Since 1988, USIP has awarded over 320 nonresidential fellowships to students enrolled in U.S. universities, many of whom have gone on to distinguished careers in research, teaching, and policymaking. Since 2016 USIP has collaborated with the Minerva Research Initiative to build upon the successes of the Peace Scholar program. The 2019-2020 Peace Scholar Dissertation Fellows are:

Minerva-Funded Peace Scholars:

• Ayda Apa Pomeshikov (University of Washington), “The Prophet was a Refugee too: Islamic Humanitarianism and Syrian Refugees’ Search for Rights and Belonging in Turkey”
• Vincent Bauer (Stanford University), “Does Doctrine Matter? The Role of Discretion during Counterinsurgencies”
• Polina Beliakova (Fletcher School, Tufts University), “Controlling the Defenders: Implications of Intrastate Conflict for Civilian Control of the Military”
• Jason Blessing (Syracuse University), “Securing Cyberspace: Interstate Militarization of the Fifth Domain”
• Laura Collins (George Mason University), "Guns and Prayers: Religious Organizations and Wartime Violence in Central African Republic"”
• Christina Cottiero (University of California, San Diego), “Staying Alive: The Strategic Use of Regional Integration Organizations by Vulnerable Political Leaders”
• Ashley Fabrizio (Stanford University), “Contingent Radicalization: Government Repression's Differential Effect on Ethnonationalist Mobilization”
• Lillian Frost (The George Washington University), “Beyond Citizenship: Protracted Refugees and the State”
• Rob Grace (Brown University), “Understanding Humanitarian Access Obstruction”
• Ramzy Mardini (University of Chicago), “Rebel in Society: Social Networks and the Regeneration of the Islamic State”
• Megan Ryan (University of Michigan-Ann Arbor), “Mobilized Religious Majorities: Fear-Based Rhetoric and Anti-Minority Violence during Political Liberalization”
• Noah Rosen (American University), “Seizing a Window of Opportunity: Converting a Peace Process into Local Peace”
• Andres Uribe (University of Chicago), “Grievance and Participation in Violent Democracies”

USIP-Funded Peace Scholars:

• Maria Arango (Florida State University), “The Role of Education in the Reintegration of Ex-Combatants in Colombia”
• Matthew Cebul (Yale University), “Repression and Rebellion in the Shadow of Foreign Intervention”
• Travis Curtice (Emory University), “The Autocrat's Dilemma: The Politics of Policing in Multiethnic Societies”
• Sophia Dawkins (Yale University), “Making Peace Safe for Civilians: Violence and Restraint During Elite Peace Negotiations”
• Erum Haider (Georgetown University), “Disempowered: Citizenship, Trust and Service Delivery in Urban Pakistan”
• Christopher Price (Yale University), “Legacies of Conflict: Targeting of Violence during Civil War and Ethnic Polarization”
• Maro Youssef (The University of Texas – Austin), “An Unlikely Coalition: Islamist and Secular Women’s Associations in Tunisia”

USIP congratulates these distinguished scholars for their accomplishments and looks forward to supporting future generations of peacebuilders through our dissertation fellowship program.

Applications for the 2020-2021 cohort will open on September 4, 2019, and the awardees will be announced the following spring. If you or someone you know is interested in applying to the program, visit Jennings Randolph Peace Scholar Dissertation Fellowship Program on USIP’s website for more information.

Applications from members of groups traditionally underrepresented in the field of international relations, peace and conflict studies, and other related academic disciplines, as well as diplomacy and international policymaking, are strongly encouraged.