News & Announcements

Join Middle East Initiative Faculty Chair and Ford Foundation Professor of Democracy and Governance, Tarek Masoud, in a series of frank, open, and probing encounters with vital and varied perspectives on the current conflict, its causes, and the prospects for peace and progress in the region.

The Arctic Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs is pleased to announce the appointment of Sara Olsvig to its International Advisory Board. Olsvig, a prominent Greenlandic politician and Inuit leader, brings to the Arctic Initiative a wealth of policymaking experience and a deep understanding of Arctic governance, human rights, and Indigenous rights. 

HPCA and Director Robert Stavins played an active role at COP 28 in Dubai, which concluded on December 12 with an historic agreement calling for “transitioning away” from fossil fuels. Aside from moderating an official HPCA Side Event on reducing global methane emissions, Stavins also participated in several other panel discussions and forums on issues relating to the climate change negotiations as well as meetings with participants and journalists. Read more on HPCA’s activities in Dubai on our COP 28 Tumblr page.

The Biden Administration and automotive industry have announced ambitious targets for the number of electric vehicles they hope to deploy by 2030, but automakers are not yet on track to meet those targets, according to new analysis by researchers at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. 

The Belfer Center's National Security Fellows (NSFs), as part of the Defense, Emerging Technology, and Strategy (DETS) program, developed and taught the "For the Common Defense" study group throughout the Fall 2023 semester. Each “Common Defense” seminar is an in-depth exploration of a national security or defense-related subject taught by senior defense officials. Over the course of eight seminars, this study group examined key foreign policy topics, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and great power competition.

The Harvard Project on Climate Agreements (HPCA) assembled a panel of leading academics and government officials to discuss strategies for achieving significant methane emissions reductions at relatively low costs at an official COP 28 Side Event last Wednesday (Dec. 6). The event, titled “Reducing Global Methane Emissions: Imperatives, Opportunities, and Challenges,” was moderated by HPCA Director Robert Stavins.

As war continues in Gaza, and as questions linger re: the enclave’s postwar future, what role can Egypt and other Arab countries play?

MEI Faculty Chair Tarek Masoud discusses with CNN's Fareed Zakaria: https://twitter.com/FareedZakaria/status/1726321856142073870 

Efforts around and impacts of global methane-emissions abatement will be the focus at an official side event on December 6 co-sponsored by the Harvard Project on Climate Agreements at the 28th Conference of the Parties (COP-28) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Dubai. Harvard Project Director Robert Stavins will also participate in a number of other events at COP-28.

The Defense, Emerging Technology, and Strategy Program (DETS) is pleased to announce that David McCord, MPA Candidate and DETS Research Assistant, has been awarded the Business and Space Policy Molly K. Macauley Award by the American Astronautical Society (AAS). 

The Harvard Project on Climate Agreements collaborated with the Salata Institute on Climate and Sustainability at Harvard University to provide financial and logistical support for students to attend the Twenty-Eighth Conference of the Parties (COP-28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). COP-28 will be held in Dubai, Nov. 30 – Dec. 12, 2023.