Kuwait Program

Launched in 2000 and generously supported by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS), the Kuwait Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University aims to identify evidence-based, rigorously scientific solutions to public policy challenges facing the State of Kuwait, the Gulf region, and the world; provide professional development and advanced training to current and future leaders and scholars in Kuwait and the broader region; and facilitate exchanges of ideas, expertise, and know-how between Harvard and educational and policy-oriented institutions in the State of Kuwait and the region.

Today, the Kuwait Program comprises the following program components:

- Residential fellowships at the Harvard Kennedy School for junior, mid-career, and senior scholars who are from or based in the State of Kuwait.

- Customized Executive Education Program for leaders across Kuwait's private, public, and nonprofit sectors.

- Collaborative research between Kuwait-based scholars and Harvard faculty

- Research and internship opportunities, as well as on-campus events, for Harvard students to explore policy-relevant topics related to Kuwait.

The Kuwait Program Research Fellowship at the Middle East Initiative is designed to attract the most promising junior and mid-career policy-oriented scholars and faculty from Kuwait. The fellowship provides a ten-month stipend (September – June) and access to Harvard’s libraries and other resources to pursue an independent research project on a critical public policy area relevant to Kuwait and the Gulf region. Applicants must be from Kuwait, currently residing and working in Kuwait, or formally affiliated with a Kuwait-based academic or research institution. 

We are particularly interested in emerging scholars and social scientists whose proposed research is both policy-relevant and aimed at appearing in peer-reviewed, internationally-ranked, Open Access journals. Priority will be given to applicants whose research proposals center one or more of the following priority policy areas as they relate to the State of Kuwait and the Gulf region: health, education, energy, environment, water and food security, and digital transformation and artificial intelligence. 

Click here to learn more. 

The Kuwait Program Visiting Scholar Fellowship at the Middle East Initiative brings to the Harvard Kennedy School senior scholars and faculty from Kuwait, such as university professors and chairs of national research institutions, who are conducting policy-relevant research in the areas of health, education, energy and the environment, water and food security, technology, and artificial intelligence.

During the course of their fellowship, Kuwait Program Visiting Scholars are expected to either:

- Lead a study group—an advanced academic seminar for Harvard students—on a topic of their choosing. Study group proceedings may be written up and produced as a report published by the Kuwait Program at Harvard Kennedy School.

- Conduct a research project on a topic related to his or her areas of expertise, ideally in collaboration with a Harvard faculty member and, ultimately, that would culminate in a publication, such as a book, edited volume, paper to be published by the Kuwait Program at Harvard Kennedy School, or a peer-reviewed article in an Open Access journal.

The Kuwait Program supports an annual custom Executive Education program designed to promote human capital development and innovation in the State of Kuwait and tailored to meet the needs of leaders from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. 

Information about the Kennedy School’s Executive Education offerings can be found on the HKS Executive Education website.

Kuwait Program Faculty Research Collaboration Grants are designed to catalyze faculty-led research focused on the most critical policy areas facing the State of Kuwait and the broader Gulf and Arab regions today, and to foster collaboration between Harvard faculty and scholars in or from Kuwait. 

We are particularly interested in proposals that: 

- Involve co-investigators or postdoctoral fellows who are from or based in Kuwait, as well as collaboration with research institutions in Kuwait. Proposals without Kuwaiti or Kuwait-based co-investigators or postdoctoral fellows that involve fieldwork in Kuwait, particularly with high potential for generating new connections with Kuwait-based researchers, will also be considered.

- Employ the most up-to-date scientific and data-analytic methods and intend to culminate in peer-reviewed publications, with a preference for those slated to appear in Open Access journals.

Priority will be given to proposals that center one or more of the following priority policy areas as they relate to the State of Kuwait and the Gulf region: health; education; energy; environment; water and food security; and digital transformation and artificial intelligence.

For more details, please visit MEI's Research Grants and Fellowships page.

The Kuwait Program provides small grants for HKS students to undertake summer internships in Kuwait or to conduct research for PAE or SYPA projects in Kuwait on an important, relevant policy issue. Research funding for non-HKS Harvard students from Kuwait is also available. The Kuwait Program also brings to campus speakers on policy issues of relevance to Kuwait and the region.