Global Center of Peace Innovation

Call for Fellowship Applications

The Global Center of Peace Innovation at the University for Peace (UPEACE) is now accepting applications for the DNA of Peace Fellowship Program, a PhD fellowship program designed and led in partnership with the Peace Innovation Initiative (PII) - with the support of Anu & Naveen Jain - to connect and equip top practitioner-scholars with the partnerships, spaces, education, and technology necessary to incubate and lead peace innovation from the ground up, starting in their own disciplines and communities of action. Just as the Human Genome Project was a collaborative global research project committed to “identifying, sequencing, and mapping all the genes of the human genome” to build a healthier world, the DNA of Peace Fellowship Project serves as our first official research project at the Global Center in Costa Rica: committed to the scientific identification, sequencing, and mapping of all elements that activate the “genes” for peace—the building blocks for a peaceful world.

Important Dates

  • Fellowship Term: July 2023 - August 2026
  • Accepting Applications: 27 Jan 2023 - 25 March 2023
  • Application Review: March 2023 - April 2023
  • Selection Announcement: May 2023
  • Beginning of the program: July 2023

Fellow Profile

Traditional PhD programs are designed to develop original research and train the next generation of academics within each field of study. The DNA of Peace Fellowship Program will provide PhD students with the unique opportunity to develop an actionable pathway for putting their research into action in ways that have impact beyond their academic disciplines and shape their diverse careers as peace innovators for years to come. The fellowship program is therefore designed for mid-level career professionals who have already developed a niche of study or practice within the field of health and are interested in building upon their existing knowledge and experience to develop and launch their peace innovations.

Requirements

In addition to all required components of the PhD program, the DNA of Peace fellows will be expected to:

  • Work with and learn from UPEACE Faculty across departments,
  • Engage with local community stakeholders as they carry out their research or prepare to launch their peace innovations,
  • Share regular reports on their research progress with fellowship partners, advisors, and mentors,
  • Publish about the building blocks of peace at the Global Center,
  • Deliver a draft framework for the continued study of health-and-peace innovation at and beyond UPEACE,
  • Present research findings at a global conference at the end of the Fellowship,
  • Continue the work developed throughout the course of the program in relevant contexts as they become peace innovators in health.

Eligibility

The fellowship has been designed by uniting diverse minds with a similar disposition to peace, equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to create a program for real impact in the world. We celebrate, support, and thrive on the creative and innovative power of convening across divides and academic or sector-based silos. To us, “diverse minds” includes people who come not only from different identity backgrounds (i.e. gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, socio-economic status, age, ideology, religion, etc.) but also from different intellectual and knowledge backgrounds who recognize the importance of innovation in their own fields and in the world. All dimensions of the selection process will be directed with this in mind, on the basis of equity, qualifications, merit, and organizational need.

Application Process

In addition to all components of the PhD process (https://www.upeace.org/apply-admissions/doctorateform), you’ll include a short essay (1500 words or less) answering the following questions as a final component of your application. These will include:

1-How do you define peace innovation?

2-What is your peace innovation and how does that innovation get presented in scholarship versus practice?

3-How exactly does your peace innovation fit into (or how will it build upon) existing work in your field? Be specific.

4-Given that we’re looking for practitioner-scholars who are one step away from an innovation, what is involved in that last step? Be highly specific, including skills, knowledge, and tools needed to complete it.

5-After you complete the dissertation, how do you intend to carry your work forward in other communities of practice? Be specific, including where, with which communities and leaders, etc.

This essay must be sent to globalcenter@upeace.org before the deadline. Please use FELLOWSHIP APPLICATION: YOUR NAME as the subject line of the email.

DEADLINE TO APPLY: 15 May 2023

For more detailed information about this fellowship call, consult the official document here.

APPLY NOW