In a rare bright spot in today’s news, there is a sincere congratulations to ISYP’s South Asia dialogue project as a finalist for the 2025 PACEY Awards.

ISYP, whose external advisory board I am on, is re-launching their South Asia initiative, which built a great community throughout 2022-2023 with successful roundtables on nuclear weapons issues in South Asia, including on the intersection of nuclear policy and cybersecurity. They hope to continue this work in 2025 and expand into producing published works and additional conferences.

Sanaa Alvira joins ISYP as a Research Associate specializing in nuclear policy and related issues at the Centre for Air Power Studies, India, and a Research Assistant at the Centre for the Governance of AI (GovAI). She is also a Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellow at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and a recent graduate of the Non-Proliferation and Terrorism Studies master’s programme at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. She joined ISYP's Leadership Team in 2024 and will be working on the South Asia Programming, in addition to ISYP's other projects.

In mutual congratulations, the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Japanese organization, Nihon Hidankyo, an organization dedicated to supporting and amplifying the stories of nuclear bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki and educating the public on the dangers and humanitarian impacts of nuclear weapons. ISYP warmly congratulates Nihon Hidankyo on being awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. ISYP honors the legacy of the Hibakusha - the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - whose courage and advocacy inspire our commitment to a world free of nuclear weapons.