Funding Opportunities
See the Watson Institute Undergraduate Student Opportunities page for additional resources.
Funding Opportunities
See the Watson Institute Undergraduate Student Opportunities page for additional resources.
Examples of Funded Projects
| Title | Type |
| Project Access Austria and McKinsey & Company Vienna Professional Development and Networking Event | Conference |
| Threat to Human Security: Vulnerabilities in Space-Based Infrastructure Critical to Natural Disaster Response research in collaboration with UNOOSA (the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs) | Conference |
| DUKE-UNC CHINA LEADERSHIP SUMMIT | Conference |
| AI Governance Global Conference in Boston | Conference |
| EAG X Latin America 2024 Conference | Conference |
| 2024 American Educational Research Association Conference, Research Paper Title: “Strategic Niceness:” A Study of Middle-Class Latinx Parents' School Involvement in San Antonio, Texas | Conference/Research |
| State Department internship with the US Mission to the Human Rights Council | Internship |
| Research Internship, Center on the United States and Europe, Foreign Policy (Brookings) | Internship |
| Foreign Policy Interrupted Editorial Intern | Internship |
| Research Internship at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (Office of the Investor Advocate) | Internship |
| Digital Content Creation Intern at Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development | Internship |
| Research Internship, Center on the United States and Europe, Foreign Policy (Brookings) | Internship |
| Research Internship at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (Office of the Investor Advocate) | Internship |
| Fall Intern for CARE in the Office of the President | Internship |
| Internship with Eleison Foundation: survivor-centered and evidence-based approaches to combat human trafficking and gender-based violence in the Philippines | Internship/Research |
| Research and Events Internship, Center on the United States and Europe, Foreign Policy, Job ID: 2021-2629 | Internship/Thesis |
| Language study in Amman, Jordan | Language |
| Language study in Florianopolis, Brazil | Language |
| Language study in Quetzaltenango,Guatemala | Language |
| Language study in Geneva, Switzerland | Language |
| Language Study in the Humbodlt Program in Germany | Language |
| Collaborative Graphic Novel Anthology Project with Scarlet ChaCha and Red Canary Song (working project name) | Project/Research |
| Distorted Memories: Nostalgia and its Inaccuracies in Cold War Coming-of-Age Literature | Project/Research |
| Children at the Border: The Effects of U.S. Immigration Policies on the Experiences of Migrant Children | Project/Research |
| Confining Contradictions and Transformative Collaborations at the Intersection of Anti-Trafficking and Prison Abolition with Professor Shih | Project/Research |
| The Intersections of Housing, Mass-Incarceration, and Policing — Comparative and Domestic Research Study | Project/Research |
| Between Empire and Post-Colonial Nation-Building: A Case Study of French India’s Decolonization in Chandernagore and Pondicherry (1947-1954) | Project/Research |
| Participatory preservation, construction, and transformation: Ethnic architecture of Indonesia under global development | Project/Research |
| El Camino de Santiago | Project/Research |
| In the Margins of History: Uncovering Queer Stories in Korean History | Project/Research |
| Repairing Global Democratic Erosion & Confronting Domestic Extremism in the US Military by Analyzing the US Mil's Branding | Project/Research |
Funding Sources
Some International and Public Affairs and Watson Grants will be awarded using funds given in honor or memory of people associated with The Watson Institute or Brown University or who exemplify the spirit of Watson and Brown. Students whose grants draw from these funds will be informed of their funding source and will be asked to provide a reflective essay about their experience for the funder. Fund recipients may list the name of their grant on their resume.
The Michael Bhatia Fund for Peacekeeping and Conflict Studies was established in memory of Michael Vinay Bhatia '99, who died in May 2008 in Afghanistan, where he was working as a social scientist in consultation with the U.S. military. The Bhatia fund underwrites thesis or independent research for IAPA concentrators working on peacekeeping and conflict studies. It will be awarded to a student who, like Michael Bhatia ’99, hopes to deepen their understanding of a region or culture by traveling and studying there, with the goal of helping to promote cross-cultural understanding that might end or avert violence or military conflict.
The Richard C. Barker Award provides financial support to IAPA undergraduates for thesis and independent research, internships, and conference participation.
The Birkelund Fund provides financial support to Brown undergraduates for independent research and internships related to foreign policy and diplomacy.
The Kochon Fund provides financial support to Brown undergraduates for independent research and academic activities related to Korea.
The Jack Ringer Fellowship provides financial support to Brown undergraduates for thesis and independent research in Southeast Asia, through the generosity of Jack Ringer '52, who served in Burma after graduating from Brown.
The Marla Ruzicka International Public Service Fellowship provides financial support to one Brown student doing international public service during the summer. The fund is named for Marla Ruzicka, whose compassion, determination, and selflessness in pursuit of international human rights, post-conflict rehabilitation, and international public service exemplify the values of the Watson Institute.
A dedicated human rights activist, Marla Ruzicka arrived in Afghanistan shortly after the fall of the Taliban to record the effects of conflict on civilian communities. She lobbied diligently and effectively to seek compensation for those families whose homes had been destroyed in the Afghan conflict. From Afghanistan, Marla went to Iraq. She founded the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC), which was dedicated to assisting civilian victims of the conflict in Iraq. Marla's compassion and dedication touched all who met her, and her tragic death in April 2005 was deeply felt by those who had benefited from her selfless work. This fellowship has been made possible through the generosity of Lucinda B. Watson.