The most gratifying aspect of Wintersession for me is meaningfully interacting with the wonderfully impressive Fellows.
I look forward to working with them, opening my network to them, and connecting them to experts and practitioners I know in the subject areas they will be researching for their group presentations to Samantha Power.
As one example, yesterday I had breakfast with a close friend, Dan Holmberg, who is open to corresponding with all of the Fellows. He has decades of experience in foreign aid, disaster response, and public health issues in Africa and the Middle East.
I am also enthusiastic to learn of the personal and professional trajectories and aspirations of the Fellows, and hope to assist them into the future wherever I can. Among the students who spoke with me on the opening day, one already has an admirable background in sustainable development and is interested in the LISD’s LEAP program.
Another is a young woman from Kashmir who intends to work in development in the region upon graduating, and would love to be connected to Healing Kashmir, whose founding director Justine Hardy is a good friend, and whose program manager is my wonderful former student Cody Valdes.
Here are the research groups and their eclectic topics:
The Legacy of the Arab Spring in Egypt
Rhea Mehta, Sabrina Beaver, Yuxi Xia, Tanvi Kodali, Mariana Hernandez
Climate Change Lawsuits by Youth Against Australia
Alexandra Saueressig, Charlotte Kaufman, Megumi Murakami, Annabel Rothschild, Kavindya Thennakoon
Populist Authoritarianism in Brazil
Sarah Smith-Tripp, Hazel Wan Hei Leung, Aniqa Hassan, Christine Halle Rubera, Emma Burke
Authoritarian Challenges to the European Union
Frances Dingivan, Xiao Rosaling Liang, Abeer Dhanani, Maheen Akram, Emma Carter-LaMarche
Tech Policy in the Chinese Market
Gabriela Varela, Sarah Winshel, Natalia Bard, Aida El Kohen, Jessica Ostfeld
Democratizing Access to Antimalarial Medication
Soumaya Difallah, Tarushi Nigam Sinha, Daria Osipova, Hollis Rammer, Esa Tilija (not present)
Political Violence in South Africa
Yookyung Sandra Chung, Denise Becerra, Yashna Shivdasani, Mar Berrera, Alberta Born-Weiss
Erasure of Rohingya Cultural Identity and Narratives in Myanmar
Tine Oginga, Elizabeth Lambert, Maggie Ugelstad, Catherine Stauber, Malak AlSayyad