June 7, 2023

New Minerva-funded study: "Transcultural Pathways to the Will to Fight"

Upon entry into WWII, the United States committed to unconditional victory through overwhelming force. But paramount focus on material capacity to the neglect of “will to fight” in subsequent regional wars—Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan—has carried woeful costs in lives, treasure, and policy failures. This nearly happened with Ukraine. Despite political and military leaders acknowledging its importance after the fact, consensus remains that will to fight is “imponderable.” Without rigorously assessing nonmaterial sensibilities, including among civilian populations, conflict can appear intractable or only resolvable with massive force, and the United States and partners may continue to overrate or underrate allies, armies, and peoples in disregard of the spirit that can only arise from one’s own cultural identity and values.

May 26, 2023 May 31, 2023

DoD Awards $18 Million for Academic Research on the Socio-Political Drivers of Future Conflict

The Department of Defense today announced $18 million in grants to 11 university-based faculty teams under its Minerva Research Initiative, which supports basic research in social and behavioral sciences on topics of particular relevance to U.S. national security.

April 3, 2023

New Minerva-funded White Paper,"Defense Implications for US and NATO Policymakers and their Staffs"

New Minerva-funded White Paper, "Defense Implications for US and NATO Policymakers and their Staffs" is now available at West Point Press. This White Paper introduces the concept of near crisis, and the importance of managing the pre-crisis space as part of crisis prevention rather than crisis management alone.

March 21, 2023

Register now for the 2023 Minerva Meeting and Program Review

The 2023 Minerva Meeting will be held at the Hyatt Centric in Arlington, VA from May 2-3. At this annual event, Minerva grant awardees will share their latest research findings with Defense policymakers and thought leaders, Military operations personnel, and academic peers.

March 9, 2023

Department of Defense Awards $2 Million for Social Science Research Under the Defense Education and Civilian University Partnership

The DoD announced the selection of six DoD and university faculty teams to pursue fundamental social science research through the Defense Education and Civilian University Research (DECUR) Partnership, a program under DoD’s Minerva Research Initiative (Minerva).

Feb. 22, 2023

Minerva-funded Research Integrated into NATO Assessment, "Children in Violent Extremism Organisations in the Middle East and Africa"

Minerva-funded Researcher, Dr. Mia Bloom's (Georgia State University) project on children in violent extremism (2015-2021) was integrated into the NATO Assessment, “Children in Violent Extremism Organisations in the Middle East and Africa”. This assessment helped determine that there is a need to better identify child recruitment patterns, especially in relation to the areas experiencing growing Violent Extremism Organisations (VEO) activity across Africa.

Feb. 7, 2023

The near crisis project: Why what you don’t know can hurt you

This event will a panel of distinguished speakers from the research team of the University of Utah’s Near Crisis Project followed by a moderated discussion.

Jan. 5, 2023

New Minerva-funded Publication, "Assessing impacts to maritime shipping from marine chokepoint closures"

"New GIS-enabled analysis by a Minerva-funded researcher from Duke University maps what the far-reaching impacts to international trade and shipping could be if any of the world’s 11 busiest marine chokepoints, or shipping straits, are closed due to politics, piracy, vessel accidents, or other causes."

Dec. 14, 2022

Findings from a Minerva Research Initiative funded project on Near Crisis Escalation helped NATO leaders approve a new Strategic Concept that updated the alliance’s core tasks

Dr. Scott Silverstone (USMA West Point) and Dr. Steven Lobell (PI, University of Utah) presented to NATO officials the findings from the Minerva Research Initiative and Office of Naval Research funded project on Near Crisis Escalation.

Nov. 8, 2022

New Minerva-funded Publication, "Trust in Online Search Results During Uncertain Times"

"Drawing from the layer model of trust, this study examines what factors influence the perceived quality of search results. Participants (N = 256) conducted searches about current events and evaluated the quality of the results they received along with their trust in technology and attitudes toward the search topic."