UN Sabbatical Global Fellows

Under the Humanitarian Advocacy and Operational Effectiveness theme, the HC launched a new Global Fellows Program in collaboration with the UN. This year, two Fellows contributed to meaningful research on humanitarian policy. Four students (from Arts and Sciences, Batten, and Data Science) were involved in this project.

Ruth Mukwana, from Uganda, collaborated with the HC and UVA Environmental Humanities to complete research and design a pilot on how fiction can be used as an advocacy tool to drive change in humanitarian public policy. As a result of this project, the UN asked UVA to pilot a global book club focusing on the impacts of climate displacement, which will launch at the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference in Egypt in October 2022. 

Greg Puley, from Canada, examined the impact of heat waves as a leading cause of death in humanitarian crises. This project brought together UVA faculty, scholars from Tufts University, and practitioners from the International Federation for the Red Cross to develop a policy report. The draft report has been completed and will be championed by the UN Assistant Secretary General and formally launched in 2022, well-positioned to influence the next policy framework for humanitarian response and climate change.