BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk// X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Strategic Stability and Management of Catastrophic Risk in a Highl y Competitive World seminar - Speaker to be confirmed DTSTART:20250509T130000Z DTEND:20250509T143000Z UID:TALK232033@talks.cam.ac.uk CONTACT:113929 DESCRIPTION:We all realise the risk of global catastrophe is terrifying\, but it is the height of irresponsibility to wish away or underestimate the dynamics and objectives of powerful states. Nuclear deterrence is here to stay for the foreseeable future and will continue to reduce the risk of g reat power war. Nevertheless\, we should be exploring how states might bet ter collaborate to nudge the dynamics in a constructive direction so that progress toward nuclear disarmament can resume on the basis of improved re lationships. Dr. Christopher Ford will explore aspects of this challenge\, in the face of worsening relationships and the ambitions of those states challenging strategic stability. Christopher will draw from his experience in several senior positions within the US government and armed services\, in the DC think tank community\, as a scholar\, and as a Buddhist to expl ore some of the most challenging dimensions in global management of catast rophic risk.\n\nSpeaker:\n\nChristopher Ford\nChristopher Ford was for thr ee years US Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and No nproliferation in Trump’s first Administration\, where he was responsibl e\, among other things\, for leading the American shift into technology de nial as a tool of competitive strategy and for creating and leading the gl obal initiative Creating the Environment for Nuclear Disarmament (CEND). Before that\, Dr. Ford served as Senior Director for WMD and Counterprolif eration at the U.S. National Security Council. He is now Professor of Int ernational Relations and Strategic Studies at Missouri State University’ s School of Defense and Strategic Studies\, and a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Pharos Foundation at Oxford\, as well as a prolific commenta tor on issues related to deterrence\, law\, China\, and strategic competit ion.\n\nPanellists:\n\nPaul Ingram\nPaul Ingram is a Research Affiliate & the former Academic Programme Manager at CSER. Paul has several decades ex perience leading diverse and multicultural teams to impact decisions on ex istential threats\, particularly nuclear war. He was the Executive Directo r of the transatlantic British American Security Information Council (BASI C) 2007-19\, focusing on nuclear deterrence and disarmament issues in the US\, Europe\, the Middle East and Asia. Since 2019 he has worked closely w ith the Swedish Foreign Ministry crafting the Stepping Stones Approach. Th e associated 16-nation Stockholm Initiative for Nuclear Disarmament has be come a widely-acknowledged glimmer of hope for the NPT Review process.\n\n S.M. Amadae\nProf S. M. Amadae is Director at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk\, University of Cambridge\, and a tenured political scien tist at the University of Helsinki\, where her research spans nuclear secu rity\, climate collective action\, and AI’s risks to governance. She is completing a book on “computational tyranny” and is author of Prisoner s of Reason and Rationalizing Capitalist Democracy. A former professor at Central European University\, Ohio State\, and Swansea\, and visiting scho lar at LSE\, New School\, and Harvard\, she has held a Berggruen Fellowshi p at Stanford and remains affiliated with MIT. Amadae co-led NATO’s Dyna mic Democratic Support of Finnish Defense Policy poll following Russia’s Ukraine invasion and Finland’s NATO accession\, and co-authored SIPRI ’s study on AI\, autonomy\, and nuclear risk. Since 2021\, she has direc ted Helsinki’s Global Politics and Communication MA\, hosting high-profi le events with Finland’s former president and EU parliamentarians and se curing a US Embassy exchange with UNC Chapel Hill. LOCATION:Syndics Room\, 17 Mill Lane END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR