 1h0'
13:30 How to use Nuclear Physics for Verification of Nuclear Disarmament and Nonproliferation 45'

Speaker: Moritz Kütt (Hamburg University, Germany)
14:15 Small-scale neutrino-based tools for nuclear verification 45'

Speaker: Eliot Walton (School of Physics and Astronomy Faculty of Science Monash University, Australia)
15:00 Tech Break 10'
15:10 Coffee Break 20'
15:30 Fusion Energy and Non-Proliferation 45'

Speaker: Nour Hammoud (The University of Manchester Dalton Nuclear Institute, UK)
16:15 Safeguards for Deep Geological Repositories: Safety Case, Risk, and Policy 45'

Speaker: Yannick Vogt (Institute of Safety and Risk Sciences BOKU University, Austria)
17:00 Governing Advanced Nuclear Energy: Anticipating Global Risks 45'

Speaker: Denia Djokić (University of Michigan, USA)

19:00 - 22:00
- 19:00 Dinner at Osteria Casa Pepe - local restaurant 3h0'

Friday, 31 July 2026
- 08:00 - 14:30
  - 08:00 Breakfast on the Leonardo Terrace 1h0'
  - 09:00 Building Capacity for Conversations about Ethics and Nuclear Weapons in Physics Classrooms 45'
    
    Speaker: Brianne Gutmann (San Jose State University, USA)
  - 09:45 A New Resource Guide to Literature on Nuclear Arms Control 45'
    
    Speaker: Naomi Satoh (University of Maryland School for Public Policy, USA)
  - 10:30 Tech Break 10'
  - 10:40 Coffee Break 20'
  - 11:00 Unmaking the Bomb: A Fissile Material Approach to Nuclear Disarmament and Nonproliferation 45'
    
    Speaker: Frank von Hippel (Princeton University, USA)
  - 11:45 The Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons: Disarmament as Security and Freedom 45'
    
    Speaker: Zia Mian (Princeton University, USA)
  - 12:30 Lunch Break 1h0'
  - 13:30 Closing Remarks and Feedback 1h0'