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Gender Champions in Nuclear Policy is a leadership network that brings together heads of organisations working in nuclear policy who are committed to break down gender barriers and make gender equality a working reality in their spheres of influence. RUSI Director General Dr Karin von Hippel will become the initiative’s latest Gender Champion.

RUSI’s commitment to the initiative involves taking substantive action to address some of the specific issues around gender equality in the nuclear policy field.

Staff across the Institute have worked to develop pledges for actions over the next year that will solidify this commitment. The hope is that these undertakings will have positive effects well beyond our Proliferation and Nuclear Policy programme. RUSI aims to:

1. Look at recruitment policy and practices, to make sure we are being as inclusive as we can be at every stage from role definition to hiring.
2. Look at our approach to research, to make sure that we track and implement best practice in ensuring diversity of sources, voices, partnerships, authorship and peer review, with particular emphasis on the work of our Proliferation and Nuclear Policy programme.
3. Launch Rebalancing Expertise in Defence and Security, an initiative that will showcase the work of communities underrepresented in defence and security, starting with those who identify as women.

RUSI’s Director General, Dr Karin von Hippel, said, “We at RUSI are determined to make progress in all dimensions of diversity, so I am proud for the Institute to be joining this initiative. We will become part of a strong cohort of organisations taking action around gender equality in the nuclear policy field and defence and security.”

RUSI’s Director of Proliferation and Nuclear Policy, Tom Plant, said, “I’m delighted that RUSI has signed up to this important initiative, and enjoyed working with my team and others around the Institute to develop what I think are some very substantive pledges for positive action. We’re looking forward to implementing them and working with the rest of the Gender Champions network to improve diversity and inclusion in our field.”

More information about Gender Champions in Nuclear Policy can be found here.

RUSI’s Proliferation and Nuclear Policy programme conducts a wide range of research and implementation activities on WMD issues, such as UK nuclear deterrence, arms control and disarmament policy; countering North Korean nuclear proliferation; assessing and verifying North Korean WMD capabilities; Track II dialogues; advanced technologies and strategic stability; and the UK Project On Nuclear Issues, our free-to-join initiative for emerging nuclear scholars and professionals.