Arvid Bell is a scholar and entrepreneur who specializes in negotiation strategy, crisis management, conflict system analysis, international security, and simulation design. He is a lecturer on government at Harvard University and the CEO of the Negotiation Task Force (NTF), a training, advisory, and research development group.

Bell was appointed to the inaugural cohort of Davis Center Scholar-Entrepreneurs, outstanding scholars and innovators who pursue pioneering research agendas, build new institutions, mentor students, and bring regional studies closer to practice. He founded the Negotiation Task Force at the Davis Center and directed it from 2019 to 2023, until the NTF transitioned out of the university to become an independent organization. An expert in crisis simulation design, Bell has launched a new generation of immersive case exercises used internationally to train decision-makers in government, military, and the private sector. He has delivered guest lectures and testimonies at institutions ranging from the European Parliament to the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), and led workshops to a diverse array of audiences, including high school students, business leaders, and U.S. military officers, as well as students at Stanford University, Columbia University, and the University of Oxford.

Bell has published research in International Negotiation, Negotiation Journal, and International Studies Perspectives and was a Co-Investigator of the Middle East and North Africa Negotiation Report, a collaborative effort of scholars and students from Harvard University, Tufts University, Brandeis University, and Reichman University. He is also a member of the executive board of the Arms Control Negotiation Academy (ACONA) and an affiliated expert with the Conflict Analytics Lab at Queen’s University.

He holds a Franco-German dual master’s degree in political science and international affairs from the Free University of Berlin and Sciences Po Paris, a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard Kennedy School, and a doctoral degree in political science from Goethe University Frankfurt.

Selected Publications