Alpha's Activities

Alpha's Activities (2)

Alpha is delighted to announce that two new members will shortly be joining the team. Cathy Gilhespy and Nick Mitchell join us from distinguished careers in UK Government and will be assisting with our work with firms, providing critical insights into the export licensing process and compliance.

Cathy Gilhespy

Cathy Gilhespy received a BSC in Chemistry and Physics from Royal Holloway College, London University in 1973. After completing her degree, she worked as a physicist at Marconi Elliott Avionic Systems Ltd. located in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. She subsequently joined the Department of Employment where she worked in the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate from 1974 – 1986. From there, she worked for four years in HSE Mine Safety, running the national system of certification for mine managers and statutory officials.

Cathy was later Assistant Secretary to the Health and Safety Executive Management Board for the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate before moving on the Information Technology Unit at the Department of Trade and Industry. Her final post was as the Head of the Enforcement Unit for the Export Control Organisation (ECO) at the Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS), which she held from 1999 – 2011. Cathy took voluntary early retirement in June 2011.

Nick Mitchell

Nick Mitchell worked in the UK Government for 33 years before leaving the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills in 2011. He has been involved in a range of non-proliferation, counter proliferation and export control work since 1989. For 10 years he ran the Government’s main committee which co-ordinated the enforcement of export controls, having first-hand experience of implementing UN Sanctions against Iraq, collaboration with international partners, working with Customs to enforce controls but also with business to help them avoid become unwitting suppliers to WMD programmes.

After 18 months on counter-proliferation awareness, Nick spent 3 years on nuclear non-proliferation work, co-ordinating the UK’s policies and support in respect of the IAEA, such as nuclear safeguards and nuclear security. He negotiated for the UK at the NPT in New York and Geneva and at meetings of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, and has wide experience of international export control mechanisms. More recently he ran one of the Export Control Organisation’s Licensing Units, where he worked with various parts of Government, international partners and large numbers of exporters to administer the UK’s export control responsibilities.

 

 

 

November 2012 China

Outreach Workshop in Dalian, China

In November 2012 Project Alpha organised and participated in a successful non-proliferation and export compliance outreach workshop in Dalian, China. Over 30 attendees from Chinese industry participated to share best practices and experiences.

The Project Alpha team, Centre for Science and Security Studies (CSSS) academic staff and industry experts organised and participated in a successful non-proliferation and export compliance outreach workshop in Dalian, China. The workshop took place on 29 & 30 November 2012 and sought to raise awareness of the importance of compliance with UN sanctions resolutions in the Chinese carbon fibre and alloys sectors. Carbon fibre and alloys are actively sought by proliferators such as Iran and North Korea for use in their sanctioned nuclear and missile programmes.

The workshop was organised by the Project Alpha team working in cooperation with two Chinese-government affiliated think tanks: the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association (CACDA) which is Ministry of Foreign Affairs affiliated, and China Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation (CAITEC). It was attended by over 30 industry participants and representatives of a number of other Chinese government departments.

The two-day conference included sessions led by academics and experts based at King’s, as well as Chinese government officials, a member of the UN Panel of Experts on Iran, and those from Chinese think tanks and British and Chinese industry. The presentations from industry were particularly useful in sharing compliance best practices and experiences with other industry attendees. Chinese industry attendees remarked that they found the workshop useful in informing their compliance systems and practices.

The workshop in Dalian was the second organised by Project Alpha; the first took place in Qingdao in February 2012. The workshops have been funded by the British government and contribute to broader counter-proliferation efforts. Dalian was chosen as a venue for the latest workshop because it is a significant industrial hub and port with high throughput. Project Alpha hopes to continue its work with Chinese colleagues in the near future to further share experiences and best practices.

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