Governance

166 Items

Photo of Gitanjali Rao arriving at the Kids Choice Awards on Saturday, April 9, 2022, at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, Calif.

(Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

- Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Women in STEM Share Experiences

| Spring 2022

Throughout this spring, Belfer Fellow Dr. Syra Madad developed and hosted a Women in STEM event series to highlight women leaders in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). The aim of the series was to recognize the many accomplishments and contributions by women in STEM fields while educating and empowering young women, providing valuable advice, and sharing pearls of wisdom. This six-event series featured guest speakers that included America's Top Young Scientist Gitanjali Rao, former White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, leading figure in the U.S. space program Lori Garver and Spacecraft Operations Engineer Nagin Cox, Tiktok-renowned epidemiologist Dr. Katrine Wallace, and many more.

Study group members at the Harvard Art Museum

Sultan Al Qassemi

Investigating the Politics of Modern Middle Eastern Art

| Dec. 08, 2021

This fall, Sultan Sooud Al-Qassemi, an Emirati columnist and researcher who specializes in social, political, and cultural affairs in the Arab Gulf and the founder of the Barjeel Art Foundation in the UAE, joined the Middle East Initiative as the Kuwait Foundation Visiting Scholar. One of the ways he has engaged with the Harvard community and shared his expertise is through his study group, “Investigating the Politics of Modern Middle Eastern Art.” 

teaser image

- Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

U.S. Digital Corps Expands Government Expertise

| Fall 2021

With the launch of the U.S. Digital Corps this summer, the Biden Administration has signaled a desire to attract early-career technologists and put their skills to work in the federal government. Nick Sinai, Senior Fellow with the Technology and Public Purpose Project (TAPP), co-founded the U.S. Digital Corps. 

We asked Sinai to tell us how the Digital Corps came about and his experience working with and making connections between Harvard Kennedy School students and fellows and other young technologists. 

- Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Exploring a World of AI Hackers

| Spring 2021

Bruce Schneier warns that AIs are becoming hackers. They're able to find exploitable vulnerabilities in software code. They're still not very good at it, but they'll get better. It's the kind of problem that lends itself to modern machine learning techniques: an enormous amount of input data, pattern matching, and goals that permit reinforcement. We have every reason to believe that AIs will continue to get better at this task and will soon surpass humans. They'll even come up with hacks that we humans would judge creative.

teaser image

- Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Climate and Security: Critical Connections

Spring 2021

To mark Earth Day 2021, a number of Belfer Center climate, security, and intelligence experts took part in two conferences that identified and discussed the impacts of climate change not only on the environment and well-being of the world’s people, but also on international security and political stability throughout the world.

A detail of the main lobby floor of the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

Increasing Diversity in the Intelligence Community

| Fall 2020

In late September, more than 600 participants from across Harvard and the national security community convened for a two-day conference focused on building a more diverse and capable United States Intelligence Community (IC). Co-hosted by the Belfer Center’s Intelligence and Cyber Projects, the conference took place over two consecutive mornings and served as a kick-off to a year-long initiative focused on highlighting workforce diversity in the IC as a mission critical element to US national security.

Photo of a mask-wearing passenger departs a bus where masks are required of riders Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020, in Bellingham, Wash. 

AP Photo Elaine Thompson

Staying Safe Today, Preparing for Tomorrow

| Fall 2020

Since March, the Belfer Center’s scholars and practitioners have been physically distanced but intellectually close. They’ve faced the pandemic head-on, launching new types of research to explore the unusual, tragic circumstances of this year. 

These new products include tips and advice regarding COVID, health, and safety from Juliette Kayyem, Faculty Director of our Homeland Security Project, and a series of reports and recommendations regarding preparing for and responding to future pandemics from the OPCAST Ad-Hoc Pandemic Response Group, led by John P. Holdren.

D3P Helps Safeguard 2020 Elections

| Fall 2020

A number of factors in the fall of 2020 made it easier for agents of disinformation to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election process and results—before, during, and after election day. Working to thwart them, however, was an army of well-trained election officials. Much of their training was carried out by the Belfer Center’s Defending Digital Democracy Project (D3P). 

View from the Arab World

Fall 2020

In the fall, the Middle East Initiative (MEI) launched a new event series titled USA 2020: The View from the Arab World. Co-hosted by MEI Faculty Director Tarek Masoud, Sultan Qaboos Bin Said of Oman Professor of International Relations, and MEI Visiting Fellow Karim Haggag, Professor of Practice at The American University in Cairo, the series features dialogues with Arab thought leaders on the 2020 US elections and America’s changing role in the Middle East. Here we focus on Mina Al-Oraibi, Editor-in-Chief of The National, an English language newspaper based in Abu Dhabi. 

- Middle East Initiative, Belfer Center

Middle East Initiative Mosaic 2019-2020

Aug. 01, 2020

The 2019-2020 issue of the Middle East Initiative Mosaic newsletter highlights MEI programs and activities during the academic year. This year's issue features the work of students, fellows, faculty, and staff on public policy issues in the Middle East, including a focus on innovative research on the challenges and opportunities facing the region from our scholarly community, Kennedy School students' remarkable contributions on campus and in the region, a dynamic year of public engagement, milestones for our community, and more!