USIP Announces Jennings Randolph Senior Fellowships
The U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) is pleased to announce three new Jennings Randolph senior fellows for 2020-2021. These fellows will conduct research and publish in their areas of expertise while engaging with experts at USIP headquarters and in the field. Established in 1988, USIP’s Jennings Randolph Senior Fellowship Program is a foundational component of the Institute’s peacebuilding mission. The fellows become an integral part of USIP’s work and contribute to thought leadership and research efforts.
This year’s fellowship competition sought applications from senior experts in two thematic areas.
Two Violent Extremism, Disengagement and Reconciliation Fellowships will research ways to improve practices that can help people end their involvement in violent extremism. The research will explore how communities can help women and children disengage from violent groups and ideologies. These fellowships will give USIP new understandings of terrorism and violent extremist-based conflicts. The recipients are:
- Dr. Andrew Glazzard, visiting associate professor at the Cyber Threats Research Center at Swansea University, UK. His project investigates whether Western approaches to disengagement and reintegration can be implemented on local levels in fragile states facing violent conflict. The project will include primary research on disengagement processes in Iraq and Syria.
- Ms. MaryAnne Iwara, senior research fellow at Nigeria’s Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution. Her project will investigate the outcomes of the release of women and children from captivity at the hands of the Nigeria-based extremist group Boko Haram, and their return into local communities. The research will enable policymakers and others to design post-conflict reintegration programs that mitigate the risks of abandonment, rejection and violence faced by returning women and children.
A Women, Gender, and Nonviolent Movements Fellowship will support research on women’s involvement in nonviolent movements. The research will offer deeper perspectives on how nonviolent movements can contribute to violence prevention, gender equity and long-term equality. The recipient is:
- Ms. Farida Nabourema, executive director of the Togolese Civil League. Her research project investigates how and why security forces, and those within and outside nonviolent movements, use gender-based repression. The research studies the scope and impact of gender-based repression against women in nonviolent movements through four case studies in Algeria, Sudan, Togo and Zimbabwe.
