Grants

RAND Corporation

Project Title

For a project on Euro-Atlantic Security

Date

Jun. 05, 2025

Duration

24 months

Description

The Russia-Ukraine war has fundamentally reshaped the Euro-Atlantic security environment, marking the start of a far more dangerous and unstable period for the region. Three years into the conflict, policymakers are still grappling with how to structure a ceasefire and negotiated settlement that could be acceptable to the warring parties. With Corporation support, a project at the RAND Corporation produced work on both enabling a negotiated end to the war and stabilizing U.S.-Russia relations through a combination of unofficial policy dialogues and innovative research. In this phase, the project will seek to facilitate a negotiated end to the war by continuing the indirect talks and by launching a new research-based approach to determining the contours of a possible negotiated settlement of the war.

Project Title

For one time funding for a project analyzing the use of emerging technologies to bolster conventional deterrence in place of expanding nuclear capabilities as part of a Request for Proposals on “Emerging Technologies and Nuclear Weapon Risks”

Date

Sep. 11, 2025

Duration

18 months

Description

China’s rapidly expanding nuclear arsenal has led to major debates about whether the U.S. must significantly expand its own nuclear forces. However, there has been little rigorous analysis of whether non-nuclear capabilities could now fill roles long considered the exclusive domain of nuclear weapons. To address this challenge, the RAND Corporation will assess whether emerging and disruptive technologies—such as artificial intelligence, space-based sensors, advanced conventional strike, and cyber capabilities—can offset growing nuclear threats and enhance deterrence without a large-scale nuclear expansion. The project will also estimate the financial costs associated with implementing technological offsets and compare them to the expenses of expanding U.S. nuclear capabilities.

Project Title

For a project on Euro-Atlantic Security

Date

Dec. 14, 2023

Duration

18 months

Description

The continuation of the war in Ukraine demonstrates the challenges of identifying a possible negotiated settlement that might bridge the currentpositions of Ukraine and Russia. To address this, a project at the RAND Corporation will carry out two sets of activities. The first will entail a diplomacy game. Leveraging RAND’s expertise in game design and execution, it will bring together nongovernmental experts and former officials from the countries in conflict to identify possible pathways toward a negotiatedsettlement. The second activity will entail research and development of mechanisms to uphold a ceasefire as a step toward reaching a negotiated settlement. The project will build on previous Corporation-supported work at RAND on Russia-West relations and will result in publications and policy and media outreach.

Project Title

For a project on Russia-West Relations

Date

Dec. 02, 2021

Duration

38 months

Description

Disputes over the regional order in post-Soviet Europe and Eurasia are at the core of the broader deterioration of Russia-West relations. A project of the RAND Corporation, which engaged an international group of experts to define an alternative approach to that regional order, will now expand and develop a comprehensive roadmap to stability in Russia-West relations. Through research, workshops, and roundtables, the initiative will explore specific drivers of instability and measures to address them, culminating with events in Washington and other relevant capitals to share policy recommendations with key stakeholders.

Project Title

For a project on key challenges in Russia-West relations

Date

Dec. 05, 2019

Duration

45 months

Description

A project of the RAND Corporation (RAND) has engaged an international group of experts to define an alternative approach to the regional order in post-Soviet Europe and Eurasia. RAND will use this same format to address an equally divisive issue in Russia-West relations: political interference and hacking. Recent disputes surrounding Russian interference in U.S. elections have stressed the bilateral relationship, but little has been done to determine mutually acceptable norms to govern this issue in the digital age. Working with established partners from the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the new effort will involve Russian, American, and European experts in a series of sustained discussions to generate possible joint solutions. The project would aim to develop recommendations for respective governments.

Project Title

For a series of dialogues on conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction in Syria

Date

Sep. 13, 2018

Duration

12 months

Description

The continuation of the Syrian conflict poses ongoing risks to broader regional stability and threatens to escalate proxy conflict among regional and international powers. In this context, engaged efforts among the involved parties to end the fighting and develop a framework for post-conflict reconstruction are crucial. The RAND Corporation, in partnership with the Istanbul-based, Omran Center, and the Geneva Center for Security Policy, is conducting Track II dialogues with relevant Syrian and international interlocutors. The dialogues look for pathways to conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction that can sustain future settlements and provide security, governance, and livelihood to affected populations.

Project Title

As a final grant for a project on regional order in post-Soviet Europe and Eurasia

Date

Dec. 07, 2017

Duration

24 months

Description

Relations between the United States and Russia are in an unstable state, posing complications for the regional order. A project of the RAND Corporation has been working to identify avenues for building an inclusive regional order in post-Soviet Europe and Eurasia, by assembling leading experts and former practitioners from across the region to discuss the issues and coauthor recommendations. The project will focus on the economic integration, regional conflict, and security architecture of what it terms the ‘in-between’ states (Georgia, Moldova, Azerbaijan, and others) with the aim of developing a coherent policy framework that ultimately could be adopted by policymakers throughout the Euro-Atlantic region.

Project Title

For workshops and seminars on technological change and nuclear risk

Date

Sep. 07, 2017

Duration

24 months

Description

New weapons systems, driven by technological advances, have the potential to undermine strategic stability and increase nuclear risk. This project of the RAND Corporation (RAND) will seek to strengthen the nascent community of non-governmental experts focused on these challenges. Through workshops and speaker events, RAND will help distribute relevant research and tools and facilitate new channels for engaging policymakers. In addition to meetings to connect researchers with one another and with defense and diplomatic practitioners in Washington, D.C., RAND will also conduct a two-day intensive “boot camp” for graduate students and junior scholars to teach analytical tools and strengthen the field. Finally, RAND will hold panel discussions targeted at a defense policy audience. The overarching goal is to foster discussion of new technologies and stability among scholars, analysts, and policy practitioners.

Project Title

For a project examining the role of African-led peacebuilding missions

Date

Dec. 08, 2016

Duration

31 months

Description

After the end of the Cold War, the United Nations (UN), the United States, and European countries conducted multiple peacebuilding missions in Africa. With partial support from the Corporation, these missions were chronicled in three RAND Corporation (RAND)-authored volumes that provided a comprehensive review of these missions with one important exception—the increasing role of African countries and institutions in this field. Based heavily on the experiences of the 1990s, these volumes tended to be rather skeptical of early African-led efforts. However, in light of the developments during the last decade, a new volume to this important series is needed to allow for a fresh look at more recent African-led efforts, which have become more prevalent, more professional, and sometimes more successful, despite often operating in areas and under conditions that have discouraged intervention by the United States, Europe, and even the UN.

Project Title

For the project Getting out from “In-Between”: Towards an Inclusive Regional Order in Post-Soviet Europe and Eurasia

Date

Jun. 09, 2016

Duration

20 months

Description

Current analyses of the European regional architecture is dominated by stale and backward-looking debates. To define an alternative, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) will attempt to identify mechanisms to help bridge the divide between Euro-Atlantic institutions and Russia-led organizations and determine a shared agenda for regional integration that also could help stabilize ties between Russia and the West. IISS will convene a working group of scholars, former practitioners, and thought-leaders from the United States, the European Union, Russia and states outside of Euro-Atlantic institutions—termed “in-between states”—such as Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, and others. Participants will prepare working papers covering key challenges to inform the discussions. The papers will form the basis of a final report aimed at framing the debate about the future of the post-Soviet Europe and Eurasia regional order.

Project Title

For impeding the spread of hypersonic glide vehicles and cruise missiles

Date

Sep. 17, 2015

Duration

27 months

Project Title

For phase II of the Opportunity by Design initiative evaluation

Date

Sep. 11, 2014

Duration

87 months

Project Title

For phase I of the Opportunity by Design initiative evaluation

Date

Jun. 12, 2014

Duration

17 months

Project Title

For a final grant for a continuation of research and policy outreach on indigenous factors affecting nation-building

Date

Mar. 10, 2011

Duration

24 months

Project Title

For research and policy outreach on national and international decision-making structures addressing states at risk

Date

Mar. 05, 2009

Duration

23 months

Project Title

For research planning and data analysis assistance to the Ohio Teacher Quality Partnership

Date

Sep. 11, 2008

Duration

15 months

Project Title

For research and policy outreach on national and international decision-making structures addressing states at risk

Date

Mar. 06, 2008

Duration

12 months

Project Title

For a study on the impact and implementation of middle school reading coaches

Date

Mar. 02, 2006

Duration

26 months

Project Title

Toward research and policy outreach on national and international decision-making structures addressing states at risk

Date

Dec. 01, 2005

Duration

26 months

Project Title

Toward a research study of causal effects of value-added assessment on educators and student outcomes

Date

Dec. 02, 2004

Duration

45 months