Dr. Brett Edwards

Dr. Brett Edwards is currently a Senior Lecturer in Security and Public Policy at the University of Bath. He holds a wide range of interest from technology to governance and security. At the moment he is involved in a number of projects examining the security implications of cutting-edge biotechnology, the governance of biological and chemical weapons as well as humanitarian intervention. He has also published on international responses to chemical weapon use in Syria. Generally speaking, Dr Edwards adopts a qualitative and constructivist approach to his research. He is particularly interested in the processes through which norms, values and authority are reproduced and contested, especially in the definition of ‘technical’ problems. 

His research focuses on both the history and contemporary threat posed by chemical and biological weapons. Moreover, his work focuses primarily on the education in the areas of non-proliferation, preparedness, and response- as well as a range of policy related issues. Dr Edwards also runs the Poisons and Pestilence Podcast (available on all major players) – which deals with everything chemical and biological weapons, primarily from a historical perspective.

Brett has held a number of teaching positions, including work on an ESRC funded project examining technology assessment in the context of the global prohibition regime directed at biological and chemical weapons. He also completed a Welcome funded research fellowship at the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology in 2013. He has an interdisciplinary academic background in the natural and social sciences. His PhD involved a comparative case study of national approaches to addressing security challenges raised by ‘synthetic biology’. Finally, Brett also holds a MA in biotechnological law and ethics.