2025 Center-Wide Activities

In 2025, the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs continued to advance its mission of bringing world-class scholarship and training to bear on the most consequential challenges facing today’s world. Amid accelerating geopolitical competition, rapid technological change, and persistent risks of conflict, the Center served as a hub for analysis, dialogue, and leadership development—connecting ideas generated at Harvard with decision-makers in the United States and around the world.

Guided by the Belfer Overlap—technology, the evolving international order, and the energy transition—the Center deepened existing strengths while expanding into new areas of inquiry. Belfer family gifts, deployed through the New Initiatives Fund and the Innovations in National Security Fund, enabled the Center to strengthen core programs, launch new research streams, and recruit senior talent to respond flexibly to fast-moving policy challenges.

2025 was a year of intensified engagement and applied impact. As global risks sharpened—particularly around nuclear escalation, great-power rivalry, and regional conflict—the Belfer Center increased the scale, frequency, and seniority of its engagements. Faculty and fellows advised current and former senior officials across administrations and allied governments, hosted a record number of high-level convenings, and produced research that directly informed policy debates in Washington, allied capitals, and multilateral institutions.

Bridging Scholarship and Practice Through Dialogue

Throughout 2025, the Belfer Center convened a wide range of public and private discussions addressing urgent global challenges. More than 60 events focused on nuclear security and strategic stability alone, a significant increase over the previous year, alongside dozens of additional convenings addressing regional conflicts, transatlantic security, emerging technologies, and applied history.

These conversations brought together policymakers, scholars, practitioners, journalists, technologists, and students to examine unfolding crises and long-term structural shifts—often under Chatham House Rule or in small, off-the-record formats designed to enable frank exchange.

As part of the American Secretaries of State Project, the Center hosted an in-depth interview and large student event with Mike Pompeo, former U.S. Secretary of State, contributing to the Center’s ongoing effort to capture firsthand reflections from those who have shaped American diplomacy at the highest level. The conversation examined key moments and strategic choices during Pompeo’s tenure, including U.S.–China relations, alliance management, crisis diplomacy, and the role of American power in a contested international environment.

The Arctic Initiative convened multiple high-level workshops integrating climate science, governance, and diplomacy to address emerging challenges in the Arctic region. These included an April workshop on the governance of research, testing, and potential deployment of climate interventions in the Arctic, and a November workshop focused on threats to biodiversity in the Arctic Ocean arising from climate change and expanding industrial activity. Together, these convenings reinforced the Center’s role in shaping policy-relevant dialogue on Arctic governance at a time of increasing environmental and geopolitical pressure.

The Middle East Initiative (MEI) continued its Middle East Dialogues series, moderated by Tarek Masoud, hosting in-depth conversations with senior political leaders, intellectuals, and public servants from across the region. Discussions examined the war in Gaza, risks of regional escalation, Iran’s nuclear trajectory, governance challenges, and prospects for post-conflict stabilization. MEI also marked pivotal historical and geopolitical moments through dedicated programming, including a Rabin memorial event reflecting on the Oslo Accords and October 7th thirty years after Rabin’s assassination. Collectively, these conversations reached audiences far beyond campus, generating over 180,000 views online, in addition to more than 400 attendees for some conversations in person.

In parallel, MEI supported five senior-fellow-led study groups, translating theory into practice on issues ranging from Gulf geoeconomics to democratic reform and post-conflict governance. These forums provided students sustained engagement with former heads of government and senior policymakers.

Europe, Russia, and Transatlantic Security

The Belfer Center continued to convene timely conversations on Europe’s security environment, NATO, and Russia’s war in Ukraine. Through public events, private roundtables, and study groups, Belfer faculty and fellows examined alliance cohesion, nuclear escalation risks, and shifting transatlantic dynamics.

Notable events included the 2025 Lamont Lecture delivered by Dmytro Kuleba, former Foreign Minister of Ukraine and Belfer Senior Fellow, and multi-session programming marking three years of full-scale war in Ukraine, featuring Kuleba, Graham Allison, Fiona Hill, and James Sebenius.

Evolving International Order

In 2025, the Belfer Center formally established the Evolving International Order as a core research area, encompassing three interconnected workstreams: the Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship, the Middle Powers Project, and a developing initiative on Adversarial Alignment.

Bringing these workstreams under a single research umbrella created new momentum across research, teaching, and convening. This momentum enabled deeper research and expanded student engagement, including the launch of a student-focused event series, “What’s Next,” with sessions featuring Moeed Yusuf on Pakistan, Oliver Stuenkel on Brazil, and Bogdan Klich and Paula Dobriansky on Eastern European security.

At the Munich Security Conference in February, the Belfer Center released its Task Force Report on Transatlantic Defense, injecting concrete policy recommendations into debates over the future of NATO and U.S.-Europe relations during the opening weeks of President Trump’s second term. Meghan O’Sullivan and the task force co-chairs conducted a press briefing at Munich and held targeted engagements with senior European policymakers.

In the fall, the Center appointed Ivo Daalder, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO and former president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, as an in-residence Senior Fellow. Ambassador Daalder launched a full-time program of research, convenings, and media engagement.

The Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship hosted two flagship convenings: a September address by French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot and December engagements with NATO Deputy Secretary-General Radmila Šekerinska, both drawing overflow audiences.

The Russia Matters project continued to play a central role in convening debate and disseminating analysis on Russia’s war in Ukraine, nuclear escalation risks, and elite decision-making in Moscow. The project’s weekly Russia-Ukraine War Report Card tracked territorial change, casualties, missile launches, civilian harm, economic disruption, and public opinion.

In 2025, RussiaMatters.org attracted 717,000 pageviews, a 73 percent year-over-year increase, and generated 2.2 million total events, up 60 percent from the previous period. Its content was cited by outlets including Reuters, Bloomberg, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, and referenced in a research report commissioned by the British Parliament.

Advancing Policy-Driven Research

In 2025, International Security—the leading peer-reviewed journal edited at the Belfer Center and published by MIT Press—was ranked #1 in Impact Factor in Clarivate’s Journal Citation Reports. Articles published in the journal received awards from the American Political Science Association’s International History and Politics Section and the International Studies Association’s Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Migration Section, as well as an honorable mention from the International Studies Association’s Diplomatic Studies Section, underscoring the journal’s continued scholarly influence.

International Security Program members participated in many policy-relevant events. Program Director Steven Miller traveled to Hiroshima, Japan for the commemoration of the 80^th anniversary of the first use of a nuclear weapon and to Uppsala, Sweden to participate in Pugwash’s Nordic Security Workshop, which examined the changes to Nordic Security after Sweden and Finland joined NATO. At Harvard, Postdoctoral Fellow Natia Gamkrilidze moderated a panel, “Stormfront in the Black Sea: Navigating Euro-Atlantic Security Amid Regional Turmoil,” which was sponsored by the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies; Postdoctoral Fellow Mikael Hiberg Naghizadeh spoke on a panel,” Ethiopia's War in Tigray: Learning from the Past,” sponsored by the Harvard University Center for African Studies; and Research Fellow and National Defense Fellow Lt. Col. Kira Coffey spoke on a panel with Rana Mitter at HKS’ Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia’s event, “Navigating Priorities—The U.S., Taiwan, and Implications for the Indo-Pacific. ISP Faculty Chair Stephen Walt continued work on his book manuscript, tentatively titled, Statecraft and Strategy: A Practical Guide.

Led by Graham Allison, the Avoiding Great Power War Project deepened its role as a trusted resource for policymakers confronting intensifying U.S.–China and U.S.–Russia competition. Over the past year, the project combined original research on Thucydides’s Trap, nuclear risk, and crisis management with sustained engagement with senior U.S. national security officials and dialogues with Chinese leaders and strategists. Allison updated two flagship Harvard Kennedy School cases—Meeting the China Challenge and Responding to a Taiwan Quarantine—now used not only in Harvard classrooms but also by staff at the National Security Council and the Departments of Defense and State. He also published widely cited essays in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and The National Interest, including Meeting China Anew: Twenty Simplistic, Inconvenient, and/or Heretical Questions, contributing to policy debates focused on preventing great-power war and sustaining strategic stability.

In 2025, the Defense, Emerging Technology, and Strategy (DETS) Program advanced research and convening at the intersection of defense policy, emerging technologies, and national security strategy. The Program launched the inaugural Critical and Emerging Technologies Index, providing a systematic assessment of technologies shaping future military power and strategic competition. DETS faculty and fellows also published new research on autonomous systems and cybersecurity, and convened senior leaders from government, the military, and the private sector to examine how innovation is reshaping U.S. defense and deterrence.

The Project on Managing the Atom (MTA) played a pivotal role in shaping debates on nuclear nonproliferation, deterrence, and risk reduction. In partnership with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Nuclear Threat Initiative, MTA helped produce the bipartisan report Preventing an Era of Nuclear Anarchy, the produce of a task force co-chaired by Meghan O’Sullivan along with Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar and Ernest Moniz. MTA’s Matthew Bunn served as a task force member. The report’s release was accompanied by briefings on Capitol Hill with Senators and extensive media coverage. In July, Matthew Bunn, Steven Miller, Hui Zhang, and Francesca Giovannini traveled to Shanghai and Beijing as part of a joint delegation with the American Academy of Arts and Sciences to explore strategic stability and nuclear risk reduction.

The Middle Powers Project reached a major milestone in 2025. Work continued on thirteen country case studies, with the first five—Brazil, India, Indonesia, South Africa, and Turkey—published in November, aligned with the G20 Summit in Johannesburg.

Alongside the case studies, the project released an intellectual framework authored by Meghan O’Sullivan, Rana Mitter, and Moeed Yusuf, advancing early findings on how contemporary middle powers are far more potent than the historical Non-Aligned Movement and how they may shape global outcomes in the absence of U.S.–China agreement. The project generated strong student engagement and laid the groundwork for a major cross-cutting publication and additional convenings in 2026.

Technology, Geopolitics, and Innovation

In 2025, the Program on Emerging Technology, Scientific Advancement, and Global Policy (ETSAGP) advanced an ambitious agenda at the intersection of technology and geopolitics. The program focused on artificial intelligence, biosecurity, energy, and critical supply chains.

The second cohort of Technology and Geopolitics Fellows began their terms in the fall, researching DARPA-style innovation funding, digital sovereignty, technological surprise from China, and the geopolitical implications of small-scale AI systems. ETSAGP partnered with Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences to fund three interdisciplinary faculty research projects, exploring AI and democracy movements, a digital “silk road” for foundation models, and AI’s impact on electrical grids.

Two major initiatives launched under ETSAGP in 2025: Move37, developing AI tools for negotiation, diplomacy, and crisis management, and IB3, jointly led by senior fellow Liz Sherwood-Randall and program director Michael McQuade, focused on biosecurity, bioresilience, and AI-enabled biotechnology. IB3 convened senior leaders from government, industry, and academia in closed-door settings to develop actionable policy approaches.

Belfer Center programs also advanced policy-relevant research on climate and energy in 2025. Together with colleagues from Harvard SEAS and ETSAGP, the Environment and Natural Resources Program (ENRP) launched a new initiative examining the impact of data centers on the electricity grid, with the goal of developing policy and operational tools to leverage the data-center boom while minimizing economic, social, and environmental risks. Initial research outputs from this initiative are expected in early 2026.

ENRP and the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program (STPP) expanded work on climate finance, including research led by Akash Deep on innovative financial mechanisms such as the “Green Swap,” and additional carbon-market research by Ely Sandler and Daniel Schrag. ENRP also marked the 25th anniversary of the Roy Award for Environmental Partnership, recognizing ChemFORWARD for its chemical hazard data trust that supports safer and more sustainable supply chains.

Preparing the Next Generation of Leaders

Across its programs, the Belfer Center remained deeply committed to educating and mentoring future leaders in international affairs. Students engaged directly with faculty and fellows through courses, simulations, study groups, and applied research opportunities, benefiting from Belfer’s distinctive integration of scholarship and practice.

The Belfer Young Leaders (BYL) Student Fellowship supported 36 MPP and MPA students with research opportunities, faculty mentorship, and over $600,000 in tuition funding, while doubling financial support to ensure greater accessibility for new and returning students. Fellows engaged with faculty, policymakers, and global experts through dynamic programming that deepened their understanding of critical issues.

In 2025, Belfer Young Leaders Fellows included:

Slavina Ancheva
Daniel Avila
Anna Bartoux
Hannah Chenok
Jon Cho
Winnona DeSombre
Joshua Doyle
Frances Fitzgerald
Antonia Foldes
Lydia Glock
Stirling Haig
Joao Hofmeister
Lily Kang
Rachel Keathley
Ethan Kessler
Naveen Krishnan
Maria Kuznetsova
Ruth Mathen
Loann Marquant
Amine Mernissi
Max Molot
Marissa Ng
Nikolas Neos
Ngoc Nguyen
Charlie Pozniak
Bethany Russell
Caroline Sabatt
Hadar Sachs
Sameera Salari
Lucas Schmuck
Asim Siddiq
Angie Sohn
Katherine Tang
Michelle Too
Christine Yoon
Angela Yu

The Intelligence Project continued to deliver one of the Belfer Center’s most robust student-facing programs. Its oversubscribed Intelligence Study Group ran in both the spring and fall semesters, engaging graduate and undergraduate students on topics including intelligence ethics, the intelligence-policy nexus, and comparisons between democratic and authoritarian intelligence systems.

The Project’s Intelligence Seminar Series hosted nine guest speakers in 2025, featuring former and current government officials and private-sector experts. Highlights included Aaron Brown, former CIA operations officer and co-founder of Lumbra AI, on agentic AI and epoch-level transformation; Shaun Walker, international correspondent for The Guardian, on Russia’s clandestine “Illegals” program; and Michael Kunkler, former In-Q-Tel executive, on the innovation ecosystem linking intelligence, venture capital, DARPA, and DIU.

The Intelligence Project also led two major trips for its Recanati-Kaplan Fellows: a February visit to California, including engagements with Stanford’s Hoover Institution and national security innovators, and a May visit to Washington, DC, featuring meetings with senior government officials. In spring, the Project launched QLab, a national security innovation accelerator bringing together Harvard and MIT student entrepreneurs to develop dual-use technologies, supported by weekly workshops with leaders in defense strategy, venture capital, and emerging technologies.

The Applied History Project remained a signature element of the Belfer Center’s educational mission in 2025, helping policymakers, students, and practitioners draw rigorously on historical insight to inform contemporary decision-making. The Project supported 14 Ernest May Fellows at the pre- and post-doctoral level, hosted regular Applied History Working Group sessions with leading historians and policy practitioners, and expanded its reach through executive education and public programming. The Applied History Network Newsletter now reaches nearly 600 subscribers across more than 60 institutions worldwide, reflecting growing demand for historically grounded policy analysis. Through courses, simulations, and working groups, the Project reinforced Belfer’s role as a global hub for applied historical thinking at a moment of heightened international uncertainty.

Expanding Global Reach

The Belfer Center published over 200 research and analysis pieces. During that period, 2.4 million users visited BelferCenter.org, generating 2.6 million sessions and 3.3 million pageviews. The Center’s redesigned website—now in its first full year—has improved discoverability, editorial coherence, and global reach. In recognition of this work, BelferCenter.org received a Gold Award in the “Schools & Universities” category at the 20th Annual w3 Awards, which honor excellence in digital content, design, and user experience from among thousands of global entries. The award reflects the Center’s investment in making rigorous scholarship more accessible, engaging, and discoverable for global audiences.

On LinkedIn, the Center added 7,308 new followers and generated 860,388 impressions. Belfer’s YouTube channel generated 352,893 views and added 2,600 subscribers, reflecting growing demand for video-based expert analysis and event content.

Audio and podcast programming continued to expand the Center’s reach. Face-Off: U.S. vs. China, hosted by Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist senior fellow Jane Perlez and Rana Mitter, surpassed 300,000 total downloads, placing it in the top one percent of podcasts globally, and received the Gracie Award for Educational Programming.

In the fall, Ivo Daalder brought his weekly podcast World Review to the Belfer Center, offering timely conversations with leading journalists, scholars, and practitioners on global affairs. The Center also continued production of the International Security Podcast, which features interviews with authors published in International Security, the leading peer-reviewed journal in the field, edited at the Belfer Center and published by MIT Press.

Additionally, The Long Game, a new podcast on the Vox Media network, launched co-hosted by Belfer Center faculty member and former U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan alongside John Finer, former Principal Deputy National Security Advisor. The podcast offers candid, long-horizon conversations about U.S. foreign policy, strategy, and statecraft, reinforcing the Center’s role in shaping informed public debate on the challenges facing the international order.

Welcoming Faculty, Fellows and Visiting Scholars

the Belfer Center strengthened its faculty community with the addition of two distinguished practitioners whose careers span the highest levels of U.S. diplomacy and national security, reinforcing the Center’s role as a bridge between scholarship and statecraft.

Nicholas Burns rejoined the Belfer Center faculty following his service as U.S. Ambassador to China, bringing unparalleled experience at the center of U.S.–China relations during a period of intensifying strategic competition. A career diplomat and former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, his return to the faculty strengthens Belfer’s capacity to analyze great-power relations, alliance management, and diplomacy at moments of global inflection, while offering students direct insight into the practice of high-stakes diplomacy.

Jake Sullivan joined the Belfer Center as Kissinger Professor of the Practice of Statecraft and World Order after serving as U.S. National Security Advisor, where he played a central role in shaping U.S. strategy on China, Russia, Ukraine, the Middle East, emerging technologies, and alliances. His appointment brings Belfer firsthand experience in coordinating national security policy across government and managing crises with global consequences. At the Center, Sullivan’s teaching, research, and engagement contribute to Belfer’s mission of preparing future leaders to navigate complexity, integrate strategic thinking with values, and operate effectively in a contested international order.

Additionally, the Belfer Center welcomed its annual cohort of Senior Fellows, Research Fellows, and Visiting Scholars. These distinguished individuals include accomplished scholars and former high-level executives from the public and private sectors, each contributing invaluable insights from their leadership roles.

Senior Fellows include:

David Balton
David Balton is a Senior Fellow with the Arctic Initiative and previously served as Executive Director of the U.S. Arctic Executive Steering Committee, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oceans and Fisheries at the U.S. Department of State, and a Senior Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

John Bew
John Bew is a Senior Fellow with the Applied History Project and Professor of History and Foreign Policy at King’s College London, where he previously served as Foreign Policy Advisor at No. 10 Downing Street under four prime ministers, leading the United Kingdom’s 2021, 2023, and 2025 national security strategies and contributing to NATO’s Strategic Concept.
Ian Bremmer

Ian Bremmer is a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center and President and Founder of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media, widely regarded as a leading global authority on geopolitical risk and its implications for markets, democracy, and international order.

Ivo Daalder
Ivo H. Daalder is a Senior Fellow with the Project on Europe and the Transatlantic Relationship and previously served as U.S. Ambassador to NATO under President Barack Obama, on the National Security Council under President Bill Clinton, and as President and CEO of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs from 2013 to 2025.

Karim Haggag
Karim Haggag is a Senior Fellow with the Middle East Initiative, a career Egyptian diplomat with more than 25 years of service, Professor of Practice at the American University in Cairo, and incoming Director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) beginning in September 2025.

Avner Halperin
Avner Halperin is a Senior Fellow with the Middle East Initiative and CEO of Sheba Impact, where he leads the creation of breakthrough medical technology startups within a healthcare innovation ecosystem valued at more than $5 billion.

Kathleen Hicks
Kathleen Hicks is a Senior Fellow with the Defense, Emerging Technology, and Strategy Program and served as the 35th U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, with prior leadership roles at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and current affiliation with Johns Hopkins University’s Kissinger Center for Global Affairs.

Laura S. H. Holgate
Laura S. H. Holgate is a Senior Fellow with the Project on Managing the Atom and twice served as U.S. Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, with prior senior roles at the National Security Council, the Departments of Energy and Defense, and the Nuclear Threat Initiative.

Aditi Kumar
Aditi Kumar is a Senior Fellow with the Defense, Emerging Technology, and Strategy Program and formerly served as Principal Deputy Director of the Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, overseeing the rapid adoption of commercial technologies for military use.

Thomas Kenney
Thomas Kenney is a Senior Fellow with the Defense, Emerging Technology, and Strategy Program and CEO of Tycho.AI, with more than three decades of experience as a technology entrepreneur and prior roles at Google, on the Defense Science Board, and at MIT’s Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems.

Brett McGurk
Brett McGurk is a Senior Fellow with the Belfer Center and his career in U.S. foreign policy and national security spans four administrations, where he has held top White House and State Department positions under Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden. Most recently, McGurk served as Deputy Assistant to President Biden and Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa at the National Security Council.

Mick Mulroy
Mick Mulroy is a Senior Fellow with the Intelligence Project and a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East, retired CIA Paramilitary Operations Officer, U.S. Marine, and current national security analyst for ABC News.

Oren Setter
Brigadier General (Ret.) Dr. Oren Setter is a non-resident Senior Fellow with the Middle East Initiative and a former senior Israel Defense Forces strategist who led the IDF Strategic Planning Division and represented Israel in high-stakes negotiations, including the Israel–Lebanon maritime border talks.

Liz Sherwood-Randall
Liz Sherwood-Randall is a Senior Fellow with the Program on Emerging Technology, Scientific Advancement, and Global Policy and co-leads the IB3 initiative on biosecurity and biotechnology; she previously served as Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, Deputy Secretary of Energy, and a senior official on the National Security Council.

Mallory Stewart
Mallory Stewart is a non-resident Senior Fellow with the Project on Managing the Atom and most recently served as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Deterrence, and Stability, with prior senior roles at the National Security Council and the Department of State.

Visiting Scholars include:

Changgui Dong: Associate Professor of Public Policy at the School of Public Administration and Policy at Renmin University of China;
Beibei Wang: Professor of the School of Electrical Engineering, Southeast University, China;
Erik Lin-Greenberg: Associate Professor of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology;
Shady ElGhazaly Harb: Assistant Professor of Surgery at Cairo University and research fellow with the Harvard Kennedy School's Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation;
David Patel: Author and former Assistant Professor of Government at Cornell University

New International Council Co-Chairs and Members

Laurence Belfer, Chief Executive Officer of Belfer Management, and Scott Nathan, Founder of Atlantic Neptune and former Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, were appointed Co-Chairs of the Belfer Center’s International Council, coinciding with an expansion of the Council to welcome new members with diverse professional backgrounds and global perspectives. The newest members include:

Andrew Balson, Founder of Cove Hill Partners and former Managing Director at Bain Capital
Daniel B. Poneman, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy.

Looking Ahead

As the Belfer Center looks toward 2026, it is positioned to build on this momentum—deepening its leadership on nuclear risk, great-power competition, applied history, emerging technologies, and the study of the evolving international order. With continued investment in ideas, people, and platforms, the Center remains committed to advancing policy-relevant scholarship and preparing leaders to navigate a world defined by complexity, competition, and change.