Nicole Grajewski

Nicole Grajewski is a nonresident scholar in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a tenure-track assistant professor at the Centre de recherches internationales (CERI), Sciences Po in Paris. She is also an associate with the Project on Managing the Atom at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. A specialist on Russia and Iran, Nicole’s work examines the nuclear and military policies of both states and the bilateral Russia–Iran relationship. Her research on Russia focuses on nuclear strategy and forces, limited nuclear war, and escalation management, including nuclear–conventional integration, force employment, and the role of space and counter-space capabilities in Russian decisionmaking. Her work on Iran centers on nuclear decisionmaking and missile forces, with particular emphasis on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the operational role of missile warfare in deterrence and escalation.

Grajewski is the author of Russia and Iran: Partners in Defiance from Syria to Ukraine (Oxford University Press/Hurst, 2026). She regularly analyzes and comments on Russian and Iranian nuclear and military developments, with her writing appearing in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and The Atlantic. She is frequently quoted by leading outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, The Washington Post, and The New Yorker.

Previously, she was a fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at Carnegie in Washington, D.C. and has held appointments at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, the European Council on Foreign Relations, and the Notre Dame International Security Center. She received her PhD from the University of Oxford in the Department of Politics and International Relations.