This article is cross-posted from
Dr. Andrew Reddie Awarded $1.8M to Launch Berkeley Risk and Security Lab
October 3 | School of Information
How will emerging technologies shape the future of war and peace? How might a new era of strategic competition between superpowers complicate matters? What steps should governments take to mitigate the risks posed by autonomous technologies used in war?
Many of the most important challenges that we face as we move into the 21st century involve problems for which we have no or little data. As a consequence, decision-makers are faced with a policy environment defined by uncertainty.
To address these challenges, Andrew Reddie has launched the Berkeley Risk and Security Lab (BRSL), thanks to a $1.8M grant from the Founders Pledge Fund. BRSL, housed within the Center for Security in Politics at the Goldman School of Public Policy and the School of Information, engages academics and policy experts across UC Berkeley, the country, and the globe with the big questions related to the future of national and international security. The lab will also bridge the gap between policy-makers in Washington with scientists and engineers in Silicon Valley and nurture the next generation of researchers.
“In a world in which dual-use technologies are constantly evolving and the global security environment is deteriorating, we have a pressing need to bring Berkeley’s talent and creativity to these challenges,” said Andrew Reddie, assistant professor of practice in cybersecurity at UC Berkeley’s School of Information. “We are thankful to the Founder’s Pledge Fund for their gift to seed the Lab and create a hub to address the national and international security challenges posed by emerging technologies.”
BRSL’s research portfolio is organized around three areas: the political economy of technological competition, the risks posed by emerging technologies, and efforts to mitigate these risks via domestic regulation and intergovernmental governance mechanisms. To aid in these research areas, a fellowship program for junior faculty, postdoctoral students, and Ph.D. candidates is underway, in addition to a policy fellowship program that provides early-career practitioners an opportunity to engage with one another and with technical experts from the academy and industry.
Alongside its research portfolio, the Lab is committed to serving both undergraduate and graduate students across the UC system via courses at the intersection of technology, politics, and security. Currently, the Lab and its faculty support the Cybersecurity Working Group and Nuclear Policy Working Group as well as other courses across campus. The Lab is also supporting the use of scenario analysis, crisis simulation, and wargaming methods for both research and teaching.
BRSL will serve as a link between the policy communities in Washington, national capitals across the globe, intergovernmental organizations, and the technical community at the cutting edge of R&D on campus and in Silicon Valley. Too often, these communities talk past one another. Berkeley can and should play a role in addressing this challenge. In this age of uncertainty, we need the best and brightest to focus on pressing national and international security challenges, and, importantly, we need spaces to come together to engage on these issues. BRSL and the Berkeley campus have an integral role to play in making this a reality.