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Policy Research Projects
Overview
The IR Theory Policy Research Project gives you an opportunity to participate in a consultancy on a specific problem for a "client" (international organization, federal agency, or an international non-profit organization). Project assignments embrace major policy research questions of interest to students of international affairs. The "client" receives "free-of-charge" consulting services, while you have the opportunity to apply your skills and knowledge in a global public policy setting.
Each project involves the participation of a minimum of four or five students over a ten-week period. Each group has a coordinator who organizes the activity and chairs its presentation.
There are several stages in the development of each policy research project. First, each group has a formal meeting with its "client representative" in order to set the expectations and needs of the organization, and to specify the ground rules of the project. Second, each group plans the work according to the given deadlines and distributes the tasks between the group members using three basic criteria: willingness to perform certain tasks; qualifications to fulfill such tasks; and interpersonal relations. At the third stage, the research part of the policy research project is conducted for approximately six weeks in which group members gather information regarding the current situation, best practices, success stories, and other experiences on the topic.
After that, group members do data analysis, organize material, and develop solutions to the particular problems of the "client" Finally, each group delivers a formal presentation and creates a document describing its findings, procedures, and suggestions, which are to be presented to the "client."