Formation 1973 Director Graham T. Allison | Website www.belfercenter.org | |
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Headquarters 79 John F. Kennedy Street Location Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. | ||
The Robert and Renée Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs (also known as the Belfer Center) is a permanent research center located within the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The center's current director is political scientist Graham T. Allison, former dean of the Kennedy School.
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Belfer was founded in 1973 by biochemist Paul M. Doty as the 'Program for Science and International Affairs' within Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences to provide analysis on arms control and nuclear threat reduction. Following a grant from the Ford Foundation, the program was re-established as the Center for Science and International Affairs, becoming the first permanent research center at the newly formed School of Government. In 1997, following further endowment, the center was renamed as the Robert and Renée Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs in honor of Robert A. Belfer, founder of Belco Oil & Gas Corporation.
In 2012, the Stanton Foundation provided funds for a paid Wikipedian in residence at the Belfer Center. This became controversial due to links between the Belfer Center and the Stanton Foundation (the directors of each are a married couple) and public concerns about conflict-of-interest editing on Wikipedia. The center is organized into subgroups with specific areas of focus; for example, an energy technology innovation policy group led by Laura Diaz Anadon.
Board members
Center board members include:
Advisory board
The center has a large international advisory board. Members include: