EPIIC 2012 Information

Special Projects and Opportunities

Project on Justice in Times of Transition (PJTT)

PJTT is a strategic ally of the IGL. There are extensive opportunities for involvement with their initiatives, this year on research efforts into neuroscience and social conflict with the MIT Saxe Laboratory; mediation efforts in Bahrain; efforts on improving U.S./Cuba relations; and ways of reviving the stalemated negotiations on northern Kosovo.

Public Health and Conflict

Think with Centers for Disease Control officials and experts at the U.S. Naval War College about strategies to assist countries whose health sectors have been disrupted by disaster or conflict

Contested Terrain: Conflict, History, Memory and Reconciliation

This initiative will explore the relationships between perspective, memory, and historical “truth.” Working with Tufts Professor of History and Latin American Studies Peter Winn, the first project will probe the complex nature of the Shining Path/Sendero Luminoso’s record of violence and the government’s military repression under the dictator, Fujimori.

A Two-State Solution in the Middle East

Work with the Institute’s NIMEP initiative, as well as senior Israeli and Palestinian figures led by Yair Hirschfeld and Samih Al-Abed on their vision of Israeli-Palestinian and Israeli-Arab cooperation in the political, economic, and civil society realms to create a sustainable two-state solution.

Program on Narrative and Documentary Practice

Deliberate with Gary Knight, cofounder of the VII Photo Agency and director of the Institute’s Program on Narrative and Documentary Practice, about media war, crisis, and conflict reporting.  Work with award-winning film and video producer, Fiona Turner, to complete her documentary, “Made in Yugoslavia: The Inside Story of Photographers at War.”

Gender and War

Research gender crimes and the epidemic of rape in war with experts in Physicians for Human Rights’ program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Areas

AKE

Participate in research and internships with the experts of AKE, the British organization specializing in survival in hostile environments and risk analysis on issues ranging from kidnapping to political risk assessment of potential resource wars

Wounds and War

Think with Professor Ira Herman, Head of the Center for the Innovations of Wound-Care of the Tufts Medical School, on his “Wounded Warrior” project and advances in bionic tourniquets and trauma recovery

Counter-insurgency and Counterterrorism

Participate in a research study group with senior U.S. Special Forces officers, security analysts, and members of the Institute’s ALLIES program looking at the irregular challenges the SOF will encounter in future security environments

EPIIC Weekend Immersion: “Human and Military Security”

September 23-25, 2011
Outward Bound at Appalachian Mountain Club, Pinkham Notch, New Hampshire

Resource Scholars:

Lucas Kello
Lucas Kello is a Research Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs at Harvard University and a doctoral candidate in International Relations at the University of Oxford. As an IGL INSPIRE Fellow, he will assist in the development of the Institute’s academic curriculum with a particular emphasis on this year’s EPIIC Colloquium: “Conflict in the 21st Century”. He brings to the IGL a varied range of academic and policy experience in international security. He has taught courses in security studies at Oxford and has worked with the Spanish Ministry of Defense in various areas of national and international security, including maritime counterterrorism and post-conflict stabilization in the Middle East. He has also advised European Union and Estonian government authorities on cybersecurity strategy. At Harvard, he is investigating institutional responses to problems of cyber deterrence and is a participant in “Explorations in Cyber International Relations”, a Harvard-MIT collaborative research program.

Kello holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard and an M.Phil. from Oxford. An alumnus of EPIIC, he conducted field research on Bosnian war crimes while a student in the Program and presented his findings to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and to the International Court of Justice.
 
Ayan Holmberg
Ayan Holmberg was born and raised in Mogadishu, Somalia where she worked with UNICEF as a program support officer.  She worked in Somalia until 1999, serving in a program support role with the United Nations Development Program – Somalia, War Torn Societies Project.  In 2000, Ayan joined Progressive Interventions.
 
William Martel
William Martel is Professor of International Security Studies at The Fletcher School. Martel was the Director and Founder of the Center for Strategy and Technology from 1993–99.  From 1999–2005 he was Professor of National Security Affairs and Chair of Space Technology and Policy Studies at the Naval War College. He is the author and co-editor of several books, including Victory in War: Foundations of Modern Military Policy and The Technological Arsenal: Emerging Defense Capabilities. 

Research

EPIIC also provides unusual opportunities for students to conduct research related to its annual theme, both at home and abroad. Last year students traveled to China, India, North Korea, South Korea, Turkey and within the US.  More than 900 students have traveled to more than 85 countries since 1986.

Potential topics students can explore this year include: tensions in South Ossetia and Abkhazia; the preparedness of the Afghan police; Hezbollah’s strategy in light of recent events in Syria; the changing environment of laws governing armed conflict; the efficacy vs. ethics of drone attacks; the impact of the fiscal crises on Pentagon budget priorities; the challenge of asymmetric conflict for advanced military powers; the future Iraq-Iran relationship; the botnet attack on Estonia; control of the the Arctic seabed; how natural resources influence security concerns; the potential for a nuclear weapons free zone in the Middle East; Yemen as a failed state; reconciliation prospects in Sri Lanka; the future of Zimbabwe; the war against Mexico’s drug cartels; demobilization and reintegration of militias in Rwanda.

You will have the opportunity to learn such tools as GIS, GPS, web-based mapping platforms, and crowdsourcing, and use geospatial analysis tools for projects in which there is a significant spatial question or issue.  Examples include a conflict risk assessment based on environmental stress, demographics, and shortages of natural resources; identifying strategic protest routes for civil resistance in Cairo; designing a security guard system for one of the most violent slum neighborhoods in Nairobi.

International Students and EPIIC
There is also the opportunity to develop research ideas together with international students from the Institute’s TILIP (Tufts Initiative for Leadership and International Perspective) program. Last year, EPIIC brought more than 50 students from Brazil, China, Israel, Iraq, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea to participate in its symposium.

Institute Scholars and Practitioners in Residence (INSPIRE)

James Clad, Senior Fellow and Professor of Near East and South Asian Studies at National Defense University; Former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asia Pacific Security Affairs

Lucas Kello (EPIIC’96), Post Doctoral Fellow (Oxford PhD), Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University; Liaison to the MIT-Harvard multidisciplinary Minerva Project on “Explorations in Cyber International Relations (ECIR)
 
Ariel “Eli “ Levite, Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; former Principal Deputy Director General (Policy), Israeli Atomic Energy Commission

Mark Rosengard (Col, US Army, ret), Former, Director of Operations, Task Force Dagger, Afghanistan; Inaugural Commander, Joint Special Operations Task Force, Trans-Sahara
   
Susannah Sirkin, Director, Physicians for Human Rights