START Senior Researcher Steve Sin served as chairman for the third edition of Asia’s largest regional chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosives (CBRNe) defense conference, which took place in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on October 14 to 16.
The Non-Conventional Threat: CBRNe Asia 2014 featured high-ranking government and military officials from across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the United States. The Cambodian Ministry of Defense, Cambodian National Defense Authority of Chemical Weapons and United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) collaborated to host the conference.
The conference showcased Cambodian and Vietnamese CBRNe capabilities, state of the art technology and equipment and feature international speakers, sessions streamed online and interactive workshops for attendees. It concluded with the second annual NCT CBRNe Awards 2014 gala dinner.
“It was an honor and a privilege to chair such a prestigious event,” Sin said, “This conference provided an excellent opportunity to meet and learn from regional public and private stakeholders about the CBRNe environment and regional cooperation on this subject in Southeast Asia.”
Sin will apply the insight he gained from the conference to support his research at START, in the Unconventional Weapons and Technology Division (UWT), on the causes, responses and consequences of non-state, actor-perpetrated violent extremism worldwide.
“Engaging with high-level decision makers, practitioners and experts from around the world and learning specific issues relevant to violent extremism provided inspiration to make START research programs and products more informative and relevant to those who are engaged daily in preventing, countering, and mitigating the threats of violent extremism,” Sin said.