Announcing the 2014-2015 PON Graduate Research Fellows

By — on / Awards, Grants, and Fellowships, Graduate Research Fellowships, PON Graduate Research Fellowships

The Program on Negotiation Graduate Research Fellowships are designed to encourage young scholars from the social sciences and professional disciplines to pursue theoretical, empirical, and/or applied research in negotiation and dispute resolution. Consistent with the PON goal of fostering the development of the next generation of scholars, this program provides support for one year of dissertation research and writing in negotiation and related topics in alternative dispute resolution, as well as giving fellows an opportunity to immerse themselves in the diverse array of resources available at PON.

We are very excited to have six new fellows joining us this fall:

 

Arvid Bell
PhD Candidate, Political Science, Goethe University Frankfurt

Arvid is a PhD scholar at the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt. His dissertation on German and American involvement in the Afghanistan War analyzes how national interests and foreign policy decisions are shaped by negotiations between political decision-makers and their constituents, and by their motives and emotions. At PON, Arvid seeks to conduct case-study interviews with academics and US politicians. His Afghanistan conflict simulation “The Transition” is being used as the capstone exercise of the Advanced Workshop in Multiparty Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at the Harvard Kennedy School. Arvid holds a Franco-German double degree in political science and international affairs from the Free University of Berlin and Paris Institute of Political Studies, as well as a Masters in public policy from Harvard University.

 

Vera Mironova
PhD candidate, Political Science, University of Maryland

Vera is a PhD candidate in political science at the University of Maryland. Her research addresses individual preferences for types of war termination and negotiations in conflicts. While at PON, she will work on her dissertation, using the survey and experimental data she collected from the frontlines in Syria. Focusing on Syria, she asks, to what extent do ordinary civilians and low level combatants have heterogeneous preferences to negotiate with adversaries or fight until victory? (The project has been mentioned by Chicago Tribune, Council on Foreign Relations, The Baltimore Sun, and U-T San Diego). In addition to Syria, she conducted research in the Balkans (Bosnia, Kosovo, and Croatia), Africa (DRC Congo, Burundi, and Rwanda), Caucuses (Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia) and Central Asia (Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kirgizstan). She holds an MS in computer science, and an MA in economic geography from Moscow State University (Russia). Her PhD study was sponsored by Open Society Institute and her previous research has been published in American Economic Journal: Applied Economics.

 

Todd Schenk
PhD Candidate, Environmental Policy and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Todd Schenk is a PhD candidate in the Environmental Policy and Planning group of MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning, and the Assistant Director of the MIT Science Impact Collaborative. Todd’s work focuses on how planners, decision-makers, and other stakeholders can collaboratively make effective decisions in science-intensive situations that involve complex risks and high degrees of uncertainty. His dissertation research focuses on collaboration across institutional boundaries and the use of decision-support tools like scenario planning when making infrastructure planning decisions under climate change. Todd engages with stakeholders via role-play simulation exercises, using the exercises to explore options, tools, approaches, the use of science and data, and the influence of competing interests when making decisions.

 

Boshko Stankovski
PhD Candidate, Political and International Studies, University of Cambridge

Boshko Stankovski is a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge, where he studies as a member of Trinity College. His dissertation is in the field of international law, and deals with issues of sovereignty and conditionality in peace agreements on self-determination and secession disputes. While at PON, he will research secession negotiations, focusing on whether there is a requirement to negotiate secession in international law, as well as on different aspects regarding the conduct of the parties in the negotiation process. He holds a BA in law from the University of Saints Cyril and Methodius (Skopje, Macedonia) and MPhil in international relations from the University of Cambridge, UK.

 

Abbie Wazlawek
PhD Candidate, Management: Organizational Behavior, Columbia Business School

Abbie is a doctoral student in the management department at Columbia Business School. Her research examines the line that defines the boundaries of appropriate behavior—a line we must be mindful of as we navigate social life in simultaneous pursuit of personal interests and accommodation of others. As a PON fellow, Abbie will explore feedback signals communicated to individuals who assert themselves inappropriately. Additionally, she will examine how a negotiator’s gender affects the concessions they make and the reciprocal accommodation they receive. Abbie’s work has been published in Psychological Science and Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. She holds Bachelor’s degrees in psychology and economics from the University of Southern California.

 

Dana Wolf
PhD Candidate, Public International Law, American University Washington College of Law

Dana is a PhD candidate in public international law at American University Washington College of Law. Her research is on the end of military occupation and its implications for the occupying state. While at PON, Dana will explore the question of the obligations of a once-occupying state toward the formerly occupied territory. Specifically, she will look at whether states might be inclined to voluntarily accept some obligations, as negotiation theory would suggest, on the basis of justifications that would limit those obligations.

Dana holds an LL.B from IDC Herzliya in Israel and an LL.M from NYU’s School of Law where she acted as the Israeli Counsel at NYU’s moot court proceedings on the legality of the Security Fence. Dana served as Adviser at the Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations in New York and as Deputy Director of the Yitzhak Rabin Center in Israel. She also practiced criminal litigation at one of Israel’s top law firms.

 

Click here for additional information about our Graduate Research Fellowship program.

The Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School
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