Meet the IRC-Zolberg Fellows for Fall 2023
The IRC and the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility at The New School are excited to announce the Fall 2023 cohort of fellows. Supported by the Arnhold Foundation, master’s and doctoral students at The New School have the opportunity to contribute to or lead design and research projects at the IRC.
Since 2017, fellows have worked at the IRC on a range of teams including policy, innovation, research, health, governance, and emergency response amongst others. Fellows have a wide range of experience, and come from the Parsons School of Design, the School of Social Research, the School of Nonprofit and Public Management, the School of Global Affairs, and other New School departments. Learn more about the fellowship.
Sachchal Ahmad, The New School for Social Research, Politics, PhD, 2026
Sachchal is a PhD student at the New School for Social Research. His current research focuses on global political economy, histories of global finance, and their relationship with world politics and conflict. He also holds an MS in International Affairs from The New School (2018). He has previously worked for government and non-government organizations researching issues related to current affairs, conflict, and migration.
As the Crisis Analysis Fellow, Sachchal will be a core member of the Global Crisis Analysis team, contributing to a range of high-profile internal and external reports that aim to provide actionable analysis of the drivers and impacts of humanitarian crises. He will work on briefings for senior leaders and regular short- and long-form thematic reports, as well as support on updates to the methodology for the annual IRC Emergency Watchlist, which details the countries the IRC believes are at greatest risk of a major deterioration in the humanitarian situation over the coming year. Sachchal will also gain practical experience applying qualitative and quantitative analysis skill sets within the humanitarian sector, as well as presenting such analyses to senior internal and external audiences.
Isabelle Groenewegen, Parsons School of Design, Design and Urban Ecologies, MSc, 2025
Isabelle holds a BA in Comparative Literature from Georgetown University and is currently pursuing an MSc in Design and Urban Ecologies at Parsons School of Design, with a focus on environmental justice and bringing nature back into the urban cultural and arts landscape. After graduating in 2020, Isabelle worked as the Studio Manager for National Geographic photojournalist Gerd Ludwig in Los Angeles. She then returned to her home city of London, England to work at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation as a Programme Coordinator, where she facilitated workshops in Rwanda and South Africa to bring together circular economy practitioners from across the African continent.
As the Strategic Projects Fellow, Izzy will support the Senior Vice President and Chief Research & Innovation Officer of IRC’s Airbel Impact Lab with the management of strategic projects and initiatives across the department. Working within the Policy & Planning team, Izzy will help execute project timelines, contribute to more transparent knowledge sharing within the department and with IRC leadership, and where relevant, support innovation priority teams with specific projects. Through this role, Izzy will gain exposure to cutting-edge solutions addressing global challenges and valuable insights into the internal workings of a leading humanitarian organization, and have the opportunity to contribute to impactful initiatives in close collaboration with senior leadership
Angel Melgoza, The New School For Social Research, Liberal Studies, MA, 2025
Angel is an MA in Liberal Studies student at The New School For Social Research (2023–2025). He has been working on narrative journalism since 2015. He has written features for diverse media, such as Revista de la Universidad, Pie de Página, Magis, and CTXT on topics as diverse as communitarian resistance, environmental devastation, religion, literature, and the right to the city. He directed his first documentary short film The Doubtful Stillness of the Sea in 2018, and his feature documentary film, Dustcloud, premiered at the International Film Festival of Morelia in 2021. Angel has also been a producer, organizing conferences, meetings, and workshops around the topics of communication, journalism, and literature.
As one of the Governance in Latin America Research Fellows, Angel will directly support the implementation of research and learning initiatives that will inform the strategic orientation and programmatic approaches for governance in this relatively new region for the IRC. The Governance Technical Unit amplifies the voices of people whose lives have been impacted by conflict and crisis by helping them regain control of their future and championing their right to influence the issues and programming that affect their communities. Priority areas of the fellowship will include: justice system strengthening, the conflict/climate nexus and environmental peacebuilding, climate resilience, social cohesion and how different IRC programs can have affect it (e.g. economic empowerment), and peacebuilding. Angel will work closely with the Latin America Governance Advisor, as well as regional and country teams.
Andrada-Francesca Ungureanu, The New School for Social Research, Psychology, MA, 2024
Francesca holds a BA in Liberal Arts from Sarah Lawrence College, with a concentration on Psychology and Anthropology. In her professional background, Francesca currently serves as a Graduate Research Assistant at RECOUP NY’s Trauma & Global Mental Health Lab, collaborating with George Washington University on global mental health projects, including the WHO-developed intervention Problem Management Plus (PM+). She also contributed to research as a Research Assistant at the Cognition and Emotion Lab at Sarah Lawrence College and conducted research at the University of Amsterdam in the Medical Anthropology and Psychology Departments. Her clinical experience includes roles as a Therapy Assistant and Intake Coordinator at the Central Military Hospital and the Psychiatric Department of Bagdasar-Arseni Hospital. Her commitment to education is evident through her role as CEO and Founder of Bright Admissions, where she mentored underprivileged students seeking higher education opportunities in the United States, as well as her contributions as a Teaching Assistant at Sarah Lawrence College and the Early Childhood Center of Development for Children in Bronxville. Francesca is certified in Mental Health First Aid and Suicide Prevention, and Red Cross Psychological First Aid (PFA). Her experiences in research, education, clinical practice, and leadership underscore her commitment to resilience, trauma, global mental health, peacebuilding and social cohesion.
As one of the Governance in Latin America Research Fellows, Angel will directly support the implementation of research and learning initiatives that will inform the strategic orientation and programmatic approaches for governance in this relatively new region for the IRC. The Governance Technical Unit amplifies the voices of people whose lives have been impacted by conflict and crisis by helping them regain control of their future and championing their right to influence the issues and programming that affect their communities. Priority areas of the fellowship will include: justice system strengthening, the conflict/climate nexus and environmental peacebuilding, climate resilience, social cohesion and how different IRC programs can have affect it (e.g. economic empowerment), and peacebuilding. Angel will work closely with the Latin America Governance Advisor, as well as regional and country teams.
Carolina Simbaña González, The New School for Social Research, Sociology, Phd, 2026
Carolina is a sociologist from Ecuador who holds a Master’s degree in Sociology from the New School for Social Research and a Master’s in Gender Studies from FLACSO Ecuador. She has contributed to the OECD, particularly in the PARIS21 section, where she supported the development of new methodologies to capture data-driven policy-making best practices. Carolina’s research focuses on Migration Studies, where she examines the access of migrants to public and private benefits and labor markets in destination countries. She has also researched the demographic changes of Central American immigrants in cities affected by natural disasters, such as New Orleans. Carolina’s work has been published in the academic magazine Textos de Economía (TEC), affiliated with the Department of Economics at the University of Santa Catarina in Brazil. Her most recent publication is the first chapter of the book Central American Migration in the 21st Century, edited and published by the University of Arizona Press in 2023.
As the Cross Border and Asylum Data Fellow, Carolina will generate a data-driven understanding of the current services provided to asylum seekers, and conduct analyses to understand service effectiveness in the top destinations for arriving asylum seekers. Her work will help the Refugee Asylum and Integration department’s Innovation Team drive new thinking, systems change, and research and development to support resettled refugees, asylees, and other vulnerable migrants. Carolina will also evaluate current cross border case management strategies and how the use of digital information systems can be leveraged for this purpose. Outputs from her fellowship will help guide internal IRC decision-making and provide evidence to policymakers, advocacy organizations, and direct service providers to ultimately improve outcomes for asylum seekers.
Carolina Cortes, The New School for Social Research, Politics, MA, 2025
Carolina holds a BA in Psychology and minors in Political Science and Global Affairs and Spanish from the University of Portland (2021) and is a Research and Advocacy Fellow at the Center for Migration, Gender, and Justice (CMGJ). At CMGJ, her main focus has been on gender and health justice for Venezuelan migrants, specifically, gender-based violence response, mitigation, and prevention. Among other projects, she has contributed to CMGJ’s Spotlight Project: “Migration, Peace, and Security”, monitoring protection frameworks for gender-responsiveness. Her presentation at the UN CEDAW 85th Session Parallel Event drew from CMGJ’s civil society report to highlight the situation of Venezuelan migrant women and girls, emphasizing GBV.
As the Venezuela Crisis Response (VCR) Research Fellow, Carolina will provide strategic research support to the IRC’s VCR team, focused on Colombia, Ecuador, Perú and Venezuela. Her work will include gathering information on forced migration/refugees, internally displaced populations and host communities affected by armed conflict and climate-related hazards in VCR, and creating factsheets to succinctly communicate complex information to a variety of internal and external audiences. Carolina’s research will help influence the scaling, delivery, and impact of IRC programming in VCR and through this opportunity she will learn more about the implementation of programs in humanitarian settings.
Julie Caracino, Julien J. Studley Graduate Programs in International Affairs, International Affairs, MS, 2024
Julie holds an MS in Urban Policy Analysis and Management from The New School (2010) and is currently pursuing an MS in International Affairs. Julie has more than 15 years of experience in energy efficiency and building decarbonization. Over the course of her career, she has worked with the US Department of Energy, US Environmental Protection Agency, utility companies, and state and local governments to develop and expand access to technologies and services that promote healthy, energy efficient homes and buildings. As a graduate student in International Affairs, Julie’s research focuses on the impacts of climate change on migration and mobility for Indigenous and Dalit populations in the US and India. She examines questions of land use and access to land that has been deemed “uninhabitable” by local governments. She also is currently working with Professor Sakiko Fukuda-Parr at The New School on research related to the use of TRIPS flexibilities and access to healthcare technology for least developed nations.
As the Global Research and Innovation Priority (GRIP) Policy Analyst Fellow, Julie will conduct policy analysis on the international and national barriers to implementing Airbel’s GRIPs,which are focused on the following areas: sexual reproductive and maternal and newborn health, technology for education, malnutrition, and climate change. Julie’s work will contribute to the Humanitarian System Change team, a new and evolving portfolio that utilizes depth of knowledge about current systems and creative thinking about new approaches to partnerships to challenge popular wisdom in the sector and influence those with the power to make a difference. In addition to summarizing reports and determining trends across the broader landscape, Julie will conduct interviews with policy makers from key organizations, execute desk research, and provide data analysis.
Lauren Handley, Patrick Cleary, and Marianna Poyares are continuing their spring fellowships into the fall, and Connor Smith, Ana Beatrix Trejos, and Azra Tanović are continuing their summer fellowships into the fall.
