Learn from the foreign policy experts you admire. Connect with peers who share your goals. Dig into ideas that can animate better U.S. grand strategies. Network with professionals who have landed the roles you want.
The John Quincy Adams Society is pleased to announce its 2025 Summer Conference for early-career professionals and college students. Participants will spend four days engaging with thinkers, practitioners, and scholars. This is an opportunity to step back and examine fundamental questions about American foreign policy at a time when those questions are more pressing than ever. With major transformations underway in the U.S. national security space, policy-shapers in all parts of the political spectrum will need to feel comfortable talking not only about tactics and tools, but also about goals and ends.
The 2025 Summer Conference proceeds in two major parts.
First, participants will talk grand strategy – a state’s theory of how to cause security for itself. This Morgenthau Grand Strategy Seminar centers on small, seminar-style discussions with rising international affairs scholars. Conducted in partnership with the University of Notre Dame’s International Security Center, the program bears the name of acclaimed realist international relations theorist Hans J. Morgenthau. Participants will come away with a richer understanding of what grand strategy is, theories that can animate grand strategies, and applications in key regions and issue sets.
Second, participants will dive into policy and practice. They will take part in a crisis simulation that puts them in the shoes of key decisionmakers. They will hear from bipartisan panels of experts on pressing topics in U.S. foreign policy. They will connect with professionals who can share secrets of success. And they will do all this in a cohort of their future career peers: current and aspiring U.S. foreign policy professionals.
The John Quincy Adams Society is an independent organization committed to identifying, educating, and equipping the next generation of scholars and policy leaders to encourage a new era of realism and restraint in American foreign policy. We work with current and aspiring U.S. foreign policy professionals. We proactively seek to partner with and advance people on both sides of the political spectrum and in the foreign policy professions.
Don’t miss your chance to build your resume, your network, and your practical wisdom this summer. Learn more and apply below.
You are eligible to apply for the program if you are a student at a U.S. university or are in the first two years of your U.S. foreign policy career. People already involved with the John Quincy Adams Society will have priority. We attempt to interpret eligibility criteria to favor the applicant’s eligibility: for example, someone with three years of internship experience but less than two years of full-time foreign policy experience, or with more than two years of non-foreign policy experience can still be eligible.
If you aren’t in Washington, we can provide hotel and travel for most participants. There are no fees to participate in either of these programs. Meals are included.
We will announce speakers soon.
Preliminary Schedule
Day 1: Monday, July 21
Arrive and check-in in Washington. Optional wargame for early arrivals. Dinner and opening discussions with experts from the Notre Dame International Security Center.
Day 2: Tuesday, July 22
Grand strategy seminars with the Hans J. Morgenthau Fellows. Keynote from a well-known expert.
Day 3: Wednesday, July 23
Grand strategy seminars with the Hans J. Morgenthau Fellows. Networking event with DC-area national security professionals.
Day 4: Thursday, July 24
Wargames, crisis simulations, and expert panels. Closing session. Checkout and departure.
Application
Applications are being reviewed on a rolling basis; apply as soon as you can. We may ask to schedule an interview with you. If you have questions about the conference or about applying, you may call the Society or contact A.J. Manuzzi here.
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