Dr Heather Williams

Dr Heather Williams is a Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, Project on Managing the Atom, and an Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). She is visiting Harvard from King's College London, where she is a Senior Lecturer in the Defence Studies Department Centre for Science and Security Studies (CSSS).

In 2019, Dr Williams served as a Specialist Advisor to the House of Lords International Relations Committee inquiry into the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and Disarmament. She 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 on U.S. nuclear policy for the U.S. Department of Defense. She currently leads projects on the impact of emerging technology on deterrence, the future of arms control, risks of social media to conflict escalation, and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Until January 2015, Heather was a Research Fellow on Nuclear Weapons Policy at Chatham House and led research on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Humanitarian Impacts of Nuclear Weapons Initiative. Dr Williams completed her PhD in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, and she has a BA in International Relations and Russian Studies from Boston University, and an MA in Security Policy Studies from The George Washington University.

Her most recent publications include, 'The Unavoidable Technology: How Artificial Intelligence Can Strengthen Strategic Stability' (with Jessica Cox) in The Washington Quarterly, and 'What the Nuclear Ban Treaty Means for America's Allies' in War on the Rocks.