Faculty Research Director

Dr. Kate Weaver, Dr. Mirko Heinzel

Seeking: 1-2 Undergraduate or MA Research Fellows ($1k per semester)

 International Organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations, global fora and transnational expert bodies are mandated to address some of the biggest policy challenges humanity is facing in the 21st century—including ending global poverty, reducing crippling debt burdens, addressing climate change or shepherding global pandemic responses. Thousands of individuals work within or alongside these “global governors” (Avant, Finnemore, and Sell 2012) to devise and implement solutions to global cooperation problems. How do these individuals shape international policymaking?

Increasingly, scholars have focused on the role of individuals in global policymaking well beyond the level of boards of directors, secretariats, and executive leadership. Some have started to explore how individual traits, like gender, nationality, or education, shape how staff and leadership are selected and promoted, and how they (and the organizations they work for) are perceived by external stakeholders in light of staff composition. Others have examined how patterns of representation may shape organizational cultures, behaviors, and interactions with organizational stakeholders. How do individuals’ identities shape their interests and behavior in different organization settings and policy arenas? Under what conditions will they have the agency to act upon their identities to affect policy outcomes?

We will be hosting a workshop on April 4-6, 2025 that aims to bring together scholars currently studying the role of individuals in global policymaking within IGOs, INGOs, or similar transnational fora or expert bodies (e.g. G-20, IPCC). Participants have the option to submit their articles as part of a Special Issue proposal after the workshop.

We are interested in recruiting 1-2 student as IPD Research Fellows with the following interests and skills:

Interests: 

1. International organizations
2. Bureaucratic representation
3. Leadership in global policy making
4. Diversity in Global Governance