Belfer Center
"Featuring Research Fellow Emma Belcher"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Summer 2008
Emma Belcher’s research focuses on international cooperation to prevent weapons of mass destruction (WMD) proliferation to states and non-state actors. Belcher, a fellow with the Belfer Center's Project on Managing the Atom and the International Security Program, is a PhD candidate at the Fletcher School, where she completed her masters in 2004 and was editor-in-chief of the Fletcher Forum of World Affairs. She also holds a diploma in modern languages (Arabic) from the University of Melbourne, Australia.
Belcher’s current work examines the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) —a loose association of states which undertakes to intercept WMD, their components, and delivery systems —as an example of international cooperation outside the traditional nonproliferation treaties. She seeks to determine state motivation for participation and address claims of illegitimacy given its informal nature.
An Australian citizen, Belcher was an exchange student at Georgetown University in 1997 when she developed an interest in the role of nuclear weapons in statecraft. Since then, Belcher has spent eight years in the U.S., mainly in Washington, D.C. where she worked at the Australian Embassy. In 2005, Belcher returned to Australia to serve as a policy adviser on national security and international affairs in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
“Being a fellow at the Belfer Center has been invaluable for receiving constructive criticism from leading experts, as well as for the opportunity to develop professional networks with my peers and future colleagues,” Belcher says. “Having worked for government and seen the potential contribution to policy formation that academic institutions can make, it’s been a privilege to be associated with an institution as engaged and vibrant as the Belfer Center.”
For more information about this publication please contact the Belfer Center Communications Office at 617-495-9858.
For Academic Citation:
Communications Office. "Featuring Research Fellow Emma Belcher." Cambridge, Mass.: Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs Belfer Center Newsletter (Summer 2008).
