The research contributes to the development of new policy agendas aimed at creating opportunities for promoting trust in relation to one of the most significant issues of global security, namely the future of nuclear weapons.
This project has been supported by a multidisciplinary core group which brings together scholars working on trust in a range of disciplines with experts on nuclear weapons and security (members of the group include established scholars like Ken Booth, William Walker, John Simpson, Geoffrey Hosking, and Guido Moellering, as well as early career researchers like Naomi Head, Jan Ruzicka, Kate Sullivan, and Sara Kutchesfarani). Indeed, the growth of a new cluster of early career researchers, especially in the UK, exploring the role of trust in international security, especially nuclear issues, is one of the outstanding achievements of the project. In addition, a key theoretical contribution of the project is recognition of the importance of face-to-face diplomatic encounters in building trust between nuclear adversaries (Wheeler 2013 and Trusting Enemies to be published by OUP in 2014).