Staff and consultants

Angela Woodward
Executive Director
angela.woodward [at] vertic.org

Angela Woodward researches the legal aspects of treaty negotiation, implementation and verification as well as the status of states' national legislation to implement treaty obligations. Her current work focuses on agreements prohibiting biological and chemical weapons. Angela manages VERTIC's programme on 'Promoting effective verification of the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention,' under which she is preparing a study on 'Strengthening mechanisms and tools for verifying biological weapons compliance.' Angela also manages VERTIC's project on 'Enhancing national implementation of treaties and norms prohibiting weapons of mass destruction,' under which she is working with Andreas Persbo to develop training materials and model laws for national implementation of related agreements, including UN Security Council Resolution 1540, which reiterates the need for effective domestic controls to comply with these treaties and to prevent non-state actors proliferating nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, related materials and delivery systems. Jointly with Andreas, Angela is also conducting a comprehensive global survey of states' national implementation of treaties and norms controlling nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. In addition, she monitors the implementation of agreements regulating small arms and light weapons, in particular the 1997 Landmine Convention and United Nations arms embargoes.

Angela has an LLM in Public International Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London, and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Political Science and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Angela previously worked for the Programme for Promoting Nuclear Non-Proliferation (PPNN) at the Mountbatten Centre for International Studies, University of Southampton.

Publications

Larry MacFaul
Senior Researcher
larry.macfaul [at] vertic.org

Larry MacFaul manages VERTIC's environment programme. Larry works on treaty design and implementation issues in multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs). His work has focused on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Kyoto Protocol and proposals for the post-2012 climate change regime, including monitoring, reporting, review and compliance issues. Larry maintains a watching brief and carries out work on treaty design, implementation, monitoring and verification issues across the MEA field and other environment-related international and regional processes.

In addition, he carries out work for VERTIC's arms control & disarmament programme.

Larry has a Master's degree in Environmental Assessment and Evaluation from the London School of Economics and a BA in Classics from Oxford University.

Publications

Andreas Persbo
Senior Researcher
andreas.persbo [at] vertic.org

Andreas Persbo manages VERTIC's nuclear arms control programme. This includes work on confidence-building measures between States and the verification of nuclear disarmament. Andreas is also responsible for maintaining the organization's watching brief on issues relating to the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and International Atomic Energy (IAEA) safeguards. He also monitors the development of verification mechanisms for the proposed Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FMCT).

In addition, he acts as the chief liasion to the International Atomic Energy Agency and the the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization in respect to national implementation of nuclear arms control agreements.

Andreas holds an juris kandidat (LL.B. LL.M) in public international law and European human rights from Stockholm University, Sweden. Formerly a legal practitioner and a consultant with the British American Security Information Council (BASIC), Andreas has been with VERTIC since 2004.

He is a member of the International Law Association and the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Publications

Scott Spence
Consultant
scott.spence [at] vertic.org

Scott is undertaking a global review and analysis of national implementing measures for the Biological Weapons Convention and, by extension, the biological weapons-related sections of UN Security Council Resolution 1540. He will also be leading visits to capitals with the objective of assisting governments to prepare draft legislation to implement the Biological and Chemical Weapons Conventions.

Scott previously worked as the Biocriminalization Project Manager at Interpol and as a Harvard Sussex Program Researcher and Legal Consultant on national implementing measures at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. He also worked as an attorney in the New York office of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

Scott earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law and an LL.M. in Public International Law from Leiden University, and undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Virginia (with high distinction) and Harvard University. Scott is fluent in French and speaks intermediate Spanish.

Publications

For further information about VERTIC's internship programme, contact the relevant researcher: Andreas Persbo for nuclear matters; Rocio Escauriaza for biological and chemical matters and Larry Macfaul for matters relating to the environment.