Welcome to the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University!
We support pathbreaking research across the social sciences on the most important questions facing societies around the world. We leverage our deep pool of experts to bring their research to bear on complex global issues, and to translate that research into accessible and actionable knowledge.
We are a large Center spanning twelve of Harvard’s fourteen schools and our affiliates include more than 200 Harvard faculty and over 150 graduate and undergraduate students, visiting scholars, fellows, and postdoctoral researchers. We aspire to expand our existing opportunities for scholars from around the world, and from diverse backgrounds, to benefit from and contribute to our research communities. We offer our affiliates numerous opportunities to exchange ideas about their research as we maintain our tradition of theoretical and methodological pluralism.
Our Weatherhead Research Clusters bring together numerous scholars around broad areas of shared study. Current clusters focus on business and government relations; social science research on climate change; comparative inequality and inclusion; global history; identity politics; and migration. We are excited to support data collection, sharing, and publication in these areas, and in the diverse areas of inquiry of our affiliates.
Numerous programs, projects, and conferences illustrate the range of research activities underway at the Weatherhead Center. Special events for this upcoming semester include a Weatherhead Forum on September 20 featuring war veterans from Bosnia and Lebanon; the Jodidi Lecture on November 8, with Dame Louise Richardson; and our annual International Comedy Night on October 12, organized during Harvard’s Worldwide Week. Our regular seminars, organized by many intellectual partners on a wide range of topics, will continue.
The Weatherhead Scholars Program, successor to the long-running Fellows Program established in 1958, invites more than two dozen visiting faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and experienced practitioners to spend up to one academic year at Harvard. Participants have the opportunity to get involved in the research clusters and engage with the community at Harvard and beyond.
We encourage our affiliates to attend two of our regular series throughout the year: The first is the Weatherhead Spotlight, where we host in-house research presentations that highlight our programs and research clusters. These presentations promote ongoing exchanges and inspire a robust intellectual community within the Center. Our online Weatherhead Forum, open to the public, hosts special sessions that tackle big issues and current events.
I hope you enjoy and benefit from your association with the Weatherhead Center this academic year. I warmly invite you to get involved in our events and activities and to explore our publications, including our research hub, Epicenter, where you will find original blog posts, podcast episodes, and multimedia projects featuring the work of Weatherhead affiliates. Stay connected to Center events and news by following us on Twitter and Facebook.
For sixty-five years the Weatherhead Center has helped shape the agenda of international research in the social sciences, and we are thrilled to have you here to continue that legacy.
Sincerely,
Melani Cammett
Director, Weatherhead Center
Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs
Photo credit: Mark Ostow
