Side Events

The Sixth Session of the Working Group will include the following 13 side events listed below. To expand the list, click "Show more" in the bottom right corner of the section.

11 August 2025: 13:15-14:45, Room XXII

Youth for Biosecurity Poster Competition 2025

Organizer: UN Office for Disarmament Affairs

Description: Five posters developed by the Youth for Biosecurity Fellows 2025 will be presented in a side-event to highlight the innovation and fresh-thinking of emerging professionals, which aims to make significant contributions to the biosecurity community and address the complex challenges for the future of the BWC. High-level experts will deliver opening remarks, with insights on meaningful youth engagement.

Speakers:
Ms. Melanie Régimbal / UNODA

Representative from European Union

Four to five Youth for Biosecurity Fellows 2025

Additional Information: Light refreshments will be provided.

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11 August 2025: 13:15-14:45, Room XXV

Building Resilience to BW Disinformation Narratives and Tactics

Organizers: Government of Canada, GP Counter WMD Disinformation Initiative, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security

Description: Disinformation about biological weapons continues to pose a serious threat to global nonproliferation and disarmament, eroding trust between BWC States Parties and undermining international cooperation and assistance. However, responding to disinformation retroactively can be resource intensive and is not always effective, underscoring the need for more proactive approaches focused on building resilience to disinformation. In this side event, we will share country experiences and discuss how policy makers and the diplomatic community can use the recurring patterns of disinformation campaigns to build resilience to information manipulation, thereby safeguarding the BWC and the broader biological weapons nonproliferation regime.

Speakers:

Mr. Trevor Smith / Global Affairs Canada

Ms. Lucia Mullen / Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security

Dr. Annie Sundelson / Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security

Ms. Madi Neufeld / Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security

Ms. Amy Robertson / King's College London

Mr. Erik English / King's College London

Ms. Isabelle Wilson / King's College London

Dr. Olamide Samuel / Open Nuclear Network

Additional Information: Light refreshments will be provided

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12 August 2025: 13:15-14:45, Room XXII

Biosecurity education: from concept to implementation

Organizer: London Metropolitan University

Description: The Biological Security Research Center (BSRC) at London Metropolitan University (LMU) is organizing a side event during the Sixth Working Group meeting on the Strengthening of the BWC to explore developments in best practices in biosecurity education and stimulate discussion informing further development of an International Biological Security Education Network (IBSEN) as proposed in the BWC Chair’s 2025 non-paper rolling text. The side event will highlight the rapid transition of biosecurity education from broad concepts into a dynamic and diverse field of practice encompassing development of biosecurity education materials and innovative means of implementation.

Speakers:

• H.E. Ambassador David Riley / United Kingdom
• Ms. Marykate Monaghan / Associate Political Affairs Officer, BWC Team, UNODA Geneva, Youth for Biosecurity Fellowship 
• Ms. Maria Garzon Maceda / UNIDIR
• Prof. Lijun Shang / LMU

Additional Information: Light refreshments will be provided

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13 August 2025: 13:15-14:45, Room XXII

A Call to Action: The AIxBio Global Forum High-Level Statement on Biosecurity Risks at the Convergence of AI and the Life Sciences

Organizer: Nuclear Threat Initiative

Description: Rapid advances at the convergence of AI and the life sciences offer significant potential benefits but could pose potentially catastrophic risks if misused. Countering these risks requires innovative technical and policy solutions, international development of best practices, and action from governments to incentivize adoption. This event will illustrate the challenges and highlight the AIxBio Global Forum as a platform to develop and advance effective solutions, including through the recent publication of the Statement on Biosecurity Risks at the Convergence of AI and the Life Sciences.

Speakers:

Ms. Hayley Severance / NTI bio

Dr. Nikki Teran / NTI bio

Dr. Ayodotun Bobadoye / GET Consortium

Mr. Brian Tse / Concordia AI

Additional Information: Light refreshments will be provided

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14 August 2025: 13:15-14:45, Room XXII

Signature Initiative to Mitigate Biological Threats in Africa (SIMBA)

Organizers: Government of Canada, UN Office for Disarmament Affairs

Description: This side event will be opened by the Canadian Presidency of the G7-led Global Partnership (GP) with an outlook on the prospective development of SIMBA and opportunities for future African-GP collaboration to mitigate biological threats. The Chief of the BWC Implementation Support Unit will then provide an overview of UNODA’s activities to support BWC implementation in Africa. The event will also feature four national experts from African States Parties who will share their countries’ experiences with the GP’s signature initiative. Panellists will highlight a variety of SIMBA activities, including the project on ‘Supporting Universalization and Effective Implementation of the BWC in Africa’ implemented by UNODA.

Speakers:

Mr. Trevor Smith / Canada

Mr. Daniel Feakes / Chief, BWC Implementation Support Unit

Mr. Claudio Crispin / Angola

Ms. Karoline Oberländer / SIMBA

Additional speakers to be confirmed

Additional Information: Light refreshments will be provided

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14 August 2025: 13:15-14:45, Room XXV

Drawing on the Tianjin Biosecurity Guidelines to Empower States Parties to Create Codes of Conduct to Mitigate Deliberate Threats in the Life Sciences

Organizer: Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security

Description: The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security will host a side event to discuss role of biosecurity codes of conduct in providing practical protections against the accidental and deliberate misuse of the life sciences. Building on the Tianjin Biosecurity Guidelines for Codes of Conduct for Scientists, this side event will highlight next steps to operationalize these guidelines to develop national and organizational biosecurity codes of conduct and illustrate direct benefits of the Tianjin guidelines for the BWC, as states parties develop concrete solutions to strengthen the treaty at the 10^th Review Conference.

Speakers:

Dr. Tom Inglesby / Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security

Ms. Anita Cicero / Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security

Mr. Peter Ahabwe Babigumira / Uganda

Dr. Weiwen Zhang / Tianjin University Center for Biosafety Research and Strategy

Mr. Husham Ahmed / Pakistan

Additional Information: Light refreshments will be provided

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15 August 2025: 13:15-14:45, Room XXV

Workshop on Biological Risk Management

Organizer: Global Health and Security Consultants (GHSC)

Description: This side event is an awareness workshop for the scientist and diplomat of the BWC States Parties to understand the risks associated to the use or misuse of Biological agents in healthcare facilities and the ways and means to adequately mitigate and manage such risks, in particular in developing countries.

Speakers:

Dr. Ali Mohammadi / Global Health and Security Consultants (GHSC)

Dr. Niki Shindo / WHO

Additional Information: Light refreshments will be provided

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18 August 2025: 13:15-14:45, Room XXV

Safeguarding Information Integrity in the Biological Weapons Convention: 50 Years of Trust, Science, and Security

Organizer: European Union

Description: 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) - a milestone in multilateral disarmament and international cooperation. As States Parties commemorate five decades of collective achievement, new and complex challenges demand renewed attention. One of the most pressing is the erosion of information integrity in the biological disarmament domain. As we look to the future, preserving the integrity of the BWC requires collective resilience against disinformation. This includes protecting scientific cooperation, reinforcing transparency, and fostering fact-based dialogue among States, experts, and civil society.

Speakers: TBC

Additional Information: Light refreshments will be provided

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19 August 2025: 13:15-14:45, Room XXII

Enhancing Transparency for Bioscience Research and Development Report Launch

Organizer: Nuclear Threat Initiative

Description: Join NTI | bio for the launch of a new report exploring innovative options to enhance transparency in bioscience research and development to strengthen the global norms against biological weapons. The report examines approaches across three key areas: (1) collecting and analyzing data through scientific, technical, and other means; (2) implementing procedures to support effective data use; and (3) establishing institutions to sustain these efforts. The event will present concrete recommendations for BWC States Parties to bolster transparency, build confidence in compliance, and reinforce the international commitment to preventing the development and use of biological weapons.

Speakers:

Mr. David Stiefel / NTI bio

Ms. Gabrielle Essix / NTI bio

Mr. Angel Horna / Peru

Dr. James Revill / UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)

Additional Information: Light refreshments will be provided

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20 August 2025: 13:15-14:45, Room XXII

Enhancing national implementation of the BWC - Tailored assistance and launch of a new CBRN Cases Tracker Database

Organizer: The Verification, Research, Training and Information Centre (VERTIC)

Description: This event will showcase VERTIC’s ongoing project “Enhancing National Implementation of Non-Proliferation Obligations”, which focuses on supporting States in fulfilling their commitments under key non-proliferation treaties, including supporting national implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention. This event will highlight the tailored assistance VERTIC provides to States Parties to the Convention in the area of national implementation, drawing on VERTIC’s extensive experiences in supporting the development and drafting of national legislation and regulatory measures to give effect to BWC obligations. Participants will hear examples of successful engagements and the practical outcomes of VERTIC’s work with States across different regions.In addition to discussing VERTIC’s legislative assistance activities, the side-event will feature the formal launch of the CBRN Cases Tracker, a new publicly accessible database developed by VERTIC as part of this project. The database compiles and monitors judicial, quasi-judicial, administrative and related cases involving CBRN materials or associated activities. It is designed to support policymakers, practitioners, researchers in better understanding trends in CBRN-related prosecutions and enforcement worldwide, while underlining the importance of national implementation in criminal areas.

Speakers:

Mr. Thomas Brown / VERTIC

Ms. Eliza Walsh / VERTIC

Mr. Alix Renaudin / VERTIC

Additional Information: Light refreshments will be provided

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20 August 2025: 13:15-14:45, Room XXV

Assessing BWC Compliance and Monitoring Approaches

Organizer: The Verification Research, Training and Information Centre (VERTIC)

Description: This event presents findings from a research project led by VERTIC and King’s College London. The project produced a survey of ‘observables’, namely technologies, industrial and organisational capabilities which may be the object of verification, monitoring or transparency activities. The project then carried out an up-to-date analysis of existing and proposed measures for transparency and monitoring, in order to review their potential utility in the current context. This work does not offer prescriptive recommendations for what a monitoring regime under the BWC should be, but aims to offer information to support the ongoing dialogue in the Working Group and the BWC Community.

Speakers:

Alberto Muti / VERTIC

Filippa Lentzos / King's College London

Hailey Wingo / VERTIC

Additional Information: Light refreshments will be provided

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21 August 2025: 13:15-14:45, Room XXII

Sharing Experience on National Implementation in Southeast Asia: An Implementer and Partner Country Perspective on EU CBRN CoE Project 81 (BIOSEC)

Organizer: European Union

Description: Now in its 15th year, the European Union Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Risk Mitigation Centres of Excellence Initiative (EU CBRN CoE) works with 63 Partner Countries across 8 geographic regions to strengthen CBRN risk mitigation. In Southeast Asia, more than 30 regional projects have been implemented to date to support capacity-building priorities identified by Partner Countries in the region, including Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam. Over 20 of these projects have focused on mitigating biological threats and enhancing biosecurity, a top priority identified by Partner Countries in the region. Most recently, EU CBRN CoE Project 81 (BIOSEC — Enhanced Biosecurity in Southeast Asia), led by Sustainable Criminal Justice Solutions (SCJS) Europe, directly supported national implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) through legislative support and technical cooperation focused on strengthening biosecurity. This side event will feature opening remarks by the European Union, followed by the perspectives of two Project 81 Key Experts, representing RIVM and VERTIC, and two CBRN National CBRN Focal Points, representing Cambodia and Lao PDR, who championed and contributed to enhancing biosecurity in their respective countries. The side event contributes to the Sixth Working Group Session by highlighting valuable lessons in relation to the Working Group topic ‘National Implementation’, which will be addressed from 21 to 22 August 2025.

Speakers:

Joris Sprokholt / RIVM

Thomas Brown / VERTIC

Somsanouk Keobounsan / Lao PDR

Chansovannary Sat / National Authority for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (NACW), Cambodia

Additional Information: Light refreshments will be provided

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21 August 2025: 13:15-14:45, Room XXV

Synthetic Biology and AI: Implication to the BWC and Global Biosecurity

Organizer: Center for Countermeasures against Chemical and Biological Warfare Agents

Description: The side event aims to explore the intersection of synthetic biology (SynBio) and artificial intelligence (AI) and their implications for global biosecurity, particularly within the framework of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC).

Speakers:

Dr. Akingbade Modupe / Ekiti State University

Dr. Salako N. Olatunji / Center for Countermeasures against Chemical and Biological Warfare Agents

Additional speakers to be confirmed

Additional Information: Light refreshments will be provided