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January 2024

POLICY SCHOOL NEWS

UNEP Accredits Northeastern University

The Policy School is excited to announce that Northeastern University is now accredited to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and its governing bodies. Northeastern joins two other US universities - Harvard and New York University - as an accredited member of the Scientific and Technological Community Major Group to UNEP. Accreditation will allow us to send a delegation to various UNEP meetings, including the UN Environment Assembly and sessions of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for the new international treaty on plastic pollution. This opens exciting opportunities for faculty and students to productively engage in global environmental governance. 

Policy School Director Maria Ivanova and Deputy Executive Director of UNEP, Elizabeth Mrema

Dr. Rolf Payet Visits the Policy School

Dr. Rolf Payet, an international environmental policy expert and scholar, spoke with Northeastern students that the Policy School convened on January 25, 2024. Dr. Payet is the Executive Secretary for the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Convention on chemicals and waste. His previous roles include Minister of Environment and Energy of Seychelles, chief negotiator for the Montreal Protocol, the Basel Convention and the UNFCCC, and the first President & Vice-Chancellor of the University of Seychelles. Dr. Payet is a lead author with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and was involved with the Third and Fourth Assessment Reports. The panel was jointly awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

Big Data for Cities Conference

Big Data for Cities—a course that introduces undergraduate and graduate students from a wide array of programs to the skills of urban informatics through the analysis of real-world data—had a final presentation session modeled on a science fair. The students presented “teaching cases," intended for high school students, that demonstrated the value of publicly available data for understanding community issues and the skills necessary to do so.

Expert guests—including policymakers, professional analysts, youth educators, and high school students—brainstormed with the students throughout the term as they developed their projects and then attended the final presentations to see the final products.  

Students and faculty reviewing projects

Spring 2024 Meet and Greet Event

At the first event of the semester, newly entering Spring 2024 students got to know peers and share their backgrounds and interests with several Policy School faculty members, who described their research interests and reflections on the School community.

The new students also listened to current students' tips on how to make the most of their Policy School experience. "Never be afraid to reach out," suggested MPP student Kpannah C. Cooper-Kelvin '24, "You will find great support if you just ask."

GAP Seminar Series: "Dodging Ground Zero"

The first seminar of the Spring 2024 Global Action for Policy (GAP) series featured guest speaker UCSB Prof. Kelsey Jack, who spoke on “Dodging Day Zero: Drought, Adaptation, and Inequality in Cape Town.” Her talk focused on the potential for climate shocks to destablize the revenue model for public utilities, using the case of an extreme drought in Cape Town, South Africa.

Prof. Kelsey Jack

Policy School Seminar Series: "City Limits"

Future Faculty Fellow Hitanshu Pandit presented a talk entitled “City Limits: Exploring the relationship between employment and minimum wages using mobile-device location data" at the first session of the Policy School Seminar Series. His talk focused on the relationship between minimum wages and employment, using geospatial mobile device data as a tool to measure the impact of minimum wage policies.

Future Faculty Fellow Hitanshu Pandit

FACULTY IMPACT

Prof. Richard O'Bryant

Prof. Ted Landsmark

Prof. Ted Landsmark and Prof. Richard O'Bryant Join Mayor Wu's Task Force on Reparations

Prof. Ted Landsmark and Prof. Richard O’Bryant, director of Northeastern’s John D. O’Bryant African American Institute, will join a group of academics and history experts who will lead research efforts into Boston’s role in the transatlantic slave trade and the city’s more recent history of discrimination. The results will serve as the basis for recommendations by a reparations panel Boston Mayor Michelle Wu formed last year.

Two teams, one investigating the city’s history from 1620 to 1940 and the other researching 1940 to the present, will conduct archival research to provide a report for use by the Reparations Task Force in drafting a plan to compensate Blacks for economic losses caused by slavery and its aftermath. Margaret Burnham, a former judge who currently heads the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project at Northeastern University, will lead the team of Northeastern scholars, including Profs. Landsmark and O'Bryant, investigating the years 1940 to the present. The city has allocated $500,000 for the project, and the two teams are expected to conclude their research and deliver a comprehensive report to the task force within one year.

Global Connections

When Prof. Richard O'Bryant traveled to Ghana in 2023 to promote the Northeastern experience and learning opportunities, he met Moses Ayirebi '25, a Ghanaian student interested in pursuing graduate studies at the Policy School. Prof. O'Bryant stayed in touch with Moses, who began the MUPP program at the Policy School this Spring 2024 semester. To express his appreciation for the role played by Prof. O'Bryant in helping him to realize his Northeastern dream, Moses asked an artist friend to create a beautiful portrait of Prof. O'Bryant. He visited Prof. O'Bryant's Northeastern office shortly after his January arrival in the U.S. to presented the surprise gift to his mentor.

Prof. Richard O'Bryant and Moses Ayirebi '25

Prof. Ted Landsmark (left) and Prof. Matt Lee (right)

Civility Series: Profs. Matt Lee and Ted Landsmark Speak on Affirmative Action

The June 2023 Supreme Court Decisions on race-conscious admissions changed the landscape of recruiting students into colleges and raised questions about the broader future of affirmative action in the United States. At a January panel on The State of Affirmative Action, the State of Belonging, Northeastern colleagues and the audience discussed and debated creative paths forward on diversity, equity, and belonging. Prof. Matt Lee was featured on the panel, alongside Prof. Libby Adler and Dr. Karl Reid, and Prof. Ted Landsmark moderated the discussion. View the video here.

UNEP at FIfty Recognized as Top Ten Contribution

Policy School Director Maria Ivanova's book on the United Nations Environment Programme UNEP at 50: The Untold Story of the World’s Leading Environmental Institution was featured by StateUp, a public purpose intelligence group, as a top 10 contribution to the 2024 discourse on multilateralism and the fusion of science and technology for public service.

The book is available digitally from MIT Press at no charge.

Prof. Dietmar Offenhuber

New Book Published by Prof. Dietmar Offenhuber

Prof. Dietmar Offenhuber presented his new book Autographic Design - the Matter of Data in a Self-Inscribing World (MIT Press) at the CAMD Center for Design. Autographic design is a method of making data collection accountable through material traces, an approach inspired by the work of grassroots scientists, environmental activists, and amateur forensic investigators. It is based on the notion that data is material, not abstract.

Prof. Timothy Hoff

Prof. Timothy Hoff Appointed to the Scientific Council of the European Academy of Management

Prof. Timothy Hoff  was recently named to the Scientific Council of the European Academy of Management (EURAM), one of the first professors of an American university to receive that distinction. As a member of the Scientific Council, Hoff will serve in an advisory capacity. The Scientific Council makes suggestions to EURAM around all manner of scholarly activities, from doctoral student development programs to awards to the kinds of research the society promotes. The next annual EURAM conference will take place in June, at the University of Bath School of Management in the United Kingdom, where Hoff will serve on a committee overseeing some of the awards given to EURAM members.

EVENTS

Bari Conference 2024

The BARI Conference 2024: Greater Boston’s Annual Insight-to-Impact Summit will take place on Friday, April 12th at the Microsoft NERD Center in Cambridge. Proposals were due by January 19th, 2024.

BARI Conference is a unique forum for community leaders, practitioners, researchers, and policymakers to share how they advance data-driven research and policy in Greater Boston—and how we could do even more through collective action. 

C2C Funding and Training Opportunities

C2C is happy to announce 2024 funding and training opportunities offered through the Community to Community (C2C) Impact Engine. C2C’s mission is to understand and address social disparities by fostering trusting relationships between academic researchers and community or government partners. Centering the wisdom of community voices, C2C co-creates research evidence that advances equitable practices and policies in the places our university calls home.

C2C uses an Engage-Think-Do model for the co-production of policy analysis and implementation by connecting faculty with community stakeholders to collaborate on long-standing public problems in areas such as crime, environmental justice, housing, public health, racial injustice, and workforce development. These collaborations use data and research evidence to change real-world policies or practices that drive societal impact. Every successful partnership gets us one step closer to a more inclusive and just world. 

Funding Opportunities

Successful applicants will engage in collaborations with a city agency, state department, or community-based organization with the goal of using research evidence to change a policy or practice. Grantees will become part of the C2C community of practice with opportunities to participate in the C2C summer institute, present in the C2C research seminar series, and publish in the C2C publication series. Applicants will be notified of funding decisions by March 8, 2024, to ensure ample time to plan for projects to launch during summer, 2024.

• Seed Grant Competition – Apply by February 2, 2024 

Faculty, post-doctoral students, and PhD students from across the global university system are encouraged to apply for research seed grants of up to $5,000. Funds will be disbursed by May 1, 2024.

• Policy Fellow Program – Apply by February 2, 2024 

Faculty from across the global university system are invited to apply to the Policy Fellow Program to receive up to one course release and one month of summer support for projects that begin during summer, 2024. Summer stipends will be disbursed starting July 1, 2024.

Training and Research Opportunities

• Training Researchers to Inform Policy (TRIP) – Apply by April 1, 2024

Faculty, post-doctoral students, and Ph.D. students from across the global university systems are invited to attend this hybrid day-long training with the Scholars Strategy Network (SSN) on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Participants will engage in hands-on activities that explore how to form research-practice partnerships with a city agency, state department, or community-based organization and also be eligible for additional coaching and mentoring through SSN.

• Become a Faculty Affiliate – Apply by April 1, 2024

Faculty from across the global university system who conduct community-engaged research are invited to become a C2C affiliate. Faculty Affiliates serve a two-year renewable term during which time they will have the opportunity to be connected with a policymaker or practitioner, serve as a PI on C2C funded projects, attend the C2C summer institute, present in the C2C research seminar series, and publish in the C2C publication series. 

Please email the C2C team at C2C-Impact@northeastern.edu if you have questions about any of these upcoming training and funding opportunities. To learn more about C2C and other community engaged research initiatives across the global university system, sign up for the quarterly Community to Community newsletter here

STUDENT IMPACT

MPA Capstone for Environmental Justice

Advisory Committee member Greg King collaborated with three outstanding new MPA graduates--Hiovanni Gonzalez '23, Claren Copp-LaRocque '23, and Nicholas Pietrinferno '23—on their Capstone project. Greg, who is the Managing Director of TSK Energy Solutions LLC, ND, worked with the students to develop an Environmental Justice Impact Scoring system to help prioritize environmental projects in the Commonwealth.