This semester, 12 UVA students completed LPPL 5999: Leadership in Global Disaster and Conflict, an immersive course taught in conjunction with the UVA Humanitarian Collaborative. Sponsored by the Batten National Security Policy Center and the UVA Humanitarian Collaborative, the course culminated in a four-day Humanitarian Field Training in Boyce, Virginia, run by the Humanitarian Learning Center. Students prepared for a simulated deployment to Zankora, a fictional country affected by an earthquake, and practiced skills including needs assessment, communications, security protocols, stress mitigation, field medicine, crowd safety, car and room checks, and engagement with community leaders. Through scenarios such as navigating an unauthorized checkpoint, assessing an IDP camp, and responding to a medical emergency after a protest, students applied classroom learning to the pressures of humanitarian response.

Reflecting on the experience, Philip Johnson, Batten BA ’27, said the training helped students bring together lessons from the semester while learning from the “different perspectives, experiences, and expertise” of their peers.

Participants included: Caroline Brawley (1st-year MPP student), Lillian Dorathy (4th-year Batten and Statistics student), Ashley Ferguson (3rd-year Global Public Health and Economics student), Lucia Folger (3rd-year Batten and Global Security student), Sanjana Jaiswal (4th-year Batten and Media student),Philip Johnson (3rd-year Foreign Affairs and Batten student), Huma Khalid (3rd-year Global Justice and History student), Campbell Kirby (2nd-year MPP student), Adam Koussih (2nd-year MPP student), George Langhammer (2nd-year MPP student), Mary Holland Mason (4th-year Batten and English student), and Charles Murphy (3rd-year English and Photography student).