Belfer in Brief

Belfer Center Ranked World’s Top University Think Tank

For the sixth year in a row, the Belfer Center was named the best university-affiliated research center in the world. The rankings, released in February, appear in the 2018 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report.

“The Belfer Center exists to build a more secure, peaceful world,” said Center Director Ash Carter. “Through active engagement with leaders in government, business, and media around the globe, our community of scholars, students, and staff go beyond intellectual advancement to lasting policy impact that serves the public good.”

Students Conduct Research in Gulf Region

More than 60 students from seven Harvard graduate schools traveled to the Middle East over the January term to take part in three different Middle East Initiative (MEI) internships and research programs. As the Emirates Leadership Initiative celebrated its five year anniversary, 20 Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) students and fellows embarked on a weeklong field visit on gender inclusion policy in the United Arab Emirates.

Fourteen students and one Nieman fellow joined Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) Prof. Claude Bruderlein in Lebanon for the sixth year of a joint HKS-HSPH course on humanitarian negotiations in the Middle East, examining dilemmas around safe return for Syrian refugees. And MEI’s Hilary Rantisi joined Harvard Divinity School’s (HDS) Diane Moore and 16 students for a new HDS course entitled “Narratives of Displacement and Belonging in Israel and the West Bank.”

For more information on MEI’s research, events, and student programs, visit belfercenter.org/MEI.

Remembering Marie Besançon

The Belfer Center fondly remembers Marie Besançon, a Center research fellow from 2002–2008, most recently with the International Security Program (ISP). Besançon, who was killed in a car accident in late fall, was the founder and continuing director of Homes for Sudan, an organization focused on education for entrepreneurship and building superadobe earth homes. “Marie was a wonderful colleague,” said ISP Director Steven Miller, “and she was particularly admirable for combining her scholarly pursuits with serious efforts to improve the lives of people in Sudan who were trapped by conflict and poverty.”
See http://homesforsudan.blogspot.com/