Heather Williams

Dr. Heather Williams, formerly a Research Fellow at the Project on Managing the Atom and International Security Program, is currently an Associate of Project on Managing the Atom. From 2020-2021 she was a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Security Studies Program (SSP). She is visiting from King’s College London, where she is a Lecturer in the Defence Studies Department. From 2018 to 2019, Heather served as a Specialist Advisor to the House of Lords inquiry into the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and Disarmament, and until January 2015, Heather was a Research Fellow on Nuclear Weapons Policy at Chatham House. Her research focuses on arms control and strategic stability and has been supported by the U.S. Department of Defense, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, MacArthur Foundation, and Carnegie Corporation of New York. Heather is currently one of five non-governmental facilitators in the Track 1 dialogue Creating an Environment for Nuclear Disarmament (CEND) and is also an adjunct Research Staff Member in the Strategy, Forces, and Resources Division of the Institute for Defense Analyses in Alexandria, Virginia, where she has worked since 2008. She is a Senior Associate (non-resident) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a member of the Wilton Park Advisory Council, an Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), and a Senior Associate Fellow with the European Leadership Network. Dr Williams completed her Ph.D. in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, and she has a B.A. in International Relations and Russian Studies from Boston University and an M.A. in Security Policy Studies from The George Washington University.