Dr. Patricia Lewis (born 1957) is a British and Irish nuclear physicist and arms control expert, who is currently the Research Director for International Security at Chatham House. She is also currently Co-Director of the Global Commission on Internet Governance. She was previously the Senior Scientist-in-Residence and Deputy Director at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS). Before her time at MIIS Patricia was the Director of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) and the Director of VERTIC.
Dr. Lewis publishes widely on all aspects of arms control and disarmament issues and is frequently invited to speak at international conferences.
A dual national of Ireland and the United Kingdom, Dr. Lewis holds a BSc in Physics from the University of Manchester and a PhD in Nuclear Structure Physics from the University of Birmingham. In 1982, she was a special assistant in the Rehabilitation Centres for Children in Calcutta, India, and from 1983–86, she lectured in physics at the University of Auckland,in New Zealand, from where she also carried out research at the Australian National University in Canberra, and as a visiting lecturer at Imperial College London.
From 1986–89, Lewis was Information Officer of the London-based Verification Technology Information Centre, and its director from 1989–1997. She was the Director or the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) in Geneva 1997–2008. She was Deputy Director at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, California from 2008–2012. She is a recipient of the APS Joseph A. Burton Forum Award for "outstanding contributions to the public understanding or resolution of issues involving the interface of physics and society." Dr Lewis was a Commissioner on the WMD (Blix) Commission, an Advisor to the Evans-Kawaguchi International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (ICNND) and a member of the Ekeus Advisory Panel on Future Priorities of the OPCW.