RUSI staff selected for high-profile US study programmes
RUSI members of staff have been recognised for their expertise and selected for well-regarded study initiatives in the United States. Andrea Berger has been selected for the Nuclear Scholars Initiative, while Ashlee Godwin has received a Fulbright Scholarship to join the United States Institute on US National Security.
Andrea Berger, Research Analyst focusing on nuclear issues, has been selected for the 2012 Nuclear Scholars Initiative, run by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC.
The Nuclear Scholars Initiative aims to provide top graduate students and young professionals with a unique venue to interact with senior experts on nuclear weapons issues.
The programme brings together a select group of individuals with a demonstrated interest and/or experience in nuclear issues to attend monthly workshops hosted by CSIS. During these sessions, experts from across the nuclear enterprise share their insights and engage the class of Scholars on a variety of nuclear issues. Over the course of this six-month programme, each Scholar prepares a research paper that they will present to a panel of experts and later publish in a journal produced by CSIS.
Andrea Berger's specific research will focus on the prospect for US progression of the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty outside of the Conference on Disarmament, particularly in the context of US-Pakistan relations.
Ashlee Godwin, RUSI Publications Production Manager and Assistant Editor of the RUSI Journal, will be attending a six week exchange programme in the United States in January 2012 under the sponsorship of the Fulbright Commission and US Bureau of Educational and Current Affairs (State Department).
The Institute on US National Security programme comprises a four-week residency at a host university and a two-week study tour for eighteen defence scholars and professionals from around the world. Its aim is to provide the participants with a deeper understanding of the foundations and formulation of US national security policy, with specific emphasis on American views about what constitutes basic US national security and defence requirements and how those views have evolved in the post-Cold War era, especially within the context of the ongoing war against terrorism.
 Participants explore continuity and change in US national security policy, examining how US national security policy has dealt with specific areas of concern over time, for example nuclear proliferation, weapons of mass destruction, and combating international terror networks. The Institute is structured to give attention to US national security policy from multiple perspectives, domestically, globally, and in particular geographic areas.