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Erika Simpson

Erika Simpson
Associate Professor

Contact Information
Office: SSC
Tel: 519 661-2111, 85156
E-mail: simpson@uwo.ca 
Curriculum Vitae Google Scholar Profile Research Gate Profile Academia.edu Profile

Education

MA & Ph.D., University of Toronto

Research Interests

Dr. Simpson specializes in the area of International Relations and is the President of the Canadian Peace Research Association (CPRA). Her research interests are in international security and foreign and defence policy, particularly Afghanistan, arms control, disarmament, IR theory, NATO, nuclear proliferation, nuclear waste, peacekeeping and the UN. She is the author of NATO and the Bomb (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2001) and her articles have appeared in leading journals including the Brown Journal of World Politics; International Journal; In Victus Pax: Journal of Peace Education and Social Justice; Peace Magazine; Peace Research; Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice; and Policy Options. She is a national syndicated columnist for the Postmedia Network, Canada’s largest digital and newspaper chain, and a frequent commentator for The Hill Times: Canada’s Foreign Policy Magazine, as well as Canada’s CTV Television News, Asia’s Urdu News and Russia’s Sputnik News. She serves as a Director on the Board of the Canadian Pugwash Group; an associate editor for Peace Review; a Senior Advisor for the Rideau Institute; an invited Consultant for the Nuclear Abolition Forum; and a Peer Reviewer for the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health. Formerly she was an Alton Jones Fellow; a Barton Fellow; a Liu Institute Visiting Fellow; a NATO Research Fellow; and the Vice-Chair and Treasurer of Pugwash Canada. In 2015 the Voice of Women–Canada awarded her a Lifetime Achievement Award for her writing on peace-related issues. At the University of Western Ontario, she teaches 2135A; 3203F; 2191B; 2141B and MA and PhD graduate students. She is a Canadian citizen and a long-time resident of London, Ontario formerly from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Current Research Projects

1. Canada in an Insecure Covid World

2. NATO’s Nuclear Weapons: Policy Issues and Debates on Nuclear Deterrence and Disarmament, 1949-2021

3. UN Disarmament and NATO’s Nuclear Deterrence Policy: The Two

4. How to use the levels-of-analysis approach to explain new threats to security – like the Canadian plan to build a nuclear waste repository close to the Great Lakes

Scholarly Books (Authored & Co-Authored)

  • 2001. NATO and the Bomb: Canadian Defenders Confront Critics. Hardcover first edition, and paperback second edition, 2002. Kingston and Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Book Chapters

  • 2010. “The NATO Club: 'northern', 'rich', 'white‘ nations defending the Imperial Palace?” In Darren Marks (ed.), War, Human Dignity, and Nation Building: Theological Perspectives on Canada’s Role in Afghanistan” (Cambridge Scholars Publishing), pp. 70-89.
  • 2009. “The new U.S. doctrine of pre-emptive warfare and its implications for nuclear deterrence and disarmament” in David Krieger (ed.), The Challenge of Abolishing Nuclear Weapons (Transaction Publishers: Piscataway, NJ.), pp. 141-154.
  • 2001. “Games, Strategies, and Human Security” in M.V. Naidu (ed.) Perspectives on Human Security: National Sovereignty and Humanitarian Intervention (Brandon, Manitoba: Canadian Peace Research and Education Association, pp. 139-49.
  • 1998. “New Ways of Thinking about Nuclear Weapons and Canada’s Defence Policy” in D. C. Story and R. Bruce Shepard (eds.), Diefenbaker’s Legacy (Regina: Canadian Plains Research Centre), pp. 27-41.

Working Papers

  • 2018. “How to use the levels-of-analysis approach to explain new threats to security – like the Canadian plan to build a nuclear waste repository close to the Great Lakes”, May 31 [refereed paper presented at the CPRA association meeting at Congress in May].
  • 2017. “Canada: Between NATO and the NPT” [presented at Dalhousie University], July].
  • 2017. “Nothing Monotonous about Drones Now” [refereed paper presented to CPRA at Congress in June].
  • 2016. “Nuclear weapons and NATO: Is it safer to deter or to disarm?” [refereed paper presented to CPSA at Congress in June.
  • 2016. “The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT): Chaos or Community?” [refereed paper presented to CPRA at Congress in May].

Refereed Journal Articles

Non-Refereed Journal Articles

Technical Reports Related to Academic Field

  • 2012. Rapporteur: Erika Simpson et. al “Toward an Arctic Nuclear Weapon Free Zone”, Final Report and Recommendations of a conference, Ottawa, October 26.
  • 2010. Bev Delong, Ernie Regehr, Doug Roche, Erika Simpson, “Practical Steps toward Zero Nuclear Weapons”, unpublished paper presented to conference, “Practical Steps to Zero Nuclear Weapons” by Steering Committee, January, 34 pp.

Opinion Columns (Op Eds)

Awards & Distinctions

  • 2018. Principal Investigator, Western University Faculty Research Development Fund.
  • 2015-present. Vice-President, Canadian Peace Research Association, regular association of the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, (elected 2015-17, 2017-19).
  • 2015-present. Shirley Farlinger Lifetime Achievement Award for Peace Writings, awarded by the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace, a non-governmental organization with consultative status at the UN.
  • 2014-present. Peer Reviewer, Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health College of Peer Reviewers.
  • 2014-present. Syndicated Newspaper Columnist, Postmedia (Canada’s largest online and newspaper chain): also occasional Columnist for The Hill-Times and Embassy Magazine.
  • 2013-present. Senate Review Board Academic member Western University, London, (elected 2013-15, 2015-16, 2016-18).
  • 2010-present. Consultant, (invited) Nuclear Abolition Forum, International Network.
  • 2006-present. Senior Advisor (appointed), Rideau Institute, Ottawa, Canada.
  • 2000-2017. Board of Directors (elected 2000-03, 2015-17), Vice-Chair (appointed 2007-11), Treasurer (elected 2003-07), Canadian Pugwash Group (Pugwash Canada or CPG) national affiliate of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs (Pugwash International).
  • 2014-2017. Outreach Committee member (invited), Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (PNND), international network.
  • 2014-2015. Chair and Co-Organizer, 6 different Panels at the UN, 2014 NPT Preparatory Conference and 2015 NPT Review Conference, sponsored by Pugwash Canada and International Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, Conference Room C, UN HQs, New York City, May 2014 and May 2015.
  • 2014. Principal Investigator, Western University Faculty Research Development Fund Travel Grant, 2014-15, London, Ontario.
  • 2012-14. SSHRC Assessor, SSHRC Insight Development Grant Assessment Committee, 2012-13, 2013-14, invited 2015-16 (declined), Ottawa.
  • 2005-11. Invited Lecturer at Canadian Forces College (2005-07, 2009-11) and Plenary Participant (2011), Command and Staff course, Canadian Forces College, Toronto.
  • 2011. Alumni Award, Social Science Alumni Award, Western University, London, Ont.
  • 2010. DND Award, Department of National Defence Security and Defence Forum, January 2010
  • 2003-2010. Steering Committee Member, appointed to the organizing and fundraising committees for 6 different international conferences, co-sponsored by 18 organizations including CCANW, CPG, DND, GSI, International Pugwash, Project Ploughshares, etc.
  • 2005. Principal Investigator, DFAIT Award, Global Security Forum, ISROP, DFAIT, September-December.
  • 2005-2010. Rapporteur for many committees and conferences including the Atlanta Consultation II, Carter Center in Atlanta: the Canadian Forum for Global Security conference: and many Pugwash conferences in Berlin, Halifax, New York City, Ottawa, Pugwash, Toronto and Vienna.