Frontier technologies are reshaping international affairs, creating unprecedented challenges and opportunities. The founding objective of the Next Frontier Seminar is to meet this moment by identifying exceptionally talented undergraduate and graduate students and developing their skills and perspectives through a rigorous, hands-on program. NFS accepts fellows from a range of backgrounds at our partner universities and combines them into interdisciplinary cohorts. Over the course of a year, fellows develop research projects related to real and pressing issues, working closely with academic mentors, senior practitioners, and field-leading policy experts. While the purpose of the projects is to develop hard skills and global perspectives, many fellows ultimately publish their work in academic journals and policy publications. Nearly all brief their findings directly to policy leaders in their field of interest. As part of our mission to identify excellent talent and to ensure accessibility of our program, NFS charges no fees and covers all associated travel and program expenses for our fellows. 

Originally operated as an independent nonprofit organization, the Next Frontier Seminar is distinguished by its inter-university structure and network of expert mentors. The program is directed by NFS Founding Member Daniel Kroth (Program Director and Research Scholar at BRSL) and advised by an inter-university board of our partner institutions. NFS’s new home at the University of California Berkeley provides a deeper academic foundation and greater real-world relevance for fellows’ work. As a leading research hub at the intersection of technology and security, BRSL offers students access to an interdisciplinary community of faculty, researchers, and practitioners actively shaping policy debates, allowing fellows to ground their research in rigorous scholarship while engaging directly with pressing challenges in defense, technology governance, and global competition. At the same time, retaining an inter-university structure ensures that NFS continues to draw on the strengths of multiple academic communities. By convening fellows from leading universities with diverse disciplinary backgrounds and institutional perspectives, the program broadens its intellectual range and exposes students to ways of thinking about technology and security that extend beyond any single campus.

NFS accepts applications from undergraduate and graduate students. For more information, visit nextfrontierseminar.org or contact Daniel Kroth at dkroth@berkeley.edu.