AMC Annual Conference 2023

On June 14-15, the AMC Cross-Disciplinary Conference 2023 took place in Uppsala University Main Building. The conference was a great success and about 130 people from around the world participated on site.

Keynote speakers at the conference were Ulla Gudmundson, writer and diplomat, David Cortright, Professor Emeritus, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame, and Ann-Sofie Nilsson, Deputy Director-General and Head of Department for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

More than 80 speakers presented during the two days. The conference is intended as a space to share and discuss research and ideas on nuclear disarmament, and aims to combine insights from the social sciences, natural sciences and other disciplines, as well as from practical experience.

This was the second annual conference of the Alva Myrdal Centre for Nuclear Disarmament. The next conference will take place on 18-19 June 2024.

AMC Cross-Disciplinary Conference 2023

In 2023, the centre hosted its second Cross-Disciplinary Conference Nuclear Disarmament at a Crossroads in Uppsala, Sweden, on June 14-15 and online (in part). This conference is intended as a space to share and discuss research and ideas on nuclear disarmament, and aims to combine insights from the social sciences, natural sciences and other disciplines, as well as from practical experience.

The two-day conference featured opening and closing plenary sessions as well as interactive thematic sessions to present current research. Some sessions were more technical in nature and some dominated by social science contributions, but an important aspect of the conference was promoting cross-disciplinary exchanges. In addition to scientific sessions we aimed to include activities facilitating exchanges between academics, practitioners, civil society and the interested public.

In a short time, international affairs have changed dramatically with the re-emergence of nuclear weapons as a focal issue and it appears likely that nuclear weapons will become even more important over the foreseeable future. Hence, learning about the preconditions for nuclear disarmament in a broad sense becomes all the more urgent.

Issues that we need to understand better range from risk reduction, arms control, and non-proliferation in the immediate term to achieving disarmament and security communities in the long term.