In June 2026, Julian Schäfer and Linda Ostermann from VeSPoTec attended this year’s insightful conference, “At the Edge? How Europe Should Respond to Nuclear Threats”, which was hosted by Dr Thomas Müller-Färber and the Protestant Academy Loccum in Germany. As in previous years, the Protestant Academy had assembled a diverse group of academic, political, and activist experts, mainly from Europe and the USA, to discuss how Europe is facing a new nuclear order.
The conference began with a kick-off talk on the risks of the “Third Nuclear Age”, continued with three informative presentations on the positions of China, the US and Russia, followed by a policy panel on the perspective of the European nuclear weapons states. Other topics explored included the current role of nuclear disarmament and the contributions of European non-nuclear weapons states. Linda Ostermann moderated the breakout session, “Still Room for Contribution? How Could Europe Add to Nuclear Risk Minimisation and Arms Control”, which – among other topics – featured an insightful discussion with the audience on the stance of the Nordic countries with Tarja Cronberg (SIPRI) and Oliver Meier (ELN).
The conference concluded with a discussion on the potential future role of the European nuclear have-nots. We would like to thank the Protestant Academy Loccum for three exciting days and look forward to returning next year.

A new special collection in the Zeitschrift für Friedens- und Konfliktforschung (ZeFKo) examines the future of nuclear verification in an increasingly contested global environment. Bringing together technical, political, and social-scientific perspectives, the collection explores how verification regimes for non-proliferation, arms control, and disarmament can adapt to emerging challenges, including geopolitical competition, technological change, and misinformation.

Central questions addressed in the special issue include how verification mechanisms can be further developed to respond to emerging threats, what role new technologies (such as AI and remote sensing) play in strengthening verification, how geopolitical rivalries affect the credibility of arms control agreements, and what lessons can be drawn from regional experiences in nuclear governance.

Edited by Dr. Hassan Elbahtimy (King’s College London), Prof. Dr. Malte Göttsche (CNTR / PRIF), and Dr. Ana de la Varga (RWTH Aachen), the collection highlights both the resilience and vulnerabilities of contemporary verification systems.

The full collection will be published soon here.

We’re looking back to a fruitful safeguard simulation exercise at Forschungszentrum Jülich. Some first impressions on this:

VeSPoTec seeks to organize a panel at the upcoming Open Conference of the International Relations Section of the German Political Science Association (DVPW), which will take place in Würzburg from September 21 to 23, 2026. The aim of the panel is to bring together different perspectives on the epistemic processes through which nuclear power becomes politically effective—and to show that “knowing” itself represents a form of nuclear order formation. 

We’re looking for theoretical and empirical contributions that understand knowledge production processes as a central component of nuclear (dis)order formation and examine how knowledge about nuclear policy is produced, legitimized, and challenged—and who is involved in this process. Please find more information in the full call for paper attached below.