Minerva Research Initiative

**About Minerva** The Minerva Research Initiative helps 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 research program does this by - Leveraging the expertise of the Nation's top universities - Developing foundational knowledge about sources of present and future conflict with an eye toward better understanding of the political trajectories of key regions of the world - Enhancing the ability of DoD to develop cutting-edge social science research, foreign area and interdisciplinary studies, that is developed and vetted by the best scholars in these fields. The Minerva Initiative brings together universities, research institutions, and individual scholars and supports interdisciplinary and cross-institutional projects addressing specific topic areas determined by the Secretary of Defense.