Emma Belcher

Nuclear security expert
Emma Belcher develops and implements strategy for reducing the threat posed by nuclear weapons.

Why you should listen

Emma Belcher is the President at Ploughshares Fund. She was previously the Director of Nuclear Challenges at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. In partnership with the MacArthur Foundation board of directors and president, Belcher allocated roughly 20 million dollars in grants annually to organizations worldwide focused on nuclear policy. Prior to joining the MacArthur Foundation, Belcher published research on nuclear weapons at the Council on Foreign Relations as a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow. She has also worked as an advisor in Australia’s Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet on national security and international affairs and as a public affairs officer at the Australian embassy in Washington, D.C.

Belcher is currently on the Advisor Board for N Square, a project of the New Venture Fund, which consists of a network of innovators working to end the nuclear threat. She was a fellow at the Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and was named an Emerging Leader by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Belcher has a PhD and master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and a bachelor of arts from University of Melbourne.  

Emma Belcher’s TED talk