Almuntaser Albalawi

Associate Fellow

Almuntaser Albalawi is an Associate Fellow and a PhD candi­date at the Research Depart­ment Inter­national Security and the Research Group Biological and Chemical Disarm­ament and Security. His research focuses on chemical, biological and nuclear weapons regimes and analyzes the develop­ment of enforce­ment norms and proce­dures across regimes.

albalawi(at)prif.org

CV

| since 2023
Associate Fellow at PRIF‘s Research Depart­ment Inter­national Security

| since 2023
Researcher at UN Institute for Disarm­ament Research (UNIDIR) for the Middle East WMD-Free Zone Project

| 2022–2023
Doctoral Researcher at PRIF

| 2022
Certified Project Manage­ment Professional (PMP)

| 2022
Researcher / short term consultant for the World Bank

| 2022
Acting manager of the Chemical, Biological, Radio­logical and Nuclear (CBRN) Threat Office at the Royal Scientific Society (RSS) in Jordan

| 2022
Senior staff scientist at the Biosafety and Bio­security Center – Royal Scientific Society (RSS) in Jordan

| 2021
Master of Arts in Conflict Reso­lution with distinction at the University of Jordan, School of Inter­national Studies

| 2019–2021
Project associate at the Middle East Scientific Institute for Security (MESIS)

| 2019
Certified Nuclear Security Profes­sional (CNSP) by World Institute for Nuclear Security (WINS)

| 2018–2019
Project assistant at the Middle East Scientific Institute for Security (MESIS)

| 2018
Bachelor of Science in Nuclear Engineering with a focus on Nuclear Safety and Security at Jordan University of Science and Techno­logy (JUST)

| 2017
Intern at the Nuclear Safety, Security and Safe­guards Direc­torate, Jordan Energy and Minerals Regu­latory Com­mission (EMRC)

PhD Project

Recent events in the Middle East, Ukraine, and North Korea show that the risk of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons is still high. While existing inter­national security regimes related to these weapons are robust, they are in crisis. Violations and contestation of regimes create shocks and junctures that would either strengthen or weaken them. Compliance and enforcement are the normative practices to address such violations. The robustness of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons regimes correlates to the effectiveness of existing enforcement norms and procedures. Having all three regimes at a turning point makes analyzing the evolution of enforcement practices across the three regimes timely. The project involves a cross-regime analysis of enforce­ment norms and procedures to study the differences and offer an under­standing of the implications for the regimes.

Projects

Publications

  • Beyond the Echo Chamber: Creating a More Equitable, Diverse and Inclusive Nuclear Weapons Policy Field
    | 2023
    Nair, Sneha; Fleming-Zhou, Ian; Reitmann, Louis; Hazarika, Monalisa; Albalawi, Almuntaser (2023): Beyond the Echo Chamber: Creating a More Equitable, Diverse and Inclusive Nuclear Weapons Policy Field, in: Kim Obergfaell (eds), De-siloing Existential Threats: Challenging Identity, Power, and Inclusivity in the Nuclear Policy Field, London: BASIC, 26-35.
    Publication
  • Middle East and North Africa
    | 2023
    Albalawi, Almuntaser (2023): Middle East and North Africa, in: Kim Obergfaell (eds), Regional Youth Perspectives on the NPT Review Process. An Early Career/Youth Consultation by BASIC’s Emerging Voices Network (EVN), London: BASIC, 22-27.
    Publication

  • The Pursuit of Consensus
    | 2023
    Albalawi, Almuntaser; Burck, Kristoffer (2023): The Pursuit of Consensus. The Fifth Chemical Weapons Convention Review Conference, PRIF Spotlight, 8, Frankfurt/M. DOI: 10.48809/prifspot0823
  • Why a WMD-free zone in the Middle East is more needed than ever
    | 2023
    Albalawi, Almuntaser (2023): Why a WMD-free zone in the Middle East is more needed than ever, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
    Publication

Further Activities