Events

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. 

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

April 26, 2024, marks 38 years since the accident at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant in then-Soviet Ukraine. Still bearing the tragic distinctions of the worst nuclear accident in history, Chornobyl exposed thousands of people to ionized radiation, creating lingering humanitarian effects as well as severe social and political dislocations. By exposing the dysfunction and duplicity of the Soviet regime in Moscow, Chornobyl also contributed to the collapse of the Soviet empire. Some three decades later, the Chornobyl Power Plant and the exclusion zone around it, was occupied and vandalized by Russian military forces, dispatched by another ruler in Moscow to wage war against Ukraine. To interrogate relations between political power and human dimensions of nuclear security, we delighted to host a conversation with Adam Higginbotham, the author of an award-winning book Midnight in Chernobyl.

Arctic cities face uniquely challenging conditions for solid waste management, including harsh weather, geographic remoteness, limited infrastructure, and a rapidly changing climate. Arctic residents produce twice as much garbage annually than the global per capita average, with lower rates of waste collection and recycling than the rest of the world. 

The Arctic Initiative, together with the Arctic Mayors’ Forum, is hosting a webinar to explore how Arctic cities are implementing innovative approaches, including circular economy strategies, to address pollution and create cleaner, more sustainable places to live.

In this webinar, a panel of researchers and practitioners will discuss:

• The unique waste management challenges faced by Arctic cities.
• The serious health and environmental consequences of improper waste disposal.
• Real-world best practices for improving waste management.

This event is free and open to everyone, but registration is required. For questions or to request accessibility accommodations, contact Elizabeth Hanlon (ehanlon@hks.harvard.edu).

Join us for a talk by H.E. Dr. Yasir Al Naqbi, Director General, GovAcademy, Abu Dhabi Department of Government Enablement, on promoting effective governance, nurturing innovation, and enhancing the citizen experiences, moderated by MEI Faculty Chair Professor Tarek Masoud. 

This event is for HUID holders only. Registration is required. Lunch will be provided.

Please join the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs for a Director’s Lunch with John Deutch, Institute Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, moderated by Belfer Center Director Meghan O’Sullivan. Deutch will be discussing his new book, "Fifty Years of Energy Policy, 1973-2023: Lessons for the Future," which analyzes how the consequences of past policy decisions can help anticipate likely outcomes of different policy choices today. Deutch uses his combination of technical expertise, policy experience at the highest levels of government, and his natural instincts as a teacher to make for an unusually accessible book about a complex and fast-evolving topic.

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.