Heidi Hardt

Prof. Heidi Hardt is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Irvine and a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council via their Transatlantic Security Initiative. Her research examines NATO, US and European security and defense and international organizations. Issue areas include alliance politics, crisis management, collective defense, military operations (e.g. Afghanistan), climate security, strategy, learning, adaptation, change, gender (e.g. WPS, DEI) and political and military decision-making. Prof. Hardt is the author of two books: NATO’s Lessons in Crisis: Institutional Memory in International Organization  and Time to React: The Efficiency of International Organizations in Crisis Response (Oxford University Press, 2014). The NSF, Fulbright, NATO, Carnegie and the IGCC have funded her research, and she has published or has research forthcoming in many journals, including Security Studies, the Journal of Politics, PS: Political Science & Politics, European Journal of International Relations, Review of International Organizations, European Security, Global Governance, International Politics, African Security, Journal of Global Security Studies, Contemporary Security Policy, PLOS One, among other venues.  Previously, she has been a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow (CFR-IAF TIRS), during which time she worked for the NATO Desk at the US State Department, for a US Senator and a US Congresswoman. She has also been a Fulbright Schuman Scholar at the European University Institute and a CFR term member. She is on the executive board of the World Affairs Council of Orange County and is a member of Sweden’s 2025-2029 FBA (Folke Bernadotte Academy) International Research Working Group on NATO.