Minerva Initiative

The Minerva Initiative is a research program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) that provides grants to sustain university-based, social science studies on areas of strategic importance to U.S. national security policy. The program looks to tap into the community of area specialists and other university researchers, particularly those who work on Islam, Iraq, China, and related areas. Since its establishment in 2008, the Department of Defense has awarded over 70 grants to private researchers. Grants are awarded on an annual basis for research projects that typically last three years.

In 2011 the DoD hosted the first annual Minerva Conference. The event has since become an annual gathering in September for Minerva researchers, DoD keynote speakers, and scholars to highlight the most relevant research conducted through the program’s support.

In 2008, the project was provided $50 million by the United States Department of Defense to fund research on five separate themes. When the program began in 2008 project funding was split between DoD and the National Science Foundation. Since that time, all projects have been funded solely by the DoD. The goal was to create improved relations between the Department of Defense and the universities and to develop knowledge that the military can benefit from in the long term.

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates commissioned the Minerva Initiative under the vision of “…a consortia of universities that will promote research in specific areas.” Originally, Secretary Gates proposed four principal focus areas: 1) Chinese Military and Technology Studies 2) Iraqi and Terrorist Perspective Projects 3) Religious and Ideological Studies, and 4) New Disciplines Project and 5) Open Category. Since its establishment, the Minerva Initiative has expanded the breadth of sponsored research to include a wide range of academic disciplines and topics [see Ongoing Research]. The program continues to fund research on the most important social science topics for universities like Arizona State University, which recently received a grant to support research on terrorists’ use of social media.

The stated goal of the Minerva Initiative “is to improve DoD's basic understanding of the social, cultural, behavioral, and political forces that shape regions of the world of strategic importance to the U.S.” The program seeks to achieve this by sponsoring research designed to bring together universities, research institutions, and individual scholars. Three key priorities reflect the objectives of the Secretary of Defense for the Minerva Initiative:

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