Julian Perry Robinson’s (JPR) life’s work was devoted to preventing the misuse of chemistry and biology and inhibiting further militarisation of these areas of science. Known as ‘the expert’s expert’, he shared his unparalleled body of empirical and conceptual knowledge about chemical and biological weapons widely, and played a pivotal role in shaping the current disarmament architecture in that field and the epistemic community which exists to support it.
The Julian Perry Robinson Fund, which will be administered by the University of Sussex Development and Alumni Relations Office, has been established to maintain JPR’s legacy and inspire future generations of scholars and practitioners.
The fund will be used to preserve the Sussex Harvard Information Bank (SHIB), which is considered by many to be the world’s largest open source archive on chemical and biological weapons (CBW). As well as benefiting JPR’s own research students - many of whom moved on to key positions in academia and relevant inter-governmental organisations - SHIB attracts scholars and practitioners from around the world. The Fund will look towards improving access to this important collection by embarking on a programme of digitisation and providing bursaries for research visits to SHIB.
The fund will also aim to disseminate and stimulate key ideas about how to strengthen the norm against the use of chemical and biological weapons through the publication of Julian’s unpublished papers as well as contemporary reflections and through bringing people together to analyse Julian’s extensive and rigorous chronologies on, for example, the use of Novichoks or the chemical weapons attacks in Syria. And finally, the fund will support virtual and physical meetings as a way of sustaining the CBW community established through Julian’s continuing efforts, originally within the framework of the Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs.
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