Human Security Lab Launches Undergraduate Training Program
The Human Security lab has recently welcomed four outstanding undergraduate students to its research team: William Bateson, Prestin LeBlanc, Jessica Mosheshvili, and Gregory Poelker-McKee. These highly qualified students will assist Professor Carpenter and the Human Security Lab research team on projects relating to human rights, humanitarian affairs, peace and conflict, and global inequality.
The students will earn research practicum credit through the Department of Political Science and Legal Studies’ Undergraduate Research Experiences Program. UREP trains students to work collaboratively with faculty to develop studies with real‐world significance and to carry them out with practical, readily transferable skills that will provide them with a crucial edge in the job market. UREP students gain sophisticated research skills highly sought after by potential employers. Those selected for Human Security Lab’s Spring 2022 team are all upper-graduates with a strong background in research, policy and public service.
William Bateson is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, national and state political campaigns, currently completing a BA in Political Science, as well as a Master of Public Policy. Prestin LeBlanc is a senior Political Science major within interests in health inequality and gendered political violence, with plans to attend law school after graduation. Jessica Mosheshvili is pursuing a degree in Political Science, a certificate in International Relations and minors in Slavic, East European & Eurasian Studies and History, and brings experience as a legal assistant at the Law Offices of Eitan Dagan and a research assistant for Legal Studies Professor Leah Wing analyzing the role of women as armed combatants during the Rwandan genocide. Gregory Poelker-McKee is pursuing a degree in both Sustainable Community Development and Economics. Poelker-McKee stated, “I’m honored to be selected to the Human Security Lab team. I hope to learn more about the efforts of international humanitarian organizations and assist in the lab’s disarmament and human rights work this spring. These programs are crucial to creating a peaceful and sustainable future in the 21st century.”
Each student will work on one or more of the lab’s ongoing research projects in humanitarian disarmament advocacy campaigns or on peacebuilding and human rights in Afghanistan, combining research training with opportunities to interact with human security stakeholders. Human Security Lab is working on contract with USAID this spring to develop a policy brief on gender programing in Afghanistan, and is in dialogue with NGOs in the nuclear divestment network and the wider humanitarian disarmament space around the effectiveness of advocacy campaign strategies around nuclear and autonomous weapons. Students will be assigned tasks such as analyzing web content and documents associated with PAX / ICAN’s “Don’t Bank on the Bomb” campaign; assisting in the creation of policy briefs on Women, Peace and Security, assisting in the development of research manuscripts for submission to major journals and / or translating new research from Human Security Lab on cluster munitions and the nuclear ban treaty into public-facing briefing notes.
Human Security Lab researchers and staff are thrilled to have these talented individuals join the research team and is excited to learn from their unique perspectives and experiences.