2017 IACM Scholarship Recipients

This year’s cohort includes 6 graduate students with focus on conflict resolution from various schools and universities around the globe and increases diversity among presenters at the 2017 IACM Conference, and was selected with priority given to those who come from a developing country or are from a historically underrepresented group.
Photo of Bhushan Kumar

Bhushan Kumar
Ashoka University, India & University of Pennsylvania, United States
Behavioral Change & Conflict Resolution

Bhushan Kumar is a Young India Fellow (Ashoka University), and will be joining the Master of Behavioral & Decision Sciences program at University of Pennsylvania this academic year. His research interests include memory, behavior and conflicts in the context of Indian manufacturing sector, with which he has been engaged since 2012. At IACM, he will present his research titled ‘Zero Hour – An Indian Twist to Culinary Diplomacy’ which deals with using culinary diplomacy as a tool to create cross-cultural understanding, foster cooperation and mitigate conflicts. At the core of his research is the belief that well-being of employees can have wide-reaching multiplier effects in a society.

Photo of Deborah Sachare

Deborah Sachare
Columbia University
Negotiation and Conflict Resolution 

Deborah Sachare is pursuing her M.S. in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at Columbia University and holds a B.A. in Environmental Policy from Barnard College. Deborah’s scholarship focuses on the role of the climate change in sociopolitical conflict and peacebuilding. In July 2016, Deborah carried out research on climate change adaptation measures in Uganda as an International Fieldwork Fellow for the Center for Conflict Resolution (CECORE) in Kampala. Deborah will be presenting her research findings at the IACM Conference in Berlin, where she will share a case study analysis on best practices and recommendations for climate change adaptation at the organization, local and regional level.

Photo of Allegra Chen-Carrel

Allegra Chen-Carrel
Teachers College, Columbia University
Social Organizational Psychology

Allegra Chen-Carrel is currently pursuing a PhD in Social Organizational Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research interests include multicultural conflict, identity, and emotional contagion. At the 2017 IACM she will present an exploratory study  investigating how and when tension (a readiness for action arising from a need or desire) can be leveraged to promote socially just change. By analyzing interviews with experts in diversity and multiculturalism, her project seeks to understand what qualities and contexts make tension a constructive force.

Photo of Kaidu Wu

Kaidi Wu
University of Michigan
Social Psychology

Kaidi Wu is a doctoral student in social psychology at the University of Michigan. Her research shows how people feel, think, and behave cannot be merely viewed as a rational or universal one. Rather, thoughts and actions are shaped by the sociocultural worlds they inhabit. At IACM, she hopes to bring a cultural perspective to enrich a constructivist understanding of judgment, decision-making, and conflict resolution.

Photo of Nathaniel Nakashima

Nathaniel Nakashima
Stanford University
Graduate School of Business

Nathaniel Nakashima is a PhD candidate in organizational behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business. His academic research investigates how and why the psychological processes underlying coordination influence the extent to which people cooperate. At the 2017 IACM conference, Nathaniel will introduce the social fluency hypothesis, which stipulates that experiencing easy versus difficult coordination positively shapes impressions of counterparts and outcomes in social exchange. His theory and empirical findings challenge the common view captured by the “no pain, no gain” maxim, and offer new directions for research on coordination, trust, and cooperation.

Photo of Lucia Ferrarese

Lucia Ferrarese
Columbia University
Negotiation and Conflict Resolution

Lucia Ferrarese is a graduate student in the Negotiation and Conflict Resolution program at Columbia University. Her academic research interest focuses on third-party interventions, culture, rule of law in conflict and post-conflict societies and peace-building. At the 2017 IACM Conference, Lucia will present her research on intercultural mediation, where she analyzes the influence of cultural values in the perception and expression of emotions and the practical implication in intercultural mediations.