Research

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.