About the Program Each year PONI hosts four conferences that bring together people from across the nuclear enterprise to discuss a range of nuclear issues. Benefits/Opportunities The PONI yearly conference series brings together junior and senior level professionals from the military, national laboratories, industry, academia, and policy sphere to hear selected presentations on a range of topics related to nuclear weapons policy and strategy, including research related to deterrence, escalation management, nonproliferation, modernization, regional nuclear studies, and other related fields. PONI holds three regional conferences – on military bases, national labs, and CSIS headquarters – and a fourth Capstone Conference at United States Strategic Command in Omaha, Nebraska. The Capstone Conference features selected presentations from preceding regional conferences and offers individuals an opportunity to present their work to senior leadership from across the nuclear enterprise. PONI Conferences typically feature three or four panels of selected presentations on a wide range of nuclear issues, as well as keynote addresses from prominent experts and practitioners in the field. To foster candid exchanges among participants, all comments made at PONI conferences are off-the-record – we thank you in advance for honoring this policy. How to Apply PONI puts out calls for presentation proposals in the lead-up to its regional conferences. Each conference has a theme—such as deterrence or arms control— that the PONI conference series brings together a community of professionals from across the nuclear enterprise to discuss a wide range of nuclear issues. PONI conferences are unique in the high value they place on highlighting new faces and emerging experts in the field, as panels feature some of the best and brightest young professionals. PONI aims to announce the themes of its conferences four months in advance. We encourage you to stay vigilant for calls for proposals and feel free to contact us at poni@csis.org if you have any questions. 2024 PONI Conference Series Schedule Summer Conference: Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico | July 17-18, 2024. Fall Conference: Stanford University | September 27, 2024. Winter Conference: Virtual | February 11, 2025 Capstone Conference: STRATCOM, Offutt AFB in Nembraska| TBD | PONI will select top presenters from 2024 Conference Series to the Capstone Conference 2023 PONI Conference Series Schedule Summer Conference: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California | July 26-27, 2023. Fall Conference: Center for Strategic and International Studies | December 5, 2023 Winter Conference: Virtual | February 26, 2024 Capstone Conference: STRATCOM, Offutt AFB in Nebraska | May 1-2, 2024 | PONI will select top presenters from 2023 Conference Series to the Capstone Conference 2022 PONI Conference Series Schedule Summer Conference: Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico | September 7-8, 2022. Fall Conference: Center for Strategic and International Studies | October 25, 2022 Winter Conference: Ala Moana Hotel, Honolulu | Feb. 14, 2023 Capstone Conference: STRATCOM, Offutt AFB in Nebraska | June 15, 2023 | PONI will select top presenters from 2022 Conference Series to the Capstone Conference 2021 PONI Conference Series Schedule Summer Conference: Virtual in partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory| July 13-14, 2021 Fall Conference: Virtual | October 5-6, 2021 Winter Conference: Hybrid | CSIS | December 8-9, 2021 Capstone Conference: STRATCOM, Offutt AFB in Nebraska | Spring 2022 | PONI will select top presenters from 2021 Conference Series to the Capstone Conference 2020 PONI Conference Series Schedule Summer Conference: Virtual in partnership with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory | June 23-24, 2020 Fall Conference: Virtual | October 6-7, 2020 Winter Conference: Virtual | December 9-10, 2020 Capstone Conference: Virtual | May 5-6, 2021 | PONI will select top presenters from 2020 Conference Series to the Capstone Conference 2019 PONI Conference Series Schedule Summer Conference: Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico | July 9-10, 2019 Fall Conference: Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in Kings Bay, Georgia | October 16-17 Winter Conference: Center for Strategic and International Studies | December 11-12 Capstone Conference: STRATCOM, Offutt AFB in Nebraska | April 15, 2020 | PONI will select top presenters from 2019 Conference Series to the Capstone Conference 2018 PONI Conference Series Schedule Summer Conference: Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico | July 10-11, 2018 Fall Conference: United States Air Force Academy in Colorado | October 10-11, 2018 Winter Conference: Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC | December 4, 2018 Capstone Conference: STRATCOM, Offutt AFB in Nebraska | April 30, 2019 | PONI will select top presenters from 2018 Conference Series to the Capstone Conference View all past conferences