On October 31, 2024, Senior Lecturer in International Politics at the University of Stirling, Dr Megan Dee, published the report ‘Networking nuclear research in Scotland and the UK.’
Highlighting British foreign policy towards nuclear weapons and public debates about security and politics, the report saw the need for a “detailed map of nuclear weapons policy expertise at UK universities.”
In collaboration with the University of Glasgow, the report aimed to expand the sharing of expertise and discussion on nuclear weapons research and policy across the UK. Steps towards achieving this ambition have now been taken, with Nuclear Researchers Network-UK being established as a “strategic framework for connecting that expertise”.
The notion that nuclear weapons could become desensitised in public and policymaking discussions is one that Dr Dee questions. This depends on your “lived experience of nuclear weapons”, she says.
For example, locations such as Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the Marshall Islands have cultural experience of nuclear weapons testing or detonation ingrained in their national history.
In the UK, Dr Dee suggested that two factors have contributed to increased public apprehension of nuclear weapons. The first was the Russian invasion of Ukraine with the “increasing use of nuclear rhetoric by Russia” occurring in regional proximity to the UK.
The second factor was films such as Oppenheimer which really “amplified the history – and threat – of nuclear weapons development for many”.
Dr Dee’s next study is “how states use the language of nuclear responsibility within the global nuclear order”.
This will highlight the tension between countries which don’t possess nuclear weapons and those that do.
Non-nuclear weapon states often perceive nuclear weapon states’ continued investment in “modernising and increasing their arsenals, rather than working towards nuclear disarmament” as irresponsible behaviour.
The motivation for this research is to find “ways that governments can have more constructive conversations about nuclear responsibilities”, Dr Dee tells Brig.
Dr Dee’s publications and research can be accessed through the University Research Hub.
Featured Image Credit: University of Stirling
