conference

2025 Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference

April 21, 2025 - April 22, 2025

Westin DC, Downtown, 999 9th Street NW, Washington, DC

Please note that this year’s venue will be Westin DC, Downtown, 999 9th Street NW, Washington, DC.

For over 30 years, experts, officials, executives, journalists, and students from across the globe have come together to debate—and explore solutions for—the most pressing challenges in nuclear nonproliferation, arms control, disarmament, deterrence, energy, and security at the Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference.

Registration will open at the end of September

2025 Thérèse Delpech Memorial Award | Side Sessions

Please note that this year’s venue will be Westin DC, Downtown, 999 9th Street NW, Washington, DC.

Registration will open at the end of September

2025 Thérèse Delpech Memorial Award | Side Sessions

2025 Thérèse Delpech Memorial Award

Carnegie’s Nuclear Policy Program is pleased to announce that nominations for the 2025 Thérèse Delpech Memorial Award are now open. The award will be presented at the 2025 Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference.

The award is offered, at each conference, to an individual who has rendered exceptional service to the nongovernmental nuclear policy community. While exceptional service includes major intellectual contributions to critical debates, it also encompasses the time-consuming and often unrecognized work that sustains and strengthens our community: mentoring young women and men; constructively critiquing the work of others; creating fora for discussion; building networks; and enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion. Such activities benefit the entire community in its efforts to reduce nuclear dangers. Importantly, the award is also intended to recognize individuals who, through friendship, collegiality, and respect, help mold a collection of individual researchers into a community worthy of the name.

In short, the award recognizes exceptional creativity, integrity, humanity, and amity—four qualities embodied by Thérèse Delpech, a long-time strategic adviser to the French Atomic Energy Commission, an author, and a distinguished public intellectual. Thérèse passed away in January 2012; as we planned our 2013 conference, we realized that she would be sorely missed, and that one way to celebrate her life would be to establish an award in her name.

Previous winners of the award are Scott Sagan (2022), William Potter (2021), Harald Müller (2019), Catherine McArdle Kelleher (2017), Michael Krepon (2015), and Amb. Linton F. Brooks (2013).

The 2025 award will be decided by an adjudication panel consisting of two Carnegie staff members and three external experts. Except for members of this panel, former award recipients, and current employees of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, anyone involved in nuclear policy anywhere in the world is eligible for the award.

Nominations for the award are warmly welcomed from anyone, based in any country, who is actively engaged in the field of nuclear policy in any capacity. Nominations, which should include a detailed explanation of how the nominee fulfils the criteria set out above, should be sent to James Acton by 12:00pm on Monday October 14, 2024.

Previous winners of the award are Scott Sagan (2022), William Potter (2021), Harald Müller (2019), Catherine McArdle Kelleher (2017), Michael Krepon (2015), and Amb. Linton F. Brooks (2013).

Side Sessions

We are pleased to invite proposals for side sessions at the 2025 Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference, which will be held on April 21-22 at the Westin Washington, DC Downtown in Washington, DC.

As a service to attendees at past conferences, we have made space available before the first session of each day for them to organize meetings on subjects of interest to the nuclear policy community. These side sessions have proved popular, often attracting between 50 and 100 attendees. We hope to stream some or all of the side sessions to virtual participants, though at this time, we cannot commit to doing so.

Side sessions, which are open to all conference attendees, can focus on any subject relevant to the conference, including a specific nuclear policy question or structural challenges facing the nuclear policy community, such as a lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion or professional advancement opportunities.

Proposals should be sent to Jane Darby Menton by noon on Monday October 14, 2024. Late submissions will not be considered. Proposals should be no longer than 500 words and should contain: (i) the name(s) and affiliation(s) of the organizer(s); (ii) a description of the proposed session’s subject matter and format; (iii) a brief explanation of the subject matter’s importance; and (iv) a tentative list of speakers/panelists, highlighting how this list meets the diversity, equity, and inclusion criterion outlined below.

We recognize that speakers may change, but organizers must have obtained an in-principle commitment from proposed speakers. Before accepting a side session, we reserve the right to check such commitments have been secured.

We will assess proposals using the following guidelines:

Proposals will be evaluated in terms of the importance and timeliness of their subject matter, the quality of the proposed speakers, and the likely degree of interest to the nuclear policy community.
In keeping with our diversity, equity, and inclusion goals for the conference, the gender balance of speakers and their diversity (race, ethnicity, geographic origin, and viewpoint) will also be an important consideration. We will not accept proposals for all-male panels. And, while no single panel can encompass every dimension of diversity, we will only accept proposals that are diverse along at least some of those dimensions.
Proposals are unlikely to be accepted if all or most of the proposed speakers represent the same institution. They are also unlikely to be accepted if their goal is to highlight a single publication, such as a working group report, unless the format is designed to facilitate a genuine and balanced debate about the publication’s findings, featuring individuals not involved in drafting.
It is unlikely that we will accept more than one proposal from the same institution (though institutions may submit more than one proposal).

Finally, here’s what you can expect from us, and what we expect from you:

There will be no charge to the organizers of side sessions. We will provide a room and advertise the session to all conference attendees. We will also try to accommodate requests for room set-up and audio-visual equipment, but except for providing microphones, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to fulfil such requests.
We will not provide any other forms of financial or logistical support. Organizers are entirely responsible for making all the arrangements for their side sessions, including inviting and communicating with speakers, and providing us with required information by specified deadlines.
The organizers of side sessions must be registered conference attendees.
Side-session speakers do not have to be registered conference attendees. If they are not, however, they will be unable to attend any part of the conference, except the side session in which they are speaking.
We will not provide free conference registration to the organizers of side sessions or to speakers at side sessions.

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Nuclear Policy

The Nuclear Policy Program aims to reduce the risk of nuclear war. Our experts diagnose acute risks stemming from technical and geopolitical developments, generate pragmatic solutions, and use our global network to advance risk-reduction policies. Our work covers deterrence, disarmament, arms control, nonproliferation, and nuclear energy.

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Nuclear Policy Conferences

See the agendas and watch videos from sessions in previous nuclear policy conferences.

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Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.