Dr. Patricia Lewis (born 1957) is a British nuclear physicist and arms control expert, who is currently the Deputy Director and Scientist in Residence at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. She was previously the Director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) and the Director of VERTIC.
Dr. Lewis publishes widely on all aspects of arms control and disarmament issues and is frequently invited to speak at international conferences.
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A dual national of Ireland and the United Kingdom, Dr. Lewis holds a BSc in Physics from the University of Manchester and a PhD in Nuclear Structure Physics from the University of Birmingham. In 1982, she was a special assistant in the Rehabilitation Centres for Children in Calcutta, India, and from 1983–86, she lectured in physics at the University of Auckland,in New Zealand, from where she also carried out research at the Australian National University in Canberra, and as a visiting lecturer at Imperial College London. Secretary-general appoints Patricia Lewis of United Kingdom to head UN Institute for Disarmament Research</ref>
From 1986-89, Lewis was Information Officer of the London-based Verification Technology Information Centre, and its director from 1989-1997. She was the Director or the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) in Geneca 1997-2008. She is currently Deputy Director at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, California.
She has one daughter and one son.
VERTIC specialises in the verification of arms control and disarmament agreements (see arms control enforcement), and during her time at VERTIC Dr. Lewis became a highly-regarded expert on the subject.
During the 1988-90 negotiations on the CFE treaty, Lewis was a consultant to the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office on the verification of conventional force reductions in Europe.[1]
In 1989-90 Dr. Lewis was appointed British government expert to the United Nations study on the Role of the United Nations in Verification.[2] From 1990-92 she was a visiting Lecturer at Imperial College London and was the 1992-3 Elizabeth Poppleton Fellow at the Australian National University.
She was Chair of the UK Gulf Syndrome Study Group.[3] She was also an external reviewer for the Canberra Commission Report on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, and a member of the Tokyo Forum for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Nuclear Disarmament 1998-99.[4] From 2004 to 2006, Dr Lewis was a Commissioner on the Weapons of Mass Destructions Commission [1], chaired by Dr Hans Blix. Currently Dr Lewis is an Advisor to the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (ICNND).[5] Dr Lewis recently served on the American Physical Society's Panel on Public Affairs (POPA)study on Technical Steps to Support Nuclear Arsenal Downsizing" [6]
Dr Lewis is the recipient of the American Physical Society’s 2009 Joseph A. Burton Forum Award recognizing "outstanding contributions to the public understanding or resolution of issues involving the interface of physics and society."
Lewis is a Fellow of the British-American Project and a member of Scientists for Global Responsibility. She is a member of the Board of Directors of The Acronym Institute, a member of the Board of the Bonn International Conversion Center (BICC).