Warm Welcome To Our New Research Fellows

We are pleased to welcome our new Research Fellows to the NAVI Research Institute. Each brings valuable experience, expertise, and unique perspectives to our team. We look forward to their contributions to NAVI’s research and are delighted to have them with us.

Dr.Hunter Taylor

Dr. Hunter Taylor, Research Fellow

Dr. Hunter Taylor completed his undergraduate degree in British, European and Chinese History at the University of Toronto and his graduate studies at Oxford University in the UK with an M Phil in Modern British history, focusing upon public health and social welfare policy and a D Phil in the history of science and medicine where his thesis addressed the relationship between medicine, evolutionary biology and public health as it related to military fitness prior to the First World War.

He has over fifteen years of teaching experience having developed courses on the Second World War and the Vietnam War for Molloy University and is currently a faculty advisor for the Global Counter Terrorism Institute where he has been working on emergency preparation in response to natural disasters, pandemic and terrorist events.

Dr.Adrian S. Petrescu Dr. Adrian S. Petrescu, Research Fellow

Dr. Adrian S. Petrescu brings to the NAVI Research Institute more than four decades of experience across academia, government, and international affairs. His background spans journalism, management, public policy, law, and international relations, supported by advanced degrees in public and international affairs—University of Pittsburgh–, law–Creighton University–, management and engineering, and international relations. Having read the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution from his teenage years when it was illegal to do so then and there, Adrian has called the United States home since 1995. He has conducted research and has taught in and led graduate programs at universities and defense institutions in the United States and abroad, where he shared with learners his expertise in policy research, international security, great power competition, strategic planning, economics of innovation globally, organizational design and development, disaster preparedness as a service to mutually benefit communities, and leadership and communication for change. Internationally, he served Romania and NATO Parliamentary Assembly in legislative, advisory, research, and diplomatic roles, contributing to Romania’s NATO strategy and NATO’s broader strategic policy initiatives from as early as 1991. Dr. Petrescu’s more recent constructal law work extends his knowledge production and utilization and cyberspace and early pioneering cybersecurity expertise into topics such as Intellectual Property international regime, e-commerce, bitcoin, blockchain, the advent of Large Language Models and related opportunities and ethical challenges, democratic resilience, defending against hybrid threats, and securing liberty, peace and prosperity through shared beliefs and values centered around the global free flow of ideas. He has also supported community initiatives in Greater Omaha focused on active learning of critical thinking, Technology and Science for youth and families. He has presented and critically assessed expert work at over 60 international conferences.

Oleksandr Kraiev, Research Fellow

Oleksandr Kraiev is program director of “North America” program in Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian Prism” and a senior lecturer at the international relations department at National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. He covers UK and US foreign policy, hybrid warfare, and modern conflicts. Additionally he has experience working in the Ministry of foreign affairs of Ukraine and Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada). Columnist and commentator for several Ukrainian and international media outlets.

Kiley McCormick, Research Fellow

Kiley McCormick has previously served as a Research Analyst with the U.S. Department of State’s Global Engagement Center and an Intelligence Analyst with U.S. Special Operations Command Europe. She has held research positions at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Harvard University, and the Wilson Center. She holds a B.A. in Russian and Political Science from Bryn Mawr College and a Master’s in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School in 2023.

NAVI Research Institute

The NAVI Research Institute is the research division of NATO Veterans Initiative - NAVI that provides a unique perspective to transatlantic leaders and societies on peace and security through the lens of NATO's founding principles of rule of law, democracy, human rights, and individual liberties. The NAVI Research Institute was officially established by the NAVI Board on July 16th, 2023.