Events + Seminars

CIS sponsors formal programs, multidisciplinary working groups and numerous public events. For a complete listing of upcoming events, please see the event calendar. The CIS policy on requests to help fund events organized by other MIT groups is available here.

Starr Forum

The Center’s flagship public event series brings to campus leading academics, policymakers, and journalists to discuss pressing issues in the world of international relations and US foreign policy. Funded by the Starr Foundation of New York, the CIS Starr Forums are open to the MIT community and to the general public.

Security Studies Program Wednesday Seminar

The seminar series, offered at noon on Wednesdays, provides a forum for members of the MIT community to engage with an array of speakers drawn from the academic, think tank, and policy worlds working on security-related issues. It is sponsored by the Security Studies Program.

Emile Bustani Middle East Seminar

The Bustani Seminar brings distinguished speakers to discuss history, political science, economics, anthropology, architecture, and urban studies in the Middle East and North Africa. It is open to the MIT community and to the general public.

Joint Seminar on South Asian Politics

South Asia's economic and strategic relevance has grown significantly and offers enormous intellectual and scholarly interest. The seminar, co-sponsored by MIT, Brown University, and Harvard University, explores the region with leading experts.

MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI)

MISTI hosts country-specific events to help MIT students prepare for their experience abroad. Additional MISTI events feature international leaders in science, technology, culture and industry on topics of interest to the MIT community.

MIT X TRUE Africa University (TAU) Webinars

CIS and its MIT Africa Program has partnered with the newly launched TRUE Africa University (TAU) to host a webinar series focusing on various aspects of sustainable development in Africa. MIT alumnus and CIS research affiliate Claude Grunitzky interviews the thinkers, shapers and doers who he sees as the inventors of the future of Africa.

Myron Weiner Seminar Series on International Migration

The seminar explores factors affecting international population movements, their impact upon sending and receiving countries, and the policy issues prompted by migration. It is sponsored by the Inter-University Committee on International Migration and is open to the public.

Focus on Eurasia

Each semester the Center, together with the MIT Security Studies Program, and the MISTI MIT-Eurasia Program, presents a speaker series entitled “Focus on Eurasia,” which considers a number of current issues in Eurasian domestic and foreign policies. The public is welcome to attend.