2017 Graduate Fellows

Photo of Adam Pekor
Adam Pekor
Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology Department, MA, Conservation Biology

In Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Conservation Area, human-lion conflict is a major issue; people lose valuable livestock from lion attacks and lion populations suffer from retaliatory killings. Adam’s research will assess whether and how an incentive payment program can be established to mitigate this conflict by providing benefits to local communities for helping to conserve lions.

Photo of Eleanor Haisell
Eleanor Haisell
School of International & Public Affairs, Masters in International Affairs

Eleanor Haisell will be working with the Cairo Institute of Human Right Studies in Tunisia on a research project examining local governance in Libya. In particular, examining how local governance and local peace mediation interact and providing policy recommendations for programs supporting local governance projects in Libya to incorporate peace building into programming.

Claudia Schneider
Claudia Schneider
Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, Ph.D. in Psychology

The lack of prison rehabilitation programs in Nigeria as well as discrimination against ex-prisoners make reintegration into society after release difficult, perpetuating the spiral of conflict and recidivism and thus posing a challenge to peace and sustainable development. Claudia Schneider’s research will survey the Nigerian public on their views and attitudes towards ex-prisoners and will test the potential of a social psychological intervention to decrease discrimination against and increase pro-social motivation toward ex-prisoners to help foster sustainable peace in Nigeria.

Photo of Gretchen Baldwin
Gretchen Baldwin
School of International & Public Affairs, MIA International Security Policy, dual specializing in International Conflict Resolution & Gender and Public Policy

Gretchen will use participant observation and informal interviews to collect qualitative data on the state-led master narrative in post-conflict Rwanda, specifically its relation to the annual practice of Kwibuka memorial months. She will analyze the seemingly diametrically opposed practices of memorializing Rwanda’s conflict through Kwibuka and the repression of that same conflict memory during the rest of the year, comparing subsequent effects of those practices on the civilian population’s consciousness. Drawing on theories of historical memory, identity in political violence, collective consciousness, and post-conflict state-building, this project aims to provide insight into small, traumatized states’ methods of sustaining—or losing hold of—political peace.

Photo of Jennifer Kao
Jennifer Kao
Teachers College, Ph.D. Clinical Psyschology

Jen’s research will explore child caregiving networks in post-conflict northern Uganda. The study includes a qualitative component to capture the nuances of caretaking in the community for young children of both depressed and non-depressed mothers, as well as a pilot of social network mapping methods to capture the complex and culturally specific social networks in the community through which caregiving skills and assistance are transmitted. This formative study will set the foundation for a second phase examining changes in caretaking networks over the course of a C-RCT for depressed perinatal women that involves a mental health intervention and an evidence-based health and nutrition promotion model targeting maternal and child health.

Photo of Amanda Browne
Amanda Browne
Mailman School of Public Health and School of Social Work, Masters in Social Work & Masters of Public Health, International Social Welfare and Population & Family Health

The motivation of Amanda’s qualitative research this summer is to gain insight into the dynamics of household violence in conflict-affected communities in Colombia. Understanding local perceptions and classifications of violence can help in identifying how best to measure violence and violence reduction. Additionally, this insight could help to inform potential policies and interventions by identifying key themes in how youth classify different forms of violence and which experiences they perceive as most impactful on their quality of life.

Photo of Megan Germain
Megan Germain
School of International & Public Affairs, Masters of Public Administration in Development Practice

The Participatory Action Research (PAR) Project focuses on training marginalized youth in conflict areas or refugee camps to generate evidence on issues that concern them, their peers, and their communities. The purpose is to generate evidence, in partnership with regional youth, on key driving factors that lead them to positively or negatively engage with society and to use key findings improve upon programs for them. During my time in Jordan, I will be focusing on the development of materials for the young researchers to use.

Photo of Jorge Mangonnet
Jorge Mangonnet
Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, PhD, Political Science; Major: Comparative Politics

Jorge’s dissertation research explores why democratic governments delegate coercion to nonstate, extralegal agents such as militias or criminal gangs. He specifically focuses on the electoral determinants that drive local political elites to outsource repression in times of economic abundance. As an AC4 fellow, he will travel to the Brazilian Amazon to investigate the use of illicit forced evictions of vulnerable populations such as peasant villages and indigenous groups. He will use the grant to conduct semi-structured elite interviews in the state of Pará, where the economic opportunities that the boom of agricultural commodities generate are in conflict with the land rights of preexisting rural communities.

Photo of Devanshu Sood
Devanshu Sood
School of International & Public Affairs, Master of International Affairs (International Security Policy)

The programme on Sustaining Peace: Building National Capacities on Conflict Prevention with the Conflict Prevention, Governance and Peacebuilding Team, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Regional Hub for Asia and the Pacific based in Bangkok, Thailand will focus on understanding the root causes of conflict in 13 Southeast Asian nations. This will form the foundation for the 2nd part of the programme in Building National Capacities for Conflict Prevention and mainstreaming the 16th Sustainable Development Goal (SGD 16) that focusses on Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions in the region. The program also intends to initiate a wider emphasis on understanding radicalisation and preventing violent extremism in the region. This will guide the development of future programs for deradicalization and peacebuilding efforts in this field.

Photo of Kayum Ahmed
Kayum Ahmed
Teachers College, Ph.D. International and Comparative Education

Kayum will be working with student activists from the University of Cape Town (South Africa) and the University of Oxford (United Kingdom) who were and remain involved in a radical student movement called #RhodesMustFall (#RMF). The #RMF movement seeks to decolonize education by employing tactics of disruption that are inspired by decolonial theories.

Photo of Farah Amalia, Rebekah Nelson, Jaspar Leahy
Farah Amalia, Rebekah Nelson, Jaspar Leahy
Teachers College, MA International Educational Development

Farah, Rebekah, and Jaspar will be going to Indonesia to pilot a non-formal human rights education (HRE) curriculum centered around preventing violent extremism. The curriculum is designed for youth to learn about the complex sources and causes of violent extremism (VE), and develop skills to prevent VE through human rights advocacy and community-based social action. Simultaneously, the team will be conducting research on the relationships between youth participation in HRE and perceptions of human rights, locus-of-control, and participation in social action.