I love doing research because it gives me an excuse to get to know people in a way that I would never have known them otherwise. As a child, I used to dream of being able to meet every single person in the world, hearing their stories, understanding their dreams and struggles. I soon realized… read more

My name is Laura Vargas and I am a Doctoral Student in Social Policy and Policy Analysis at the Columbia School of Social Work. Over the course of almost nine weeks I traveled more than 5,500 miles to conduct qualitative interviews with dozens of medical professionals. I travelled to sixteen different municipalities located in five… read more

Hello from Dili, Timor-Leste! The Southeast Asian nation is home to just over 1 million people, and faced decades of conflict during the Indonesian occupation before its Independence in 2002. As in many post-conflict environments, gender is an important factor that impacts and shapes the lives and opportunities available to survivors of violence. Academic publications… read more

August 2015 How Do You Feel? …This is the question that our conversations with people in Baroda, India begin with. Project Ankur has brought us both to a new environment: for Srishti, a new city, and for Marina, a new country. Project Ankur is attempting to explore and better understand the mental health needs and… read more

July 18, 2015 Greetings from Guwahati, Assam, India!  I have just returned to Assam from two weeks in Nagaland, a region with a scattered, off-and-on insurgency since World War II.  I am here investigating why some armed factions are able to maintain peaceful cooperation with each other and with the government. In the first question… read more