Events

Please join the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs for a Director's Seminar with Gita Wirjawan, Fisher Family Visiting Fellow at the Belfer Center, moderated by Belfer Center Director Meghan O'Sullivan, on Thursday, April 25th from 2:00 - 3:15 PM in the Belfer Library (L369). They will discuss "Security and Sustainable Development in Southeast Asia and Beyond."

This event will be off-the-record, in-person, and is restricted to Harvard ID holders. If your RSVP has been confirmed, you will receive confirmation and event details prior to the session.

Speakers: Michal Ben-Josef Hirsch, Research Fellow, International Security Program; Jennifer M. Dixon, Associate Professor of Political Science, Villanova University

When does a principled idea become an international norm? And how do international norms change and develop over time and space? Over the past three decades, international norms scholarship has made great advances in our understanding of the nature, causes, and effects of the international normative environment. And yet, it also features a high degree of conceptual idiosyncrasy and lacks a shared conceptual framework for studying norm development. These shortcomings have hampered the accumulation of knowledge in the study of norms and stymied the ability to provide much-needed empirical assessments and methodological tools to assess the origins, trajectory, and current status of international norms. This seminar — which is based on a book manuscript in progress — introduces a conceptual model of norm development and uses a mixed-methods analysis of the development over time of five core international human rights norms: the prescriptive norms of legal accountability; truth-seeking; and reparations and the prohibitive norms against genocide and torture. Combined, the study of these five norms seeks to assess the development and status of the international human rights regime from 1945 to the present.

Open to Harvard ID Holders Only: Admittance will be on a first come–first served basis. Coffee &Tea Provided.

The Arctic is warming nearly four times faster than the rest of the world’s regions, changing both the geological and geopolitical landscape of the Arctic region. Meanwhile, China and Russia are enhancing their cooperation in the Arctic, particularly through China’s investments in Russia’s rich natural resources – coal, liquified natural gas (LNG) and oil – as well as in shipping and port infrastructure. The two countries are also enhancing their relationship in other areas, adding to the shifting geopolitics of the region. Coupled with the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, questions arise of the implications the two states’ cooperation has on the security of the eight Arctic states. Panelists will explore this changed geopolitical landscape, as well as the implications foreseen for the green transition in the region.

RSVP required. This event will be held in a hybrid format. A Harvard University ID is required for in-person attendance; all are welcome to attend via Zoom.

For questions, please contact Elizabeth Hanlon (ehanlon@hks.harvard.edu).

Join the Intelligence Project for a seminar with John J. Sullivan, former Deputy Secretary of State and Acting Secretary of State, who served as U.S. Ambassador to Russia from 2020-2022. Ambassador Sullivan will provide his perspective from his time in Moscow and share details of his forthcoming book, Midnight in Moscow: A Memoir from the Front Lines of Russia's War Against the West, which will be released in August 2024. In it, Ambassador Sullivan explores his time in Russia, including providing warnings in the lead up to the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, and then supporting US policy as the war unfolded. He argues that Russia and the United States are effectively at war, and explores options for the US to stand up to the challenge posed by Russia. This seminar will be moderated by the Intelligence Project and will be in person only, open to the first 50 registrants with a Harvard ID. Light refreshments will be served.

Please join the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs for a Director's Lunch with Dr. Rochelle Walensky, former Director, CDC and Professor of Medicine, HMS, and Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, MGH, moderated by Belfer Center Director Meghan O'Sullivan. Dr. Walensky will discuss "Building Bridges: The Interdisciplinary Work for Public Health."

This event will be off-the-record, in-person, and is restricted to Harvard ID holders. If your RSVP has been confirmed, you will receive confirmation and event details prior to the session.

Please join the Belfer Center for a hybrid panel event titled, "The Past, Present, and Future Course of the U.S. Strategy for Technology Leadership," with Jacob Smith, Policy Advisor for the Office of Senator John Cornyn, Jon Cardinal, Director of Economic Development for the Office of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, J.D. Grom, Senior Advisor to the Secretary on CHIPS Implementation, Sujai Shivakumar, Director of the Renewing American Innovation (RAI) Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), on Wednesday, April 24th at 10:00 AM in the Democracy Lab (Rubenstein 414AB). This session will be moderated by Belfer Center Fellow Doug Calidas and Science and Technology Policy Fellow with the National Academies of Sciences, Constanza Vidal Bustamante.

Securing U.S. leadership in cutting-edge, dual-use technologies is now an overarching policy priority shared by Republicans and Democrats — though major disagreements about the scope, methods, and purpose of a federal technology strategy persist. In this panel discussion, we examine the political dynamics that led to the enactment of the landmark CHIPS and Science Act and consider options that Congress and the Executive Branch may take in future years when crafting a federal technology strategy. Panelists include senior congressional staffers and agency officials who drafted and implemented the CHIPS and Science Act and a longtime expert in U.S. competitiveness and innovation.

Virtual participation is open to the public.

In-person participation is for HUID holders only. Any participants without HUIDs will not be permitted access to the building. 

Join us for an Energy Policy Seminar featuring Roxana Shafiee, Environmental Fellow in the Harvard University Center for the Environment. Shafiee will give a talk on "Carbon Abatement Costs of Green Hydrogen Across End-Use Sectors." Q&A to follow. Buffet-style lunch will be served.

Registration: RSVP required. A Harvard University ID is required for in-person attendance; all are welcome to attend via Zoom.

Recording: The seminar will be recorded and available to watch on this page (typically one week later). Those who register for this event will automatically receive a link to the recording as soon as it becomes available.

Accessibility: To request accommodations or who have questions about access, please contact Liz Hanlon (ehanlon@hks.harvard.edu) in advance of the session.

Sponsors: The Belfer Center's Environment and Natural Resources Program, the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, the Harvard University Center for the Environment, the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability

Steve Johnson is an HSP fellow and a leader in Internet technology and governance. However, he has another passion that touches on homeland security issues of police protection, equity, and misconduct. His gay brother, Scott Johnson, was killed in Sydney, Australia in 1988. The police declared it a suicide. After a 30-year struggle to prompt a police investigation, a third inquest declared Scott’s death a gay hate homicide. Then ensued the successful apprehension and conviction of Scott’s killer and a Parliamentary Commission looking into the police handling of 100 deaths of gay men, confirming an epidemic of gay hate crime the New South Wales police did too little about. In December 2023, The Commission of Inquiry published its recommendations, a strong indictment of the police’s resistance to investigate hate crimes, and an outline for reform. This will be a unique discussion about how Steve turned his personal tragedy into policy change in safety and security. 

This event is open to all Harvard students, fellows, faculty, and staff. Refreshments will be served. 

Speaker: Julie George, Postdoctoral Fellow, International Security Program

Under which conditions do dual-use emerging technologies proliferate in the international system? The speaker investigates the likelihood of proliferation of three emerging technologies: artificial intelligence, robotics, and cyber. She selects these three emerging innovations based on their date of discovery in the 1950s and analyze the paths taken by states and the private sector. The outcome variable, proliferation, includes two stages, specifically possession and the operationality of the emerging technology. It is evaluated based on two hypotheses: 1) whether foreign acquisition or indigenous formation is the modal form of technology acquisition and 2) the degree to which there are international institutions governing these technologies. By analyzing neglected patterns that characterize the proliferation of technologies by states and how they have changed from the 1950s to the present, scholars and policymakers gain a greater sense of the liabilities of the innovations to the international system. Overall, scholarly attention to emerging technologies is increasingly important as these innovations continue to take shape and impact the nature of national and international security.

Open to Harvard ID Holders Only: Admittance will be on a first come–first served basis. Coffee &Tea Provided.

Please join the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs for a Belfer Briefing on Europe with Karen Donfried, Belfer Center Senior Fellow, and Jutta Urpilainen, European Commissioner for International Partnerships. They will discuss, "Changing Geopolitics:  The EU's Global Gateway in an Era of Competing Offers."

The briefing will cover Global Gateway, which was launched by the European Union in December 2021 in an increasingly challenging geopolitical context.  While not a counteroffer to China's Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Gateway aims to provide sustainable, quality infrastructure investments without creating untenable debt in partner countries.

This event will be off-the-record, in-person, and is restricted to Harvard ID holders. If your RSVP has been confirmed, you will receive confirmation and event details prior to the session.