Kayla Matteucci

All Disciplines Postgraduate Award, King's College London - International Relations

Growing up in New Mexico, I viewed nuclear weapons as a relic of the Cold War, divorced from my community’s present and future. Upon beginning an internship at Sandia National Laboratories in my hometown of Albuquerque, however, I came to grasp that New Mexico remains enmeshed in the production of nuclear weapons, and that they shape our world every day. I study nuclear policy because it has never failed to disorient me and, ultimately, reorient me as a better global citizen and more engaged researcher. As a Fulbright Scholar in London, I will work with government and academia to study nuclear disarmament verification. In recent years, many Cold War-era disarmament agreements have disintegrated due to a lack of trust between treaty partners. In this uncertain environment, I aim to think ahead, asking how we can devise future treaties to both stand the test of time and inspire confidence among stakeholders. I chose the United Kingdom because it is at the forefront of such research, leading global efforts to improve disarmament verification. In my free time, I am a jazz and blues keyboardist. Beyond my Fulbright research, I look forward to joining London’s music scene and becoming a regular at local jams.