Tom Plant

Tom is the founder and Principal at research, strategy and consulting firm Liminal Minds Limited, which supports governments, and non-profit and philanthropic organisations in their work on a range of global security issues.

Until January 2022, he was Director of RUSI’s Proliferation and Nuclear Policy programme, and Director of the UK Project on Nuclear Issues. Prior to joining RUSI in June 2017, he was responsible for technical oversight of arms control verification research programmes at the UK Atomic Weapons Establishment, including collaborations and exchanges with counterparts in China, Norway, Sweden, and the US. He also worked at the UK Ministry of Defence and Foreign and Commonwealth Office on a range of non- and counter-proliferation issues, particularly in relation to North Korea and Iran, as well as on the UK nuclear weapons programme.

His current research interests include the ethics of nuclear weapons, future technology and complexity in the global nuclear order, and regional nuclear challenges. Tom is available to mentor emerging nuclear scholars and professionals, particularly those from less-advantaged backgrounds.

'The changing role of allied conventional precision strike capabilities in nuclear decision making' - The Nonproliferation Review, Vol 27, Issue 1-3, pp 21-37, 10 December 2021

'The Disarmament Laboratory: Substance and Performance in UK Disarmament Verification Research'– FIIA Working Paper 111, 10 October 2019

Towards an Assessment of North Korea’s Strategic Deterrent – RUSI Newsbrief, 12 December 2017

Survival – 'China, North Korea and the Spread of Nuclear Weapons, Vol 55 Issue 2, pp61-80, 2013