This course equips students for humanitarian, human rights, foreign policy and political risk jobs that require real-time interpretation and analysis of conflict data. The course will introduce students to contemporary open-source data about conflict events, fatalities, forced displacement, human rights violations, settlement patterns in war zones, and much more. Students will learn about how this data is generated, what data reveals, what data obscures, and the choices analysts can make to use conflict data transparently in the face of biases.

Pre-requisites: A calculus-based micro-economics course (SIPA IA6400) or equivalent. This is an advanced course in development economics, designed for SIPA students interested in rigorous, applied training. Coursework includes extensive empirical exercises, requiring programming in Stata. The treatment of theoretical models presumes knowledge of calculus.

Pre-req: SIPA IA6501 - Quant II. The goal of this course is to provide students with a basic knowledge of how to perform some more advanced statistical methods useful in answering policy questions using observational or experimental data. It will also allow them to more critically review research published that claims to answer causal policy questions. The primary focus is on the challenge of answering causal questions that take the form “Did A cause B?” using data that do not conform to a perfectly controlled randomized study.

This course develops the skills necessary to prepare, analyze, and present data for policy analysis and program evaluation using R. Building on the foundations from Quant I and II—probability, statistics, regression analysis, and causal inference—this course emphasizes the practical application of microeconometric methods to real-world policy questions. (Note: macroeconomic topics and forecasting methods are not covered.)

MIA and MPA Policy Skills II Core. Priority Registration: MIA and MPA. Alternate title: "How to Use a Bit of Code to Do Things That Would Be Really Hard in Spreadsheets." Students will learn data analysis through the Python programming language—exploring, manipulating, visualizing, and interpreting open data to answer policy questions. The class incorporates use of generative AI for coding problems, helping students understand its strengths and weaknesses. No coding experience required.

MIA and MPA Policy Skills II Core. This course introduces students to foundational concepts and methods for analyzing text-as-data using Python. Designed for beginners with no prior coding experience, the course emphasizes hands-on learning and practical applications across disciplines. Students will explore computational techniques for collecting, cleaning, and analyzing text data from sources such as news media, social media, and websites. Topics include web scraping, working with APIs, sentiment analysis, topic modeling, named entity recognition, and more.

MIA and MPA Policy Skills II Core. Priority Registration: MIA and MPA. This course introduces students to the principles and practices of data visualization as a powerful tool for interpreting and communicating complex information. As large datasets become increasingly available across sectors, the ability to transform raw data into clear, compelling visuals is essential for insight and decision-making.

MIA and MPA Policy Skills II Core. Pre-req: Quant I (SIPA IA6500). Priority Registration: MIA and MPA. Data is not neutral. How it is collected, categorized, and analyzed is shaped by historical, political, economic, and social forces, often reinforcing existing injustices. While policy professionals are trained in quantitative methods, there is comparatively less focus on interrogating how data itself is produced, how existing frameworks exclude certain populations, and how data can be used to either reinforce or challenge inequities.

This course provides an applied introduction to cost-benefit analysis (CBA) as a tool for evaluating public policies. Students will learn how to interpret and produce CBAs through lectures, problem sets, and real-world case studies focused on environmental, financial, agricultural, and transportation policies. Emphasis is placed on CBAs conducted by government agencies, including critical review of regulatory analyses and formulation of public comments.

This applied course provides students with foundational skills to analyze and interpret publicly available datasets for public policy decision-making. Emphasizing hands-on learning, the course covers data sourcing, cleaning, research design, statistical analysis, and data visualization using Stata. Students will explore real-world challenges across topics such as poverty, education, housing, and public health, culminating in a data-based policy memo developed through collaborative group work.

This course equips students with practical skills for designing and implementing human rights advocacy strategies. Through a mix of case studies, simulations, and applied writing assignments, students will learn how to identify advocacy goals, analyze targets and power structures, and select effective tactics. The course explores advocacy with governments, legislatures, and UN bodies, as well as the use of media, digital tools, and coalition-building to advance human rights.

This course introduces students to the diverse methodologies, actors, and outputs involved in human rights research and reporting. Students will examine how governments, international organizations, NGOs, and journalists approach documentation and advocacy, while developing skills in interviewing, document analysis, data collection, and report writing. The course emphasizes ethical considerations, sociocultural awareness, and gender sensitivity throughout the research and reporting process.

This course explores the evolving relationship between the private sector and human rights, with emphasis on legal frameworks, global standards, and practical approaches to corporate accountability. Students examine the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and other key instruments that shape responsible business conduct across sectors.

This course examines the intersection of human rights and economic inequality, exploring how political and economic governance influence access to rights and justice. Students will assess how human rights principles are integrated into economic policy frameworks, including trade, labor, development, and environmental regulation, and how these frameworks shape both public accountability and corporate responsibility.

This course examines the political and ethical challenges of confronting historical violence and the demands for redress in transitional, democratic, and post-conflict societies. Through case studies from across the globe, students explore how memory, historical responsibility, and justice intersect in efforts toward reconciliation.

This advanced seminar critically examines the evolving challenges, limitations, and potential of human rights and humanitarianism as frameworks for justice and global governance. Centering human rights discourse, the course invites students to examine foundational concepts such as universality, accountability, sovereignty, and identity, while addressing complex topics and challenging cases.

This interdisciplinary course examines the complex intersections of climate science, human rights, and sustainable development. Students will first explore the fundamentals of Earth’s climate systems and core human rights frameworks. The course then analyzes how global climate disruption intersects with social vulnerability, equity, and justice. Topics include the science of climate variability, international climate governance, climate change litigation, migration and displacement, adaptation strategies, and sector-specific impacts on food, health, and livelihoods.

This course introduces the history, strategy, and practice of human rights campaigning, with a focus on media-driven advocacy. Students will examine the foundations of campaigning journalism, explore modern digital mobilization tactics, and learn to develop and execute impactful advocacy campaigns. The course emphasizes the intersection of strategic communications, digital tools, and policy advocacy, and provides hands-on experience in campaign design, messaging, and evaluation.

Research shows that countries with deeper levels of financial inclusion -- defined as access to affordable, appropriate financial services -- have stronger GDP growth rates and lower income inequality. In recent years, research around the financial habits and needs of poor households has yielded rich information on how they manage their financial lives, allowing for the design of financial solutions that better meet their needs, boosting financial inclusion. Nevertheless, an estimated 1.3 billion people globally remain underserved by financial services. 

International migration’s substantial economic and social effects are at the forefront of today’s academic discussion, international debate, as well as national policy strategies. This course introduces students to the key notions, norms, and narratives of international migration from economic, sociological, legal, policy, international relations, and normative perspectives.

This course provides a foundational understanding of the role of evaluation within international organizations and how it is planned, conducted, and used. International organizations play a key role in supporting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) implementation that advance the cross-cutting issues of human rights, gender equality and environmental sustainability.

How do the world’s poorest people save money without access to banks or credit? This course explores the power of informal savings systems, such as tandas in Mexico, susus in West Africa, and dhikutis in Nepal, that help hundreds of millions build financial stability through trust, discipline, and community support.

In the 21st century, armed conflict continues to put millions of children in harm’s way, exposing them to human rights violations, including recruitment and use by armed forces and armed groups, military detention and ill-treatment, rape and other forms of sexual violence, forced displacement, family separation, and physical injuries. Children also suffer from trauma and other serious and long-lasting psychological consequences resulting from the violence they have experienced.

A surge in violent conflict since 2010 has led to historically high levels of forced displacement. More recently, the war in Ukraine has caused the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since the end of World War II. Globally, there are more than 100 million forcibly displaced people  including refugees, internally displaced persons and asylum seekers who have fled their homes to escape violence, conflict and persecution. 

This course is an introduction to how emerging hybrid models of traditional and digital organizing and advocacy are building unprecedented social justice movements in the United States. During the first half of the course, students will examine the theory and practice of successful traditional offline organizing and advocacy campaigns as well as principles and characteristics of successful digital activism.

Discrimination is the differential treatment of people based on identity or perceived identity (race, gender, ethnicity, LGBTQ+ status, age, religion, disability, immigration status, etc.). Such behavior violates some legal, social, and moral norms and has a negative impact on those discriminated against.

For these and other reasons, it is important to be able to formally identify discrimination from data. But how do we know that A’s treatment of B is because of B’s identity as opposed to some other characteristic of B or A that we may not even have a variable for?

Instructor permission and application required. Join the waitlist in Vergil to request registration.

This course prepares students to engage in peacebuilding practice by developing fieldwork-related competencies rooted in critical reflection, professional strategy, and ethical engagement. Students examine foundational values, frameworks, and dilemmas in the peacebuilding field, while cultivating skills in project design, monitoring and evaluation (MEAL), communication, collaboration, and cultural awareness.

This interdisciplinary seminar examines the role of multinational energy companies in the context of international human rights, corporate responsibility, and global governance. Drawing on case studies and legal frameworks, the course explores how extractive industries intersect with political, environmental, and social systems, particularly in transitional and emerging economies.

The European Union (EU) has a deep and broad commitment to the respect and promotion of human rights, both in its internal and its external policies. However, it often faces difficulties in living up to this commitment. In this course we will study the EU’s commitment to human rights as outlined in its founding Treaties, the role of its institutional actors in following up on this commitment, and the EU’s internal and external actions and policies in this respect. For the EU’s internal policies we will focus in particular on its non-discrimination policies as well as its migration policy.

This Human Rights practicum course focuses on the Western Balkans of the Former Yugoslavia in a contemporary context. The course focuses on war crimes and their respective consequences that have occurred during the most recent Balkan Wars 1991-1999 in the Former Yugoslav states and will include a detailed review and examination of human rights policies and practices carried out by international, regional and national bodies, laws, organizations, frameworks of transitional justice and evaluative tools employed in an effort to stabilize a post-war, post-Communist, post-conflict scenario.

While 2016 may have been the wake-up call, it is clear that what scholar Joan Donovan calls “the weaponization of the misinformation machine” has only gotten worse since then. The political, social, and psychological damage caused by the intensive dissemination of online mis/disinformation has been profound. However, much has been learned about how to address the problem, so we will emphasize understanding the role of Big Tech in circulating and profiting from online mis/disinformation and what policies/regulations are in play.

Whoever controls the future of the internet controls the future of the world. This course explores the institutions, stakeholder groups, and policy debates that shape how the internet is built, maintained, and governed. It examines the internet’s technical roots and the people and entities—telecom companies and their regulators, technologists and idealists, security forces and hackers—who shape its evolution today.

Understanding Emerging Technologies surveys a wide range of new technologies that are poised to dramatically reshape the ways we work, run organizations, and engage in civic life. Specifically, this course will explore innovations including artificial intelligence, brain computer interfaces, immersive technologies like virtual reality, biotechnology, space technologies, and quantum computing.

Each week we will examine a variety of case studies covering topics such as: the ethics of information design, algorithmic bias, deceptive user experience patterns, social media and commodification, safe spaces in virtual environments, the development of autonomous systems and smart cities, the relationships between artificial intelligence and copyright, democracy and media, and media activism and community organizing. Throughout the semester, students will select three ethical problems to research, including two case studies and one essay/ opinion piece.

Instructor permission required. Join the waitlist in Vergil to request registration. This seminar explores the strategy and storytelling behind effective social impact campaigns. Through case studies on topics such as reproductive rights, racial justice, teen pregnancy, and climate change, students will examine why certain narratives succeed in shifting public opinion and policy.

This course explores welfare systems from a comparative perspective and analyzes the political, economic, socio-cultural, and historical factors that shape and sustain them in various parts of the world.  It pays particular attention to the development of key national social welfare policies, such as social security, health care, unemployment insurance, social assistance, public employment and training, and emerging best practices and challenges in these areas.

This intensive, two-day course introduces students to the collaborative social justice model, with a focus on Medical-Legal Partnerships (MLPs) as a policy tool to advance racial and health equity. MLPs bring together professionals across disciplines, particularly law and medicine, to jointly address the structural causes of poor health, including poverty, discrimination, and housing insecurity. The course explores how these partnerships operate, their policy reform potential, and the risks and challenges of interdisciplinary collaboration.

This seminar explores U.S. social policy across education, housing, health, poverty, and economic development. With a practitioner orientation, the course emphasizes policy design, implementation, equity, and evaluation. Students learn to produce actionable policy briefs and proposals grounded in evidence, institutions, and political real-world contexts.

The rising costs of food, child care, housing, and health care are outpacing wage growth in the United States, resulting in an affordability crisis that is imperiling women and working families’ economic security.  Ensuring that women and working families in this county can make ends meet and attain economic stability is a policy priority on both sides of the aisle and imperative for reducing poverty and sustaining the overall health of the U.S.

In May 2016, the UN Human Rights Council passed a highly contested resolution condemning discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and establishing the first-ever Independent Expert on these issues. The protracted debate surrounding the resolution underscored how lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) rights remain among the most contentious topics in international human rights, law, and public policy.

This course will examine the role and impact of gender in the financial sector and its implications for gender equity more broadly. Access to capital and financial products and services determines who has the ability not only to best meet their basic financial needs, but to build and grow businesses, to become property owners, to invest and build wealth, to take risk, and to be full participants in the political and financial economy.

This course introduces students to gender mainstreaming, gender analysis, and intersectionality as both theoretical frameworks and applied methodologies in global affairs. Students will examine how gender perspectives are integrated into international policymaking, development programming, and institutional change across diverse fields, including education, public health, economic development, international finance, peace and security, and sustainability.

This course examines the political, legal, and policy landscape of reproductive rights and health in the United States following the Supreme Court's 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade. Students will analyze the immediate and long-term implications of this decision on federal and state policy, access to care, constitutional law, and U.S. politics.

Improving women’s economic security and boosting women’s labor force participation is not only critical for advancing gender equality but also for driving economic growth.  This class will introduce students to the main factors contributing to women’s economic insecurity in the United States and around the world, including legal barriers, insufficient care infrastructure, lack of access to good-paying jobs, and discrimination and harassment, including sexual harassment, in the workforce.  The course will also explore solutions – domestic and global laws, legislative proposals, and

This course examines how public policy can support the advancement of women in leadership roles across sectors. Despite increased global attention, women continue to be underrepresented in senior leadership positions, and progress toward achieving gender equity remains slow. Through a combination of readings, class discussions, guest speakers, and applied policy analysis, students will explore the structural and cultural barriers to women’s leadership and design policy solutions to address them.

Over 25 years ago, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 1325 on women, peace, and security, and since then, it has adopted an additional 9 related resolutions. This agenda marks the first time in the UN’s 80-year history that women’s experiences, particularly their contributions to promoting peace and security in contexts of violent conflict, closed political spaces, and rising extremism, are acknowledged. It is also the first time that the need for women’s protection has been strongly noted.

Gender equality, and women’s and girls’ empowerment, are now widely accepted as development goals in their own right, and essential to inclusive and sustainable development.    But despite progress in many areas, gender gaps and discrimination persist.  How did gender equality move from the periphery to the center of development discourse, and what difference has this made?

This course is designed to introduce students to issues of gender and development in Southeast Asia in comparative context. Development debates are currently in flux with important implications for the practice and analysis of gender and development. Some argue for market-driven, neo-liberal solutions to gender equality, while others believe that equitable gender relations will only come when women (and men) are empowered to understand their predicaments and work together to find local solutions to improve their lives.

MIA and MPA Policy Skills II Core. In recent years, despite enhanced awareness about the magnitude and multifaceted nature of gender inequalities on the one hand, and the promises of the ‘Data Revolution’ including AI on the other hand, gaps remain in both data availability and usage of 'Gender Data' that aim to both capture the underlying dynamics, drivers and outcomes of gender inequalities, and promote gender equality.

This course examines how the current racial and social justice awakening, at the intersection of race and gender—is reshaping American politics and policy. Through case studies and guest speakers, students will examine the impact of movements such as # MeToo and Black Lives Matter on voting rights, governance, and philanthropy. The course asks whether the United States has fulfilled its promise of representative government and considers how policymakers might address persistent systemic barriers to political power based on race and gender.

This course examines the global legal and policy frameworks aimed at promoting gender equality and advancing women’s rights. Drawing on international human rights instruments, national policies, and multilateral commitments, students will explore both the moral case and the strategic rationale for closing gender gaps. The course investigates how law, policy, and evidence intersect in shaping outcomes across development, health, economic growth, political participation, peace and security, climate resilience, and social protections.

This course introduces the legal frameworks, institutions, and advocacy strategies that underpin the international human rights system. With a practitioner’s lens, students will explore civil, political, economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights through treaties, customary law, and jurisprudence. Emphasis is placed on understanding where and how the law offers avenues for redress, and the evolving role of human rights advocacy in confronting modern challenges, including corporate accountability, gender discrimination, and climate justice.

This course introduces the legal frameworks, institutions, and advocacy strategies that underpin the international human rights system. With a practitioner’s lens, students will explore civil, political, economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights through treaties, customary law, and jurisprudence. Emphasis is placed on understanding where and how the law offers avenues for redress, and the evolving role of human rights advocacy in confronting modern challenges, including corporate accountability, gender discrimination, and climate justice.

This course examines the global legal and policy frameworks aimed at promoting gender equality and advancing women’s rights. Drawing on international human rights instruments, national policies, and multilateral commitments, students will explore both the moral case and the strategic rationale for closing gender gaps. The course investigates how law, policy, and evidence intersect in shaping outcomes across development, health, economic growth, political participation, peace and security, climate resilience, and social protections.