The Arms Control Negotiation Academy

The Arms Control Negotiation Academy (ACONA) is a collaborative effort of the Negotiation Task Force (NTF) of Harvard University’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies; the History and Public Policy Program (HAPP) at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; Höfði Reykjavík Peace Centre; National Research University—Higher School of Economics (HSE); Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO); and Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF).

ACONA is a 12-month high-level professional development program for a competitively selected cohort of rising international security experts and practitioners. The ambitious training curriculum addresses critical historical case studies, technological know-how, and advanced negotiation skills in the realm of arms control. Participants earn a Certificate in Arms Control Negotiation and become part of ACONA’s network of next-generation arms control negotiators.

Every year, the Academy gets applications from all over the world and selects the 16 best applicants to participate in the program. ACONA Fellows come from different countries, professional and academic backgrounds. ACONA Fellows hone their negotiating techniques, take part in international research projects and lectures with preeminent speakers. Among the speakers of the ACONA program, one could find Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov and Former High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton. Students' research projects draw heavily on the results of discussions with ACONA experts, which contributes to the development of innovative solutions to complex arms control issues.

Three times a year ACONA fellows meet virtually or in-person at immersive workshops (“boot camps”). At least one of these camps is traditionally held in Iceland. This is no coincidence. Presidents Gorbachev and Reagan met in Reykjavík in 1986 for productive talks that led to the signing of the INF Treaty.

The ACONA International Advisory Board includes former Deputy Secretary-General of NATO Rose Gottemoeller; Pavel Palazhchenko, head of the international relations and PR department at the Gorbachev Foundation (he participated in all US-Soviet summits on nuclear weapons, including the meeting of Gorbachev and Reagan in Reykjavik in 1986, as the chief translator from English); Director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences William Potter; Alexey Arbatov, member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, head of the Center for International Security at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO).