Speakers:

• Dr Kobi Leins, author and Senior Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Science and Security Studies (CSSS)
• Dr Helen Durham, Director of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

This event discusses Dr Kobi Leins' new book titled: New War Technologies and International Law: The legal limits to weaponizing nanomaterials. It will take place at King's College London, participants can also join online.

The desire for humanity and the desire for security have co-existed as long as humans have been alive. As science has become increasingly sophisticated, so have the methods of self-defence by States. Nanotechnology is already changing warfare by increasing capabilities upon which armed forces are heavily reliant: more efficient energy storage, advanced photovoltaics, and improved military protective equipment to name a few of these developments.

Some applications of nanomaterials by the military are both powerful and subtle, and have neurological and biological applications: 'devices that can infiltrate electronics and seize control at crucial moments, artificial “disease” agents that can rest harmlessly in victims' bodies until activated by an external signal'.

The advance of the use or contemplation of use of these types of nanoscale applications by the military requires urgent analysis in light of existing international law, particularly in light of their potential effects on humans and on the environment.

This book launch and panel debate is organised by the Centre for Science and Security Studies (CSSS) and moderated by Dr Filippa Lentzos, Co-Director of CSSS.

Speaker biographies

Dr Kobi Leins (GAICD) is an Honorary Senior Fellow in the Department of War Studies, King’s College, London; Non-Resident Fellow of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, Geneva; Advisory Board Member of the Carnegie AI and Equality Initiative, New York; Member of Standards Australia as a technical expert on the International Standards Organisation’s work on AI Standards; and co-founder of Responsible Innovation and the Life Sciences with IEEE. Leins has previously managed programmes and teams in administrative law and justice, humanitarian law, human rights law, and disarmament with the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Helen Anne Durham AO, an international humanitarian lawyer, is the Director of International Law and Policy at the International Committee of the Red Cross. Durham served as director of international law, strategy, planning and research at the Australian Red Cross, and has worked as ICRC head of office in Sydney.

Dr Filippa Lentzos is a Senior Lecturer in Science & International Security, with a joint appointment in the Department of War Studies and the Department of Global Health & Social Medicine. She also serves as Co-Director of the Centre for Science and Security Studies (CSSS).