News Archive

This fall, the Watson Institute celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month and invites members of the community to join us for an opportunity to engage and learn more about the traditions, people, and contributions of Latino/x communities.

The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs welcomes its latest cohort of officers to its Military Fellows Program.

The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, its centers, institutes and programs have planned a dynamic roster of thought-provoking events for the fall 2022 semester. Speakers include a wide range of experts – scholars and artists, lawmakers and filmmakers, artists and attorneys – discussing the historical events and current issues societies are grappling with across the globe.

The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs offers study groups through its Senior Fellows Program. This year's fellows include former Ambassador Suzan (Suzi) LeVine ’93, Leon Rodriguez ’84 and Dr. Arun Seraphin. 

Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs not-for-credit study groups provide an opportunity for students to delve deeply into topics and apply theory and research to real-world challenges. Enrollment in each group is limited to 25 students. 

Professor David Kertzer and his research team delved into the controversial question of Pius XII during WW-II, specifically tackling his failure to publicly condemn the Holocaust.

The Watson Institute’s Climate Solutions Lab is launching a new interactive website called the Climate Opportunity Map.

The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs welcomes its 2023 Master of Public Affairs cohort.

For top young scholars in the social sciences, the Watson Postdoctoral Fellows Program offers a supportive, diverse intellectual community and valuable teaching experience. It also affords them two years’ worth of an almost priceless resource: time.

David Kertzer recently released a new book published by Random House.

America's social safety net must be restructured.

Building an interdisciplinary network of experts to understand a giant player on the world stage

Graduate Program in Development offers unique training and support for doctoral candidates.

The exhibition “Breaking Out: Immigrant Art from Stewart Detention Center” offers a first-person perspective on life for individuals from the Caribbean, Latin America and beyond, who have been or are currently detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, GA.

With a $10 million gift from Parag Saxena and Usha Saxena P’13, P’14, P’15, Brown University will elevate its groundbreaking teaching and research on South Asia and extend its global reach.

When David Wade a graduate of Brown's class of 1997 was approached about designing a course for Watson’s Master of Public Affairs program, the former chief of staff to the U.S. Department of State asked himself: What did he wish he’d be able to study while at Brown?

Join Military Fellow Theodore Shanks for Delivering a Sustainable Future: US Air Force's Role in Climate Change, February 16 at 12 p.m.

Isabel Gates MPA ’22, Fiona Kastel MPA ’21, and LaTausha Rogers MPA ’21 have all been named finalists in the Presidential Management Fellows program. Each finalist then has up to one year to secure their two-year fellowship with the federal government. Each year, the competitive and prestigious program selects only five percent of its applicants as finalists, some 50 to 60 percent of whom become fellows.

These not-for-credit study groups provide an opportunity for students to delve deeply into topics and apply theory and research to real world challenges. 

It’s been 12 months since a mob of American citizens attacked the US Capitol. The insurrectionists couldn’t overturn the election results, but they did make us question basic assumptions about the state of American democracy.  

Between the January 6 attacks on the U.S. Capitol and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, 2021 was an eventful year – but not all the news was bad. Below are the year’s top 10 news stories from the Watson Institute.

After acquiring critical skills in the classroom and real-world experience in the semester-long Policy-in Action consultancy, Watson MPA students benefit from personalized career development planning and placement support.

The past decade has seen the rise of nationalism and right-wing populism throughout the world, and India has been no exception.

"Fauci" kicks off this year's John F. Kennedy Jr. Initiative for Documentary Film and Social Progress season.

An initiative funded by the James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Foundation will explore the detrimental effects not just of inequality but of great wealth on democratic institutions.

A new Brown University report critically examines the National Climate Assessment (NCA).

The Watson Institute spoke to Mary Beth Meehan, whose "Seeing Silicon Valley" exhibition opens at Watson.

The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs talked with Jeff Colgan about the Climate Syllabus Bank and why its syllabi are meaningful for students today and in the future.

Join the Watson community for several events this Fall surrounding the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan.

People were less politically polarized after taking part in workshops modeled on the principles of couples therapy, showed a study conducted by a political scientist at Brown, the nonprofit Braver Angels and other researchers.

Award recognizes Professor Mark Blyth for being a mentor par excellence.

The Watson Institute’s one-year master of public affairs program saw a 58% increase in new students in 2021 due in large part to policy issues laid bare during the COVID-19 pandemic.

When Associate Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs Susan Moffitt becomes director of Watson’s Master of Public Affairs on January 1, 2022, she will be at the helm of the largest and most diverse class in the program’s six-year history.

Five of the up-and-coming scholars who constituted the 2020-2021 cohort of postdoctoral fellows are off to new academic positions in the United States, Europe, and Israel. While they were here, they took full advantage of the opportunity to research, write, and teach that the fellowship affords.

The Brown University Climate Solutions Lab has just released a report assessing the Biden administration’s international climate diplomacy so far. Written by the CSL’s director, Jeff Colgan and co-authors Thomas N. Hale and Scott M. Moore, “Biden @ 100 DAYS: A Climate Foreign-Policy Scorecard” examines the current administration's actions and commitment to reorienting U.S. foreign policy to meet the climate challenge.