Join Ambassador Yvette Stevens, Former Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone to the UN in Geneva, for the Institute for Security Science and Technology’s (ISST) annual event, the Vincent Briscoe Security Lecture, ‘National security and resilience in the 21st century – the role of science and technology’.

5pm: Doors open

5:30-6:30pm: Lecture

6:30-7:30pm: Drinks reception

Upon registering, please indicate when whether you will be able to join us for the drinks reception.

There is now a growing consensus that security can no longer be considered merely in traditional military terms. If national security is defined as the ability of governments to protect their citizens, economy and institutions against threats, then there is justification in today’s world to include non-military threats such as pandemics and climate change, which are global challenges that affect both people and states.

National security should thus include energy security, cybersecurity, human security, and environmental security, all of which are covered by the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Failure to implement policies to achieve them could pose threats to national security. How can technological solutions – adequately applied – protect from these threats?

** In spite of the the tube strikes, we are going ahead with this lecture. However we’re also livestreaming the talk on YouTube for those who can no longer make it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxiMfqPJ5w8 **

About Ambassador Yvette Stevens

Ambassador Yvette Stevens’ United Nations (UN) career spanned 1980 to 2008. An engineer by training, she worked at the International Labour Office from 1980 to 1984 and then rose to Chief of the Programme and Technical Support Section at the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

From 1999 to 2004, Ambassador Stevens was the Special Coordinator for Africa and the Least Developed Countries in the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs and later, the Director at the UN Office of the Special Adviser on Africa in New York.

She served as Energy Policy Adviser to the Sierra Leone Government from 2009 to 2012, and was instrumental in drawing up the first energy policy for the country.

In August 2012, she was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United Nations Office and other International Organisations in Geneva. Later that year she was also accredited to the World Trade Organisation and then Ambassador to Switzerland. Ambassador Stevens served in these capacities until her retirement in 2018.

As Ambassador, she represented Sierra Leone as a Member of the United Nations Human Rights Council from 2013 to 2015, during which she participated actively in the deliberations of the Council, including the human rights of women and minorities, as well as the prevention of human rights violations that might lead to instability and conflicts.

Ambassador Stevens is currently an Executive in Residence at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy.

More information

About the Vincent Briscoe Security Lecture

About the Institute for Security Science and Technology (ISST)

About the Vincent Briscoe Security Lecture

The Annual Vincent Briscoe Security Lecture is given by an expert in security and resilience to an audience at Imperial College London.

The Briscoe lectures explore the current security landscape and consider security challenges likely to affect society in the future. The series aims to bring together the public and those interested in security and resilience, inviting open discussions around how to better prepare against the vast range of security issues society could encounter. These include – but are not limited to – cybersecurity, military and conflict, the built and natural environmental, political security and global health threats.

The lectures highlight the impact of security and the importance of resilience to wider society, calling for cross-disciplinary action to ensure all-around preparedness.

The Briscoe lecture is hosted by Imperial’s Institute for Security Science and Technology (ISST). The ISST’s mission is to challenge the perception that security is about war and conflict. The ISST demonstrates the breadth and depth of security and resilience, both of which touch everyone in society, wherever they are in the world.

The first Vincent Briscoe Security lecture was delivered in 2010. Previous Briscoe lectures have been delivered by: Ambassador Mircea Geoană, NATO Deputy Secretary General; Jeremy Fleming, former Director of GCHQ; Cressida Dick, former Commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police Service; Michael Chertoff, former US Secretary of Homeland Security to President George W Bush.

About the Institute for Security Science and Technology (ISST)

The Institute for Security Science and Technology (ISST) is Imperial College London’s hub for resilience and security research.

Security is often only viewed through the narrow lens of conflict and war. Our mission is to challenge that perception and demonstrate the breadth and depth of a topic that touches everyone in society, wherever they are in the world.