About the PON Summer Fellowship Program:
PON offers fellowship grants to students at Harvard University, MIT, Tufts University and other Boston-area schools who are doing internships or undertaking summer research projects in negotiation and dispute resolution in partnership with public, non-profit or academic organizations. The Summer Fellowship Program’s emphasis is on advancing the links between scholarship and practice in negotiation and dispute resolution by supporting students interested in exploring career paths, either professional or academic, in this field. Through this program, PON hopes to prepare students to assume leadership positions in the field of negotiation and dispute resolution, to forge new links between our academic community and worldwide organizations involved in the practice of negotiation and dispute resolution, and to encourage students to reach for opportunities that would otherwise not be available to them due to financial constraints.
This years fellows:
Ashley Belya
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
Harvard Law School
Internship: UN High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR)
Location: Bosnia-Herzegovina
Ashley Belyea is a student at Harvard Law School and a 2011 graduate of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, with a focus on rule-of-law promotion and peacebuilding by international organizations. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia where she completed a BA with Honors in both Russian and East European Studies and International Relations. Prior to beginning graduate study, she was a teaching fellow in Edinburgh, Scotland. This summer Ashley will work with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, partnering with local organizations to establish protections for the Roma population and other stateless persons.
Rishikesh Bhandary
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
Research: The Mountain Alliance Initiative
Location: Bonn, Germany and Kathmandu, Nepal
Rishi Bhandary studied Quantitative Economics and International Relations at Tufts University. After a year at the Ministry of Forests in Nepal, he is back in Medford and is studying for a Masters in Law and Diplomacy at the Fletcher School. As a PON Summer Fellow, Rishi will be doing research to learn about the Mountain Alliance Initiative as a way to understand how the negotiating blocs in the UN climate negotiations have evolved over time. As a part of the research process, he will be attending the intersessional climate talks in Bonn, Germany and will be going to Nepal for fieldwork.
Sam Chapple-Sokol
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
Research: Academy for Peace and Development
Location: Hargeisa, Somaliland
Sam Chapple-Sokol is a Masters candidate at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, where he focuses on international negotiation and conflict resolution. Sam’s thesis research addresses how unrecognized states negotiate external self-determination. As a PON summer fellow he will travel to Hargeisa, Somaliland to work with government officials, members of civil society, and academics to learn about the processes and theories behind their efforts. Before the Fletcher School, he worked at the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization in Brussels, Belgium, advocating for unrepresented peoples at the European Parliament. Sam is a 2007 graduate of Bowdoin College, where he studied comparative constitutional law.
Jenny Heintz
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
Internship: Mission in Support of the Peace Process (MAPP/OAS) under the Organization of American States (OAS).
Location: Colombia
Jenny Heintz is a Master’s of Arts in Law and Diplomacy (MALD) candidate at the Fletcher School, focusing in the areas of Law & Development and Development Economics. Jenny graduated from Cornell University in 2007 with a B.A. cum laude in Government and Spanish. Before starting at the Fletcher School last September she served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Western Ukraine. This summer she will be working for the Organization of American States in Colombia as part of the Mission in Support of the Peace Process. She will be working on issues of transitional justice in regards to the demobilization of paramilitary groups in the region.
Margot Isman
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
Internship: Search for Common Ground
Location: Sierra Leone
Margot Isman is a student at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy where she focuses on International Negotiation and Conflict Resolution and Human Security, with a regional focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. She holds a BA in History from Stanford University. She has worked on sexual assault law reform in South Africa, community development projects with refugees in Zambia, and as a legislative aide at the Massachusetts State House. This summer she will be working for Search for Common Ground in Sierra Leone. She will be conducting an assessment on the current state of youth conflict transformation programming in Sierra Leone, in preparation for the implementation of a new youth-focused peacebuilding project. While in Sierra Leone, she will also be researching the use of local government capacity building programs as a peacebuilding tool.
Miriam Solis
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Field Research: Colorado River and Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basins
Miriam is a Master in City Planning candidate at the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning. As part of her curriculum, she focuses on civic leadership, water management and governance, and the application of consensus building techniques to resolving public disputes. Miriam received her BA with Honors from the University of California, Berkeley, where she was also a US Department of Education McNair Scholar. She has experience working for nonprofit organizations, policy institutes and local government, and within the areas of community development, affordable housing and post-disaster reconstruction. As a PON Summer Fellow, Miriam will conduct field research to compare long-standing water disputes in the Colorado River and Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basins. This research will form the basis of her Master’s thesis.
Shoshana Zeldner
Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University
Research Organizations: Artist Proof Studio and the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation
Locations: Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa
Shoshana is a Master’s Candidate for Brandeis University’s program on Conflict and Coexistence. Her summer research will focus on how arts based approaches to peacebuilding and reconciliation contribute to conflict prevention, management, and coexistence in post-apartheid societies throughout South Africa. In order to effectively conduct this research Shoshana will partner with the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation’s Department for Reconciliation and Reconstruction and Artist Proof Studio’s Advocacy Unit. Shoshana will support existing programs at both of these organizations while conducting research and documenting conflict management processes incorporating lithography, poster campaigns, film, and music. Shoshana is an artist, currently working as a sculptor and ceramicist. She previously directed a non-profit organization that used Holocaust and Genocide education to teach positive human behavior and empower middle and high school students in the Rocky Mountain region.
Additional information about our fellowships can be found here.