South Asia

The Harvard Project participates in a major Harvard initiative aimed at reducing emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Participating researchers represent a range of academic disciplines and Harvard schools.

The Belfer Center's National Security Fellows (NSFs), as part of the Defense, Emerging Technology, and Strategy (DETS) program, developed and taught the "For the Common Defense" study group throughout the Fall 2023 semester. Each “Common Defense” seminar is an in-depth exploration of a national security or defense-related subject taught by senior defense officials. Over the course of eight seminars, this study group examined key foreign policy topics, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and great power competition.

Apekshya Prasai, a political science doctoral candidate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was recently named a 2023 Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation Emerging Scholar.   The Emerging Scholars (nine in all) are doctoral candidates who are in the final year of writing dissertations on the nature of and responses to violence around the world.

The Harvard Project conducted a research and policy workshop in December 2021, “Subnational Climate Change Policy in India.” Co-sponsors were the Centre for Policy Research, in New Delhi, and the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute at Harvard University.

In his first public comments since U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan, former Secretary of Defense and Belfer Center Director Ash Carter joined Harvard Kennedy School Dean Doug Elmendorf for a wide-ranging discussion about Afghanistan during a JFK Jr. Forum event Wednesday, October 6. Their discussion ranged from national security and U.S. foreign policy over 20 years to the immense contributions and sacrifices made in Afghanistan and how best we can promote human rights going forward.

A complete video along with clips from the event are available here.  The transcript is accessible here.

The Harvard Project on Climate Agreements co-sponsored a webinar on March 30, 2021: “The Future of Green India: Energy and Climate Change.” Hosting the event was the Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute at Harvard University. The other co-sponsors were the Environment and Natural Resources Program in the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School — and the Harvard University Center for the Environment. The Harvard Global Institute provided support for the seminar and a larger project of which it is part.

The International Security Program (ISP) is still accepting applications for 2020–2021.  ISP is a multidisciplinary research group that develops and trains new talent in security studies by hosting pre- and postdoctoral research fellows.