Meet the IRC-Zolberg Fellows for Spring 2022
The IRC and the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility at The New School are excited to announce the spring 2022 cohort of fellows. Supported by the Arnhold Foundation, master’s and doctoral students at The New School have the opportunity to contribute 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. Fellows have a wide range of experience, and come from the Parsons School of Design, School of Nonprofit and Public Management, and other New School departments. Learn more about the fellowship.
Aloma Maria Antao, Transdisciplinary Design, Parsons School of Design, MFA, 2023
Aloma has served as the Senior Creative Lead at various digital advertising and design agencies in India, where she has inhabited the intersection between future-facing technologies, compelling storytelling, and human-centered design. Her primary research interests include care and communities, memory and materiality, and alternative economies. She hopes to connect her personal politics with her skill sets and practice, so that she can contribute to the realization of futures that are more sustainable, inclusive, and equitable.
As the Cost Analysis & Design Fellow, Aloma will design and develop structured training and promotional materials to facilitate the understanding and use of Dioptra by program staff at the IRC and other NGOs. The Dioptra tool for cost-efficiency analysis was collectively built by the consortium in 2019 to allow program staff without prior experience in economic evaluation to quickly and easily produce cost-efficiency data for program management and sectoral learning. These print and video materials will include slide decks, flipbook, promotional video, demo video, and tutorial videos on “Value for Money”, cost analysis concepts, and the use of the Dioptra tool.
Max Helfand, Transdisciplinary Design, Parsons School of Design, MFA, 2023
Max recently served as a Service Design Intern and Product Design Intern in corporate settings and an Educational Support Intern at a Los Angeles high school. Through these experiences, Max learned to conduct qualitative research and co-design with diverse participant groups. Max also has an academic background in psychology and education, which grounds him in individual-level experience, while his current coursework in systems thinking and design research has trained him to triangulate this perspective with analysis of root causes systemic problems. His current research interests include expanding access to education for underserved communities, housing justice, and climate justice.
As the Asynchronous Learning & Design Fellow, Max will work with the General and Specialized Health Technical Advisors in the Health Technical Unit to develop asynchronous learning tools and adapt existing content to develop learning modules that will be available for free on Kaya Connect, a humanitarian learning platform which offers hundreds of training opportunities across a range of key topics. The priority modules will focus on the Package of Essential Non-Communicable Disease interventions for Humanitarian settings (PEN-H).
Tzlil Rubinstein, School of Public Engagement, Studley Graduate Programs in International Affairs, MA, 2023
Most recently, Tzlil served as the Interim Director of Democracy and Human Rights at Shatil — New Israel Fund, in Jerusalem, Israel, where she built capacity, collaborations, and joint policy actions with over 200 organizations working on issues such as human rights, democracy, and social justice. Other recent positions include: the Organizer for Democracy, Human Rights, and Freedom of Protest, also at Shatil; the National Spokesperson for Green Course where she oversaw 15 local climate justice campaigns; Assistant to the Deputy Director, Senior Division PR at Israel’s Ministry of Justice; and Head of Desk for Jewish Pluralism Watch, a research institute monitoring the work of the Israeli parliament regarding religious freedom. Tzlil’s current research interests include development and climate, specifically sustainable fashion. She is specifically interested in understanding how climate and human rights can go hand in hand with financial growth.
As the Social Accountability Methods Fellow, Tzlil will work with Governance Technical Advisors at the Governance Technical Unit (GTU) to develop and refine core governance activities and interventions, focusing on IRC’s social accountability tools for Strong, Inclusive and Accountable User Committees and Social Networking. The GTU is currently in the process of refining and improving methodologies within its core interventions that aim to strengthen and promote people’s engagement in how communities are managed and led. Tzlil will play a key role in developing and refining several tools and training methodologies.
Benjamin Serra, School of Public Engagement, Studley Graduate Programs in International Affairs, MA, 2023
Benjamin Serra currently serves as Senior Public Policy Analyst for the Maryland Community Action Partnership where he created and leads the Public Policy research wing of the organization. He has additionally performed public policy research and advocacy work related to refugees/asylees, water security, environmental justice, the school-to-prison pipeline, health equity, and poverty with a wide range of organizations and community-based groups. Benjamin has also served as a music therapist for refugee women’s groups and refugee/asylee children, a mentor for at-risk youth, a music teacher, and a volunteer at Paul’s Place (homeless shelter, food bank, job training, community hub in Pigtown, Baltimore). Benjamin’s current research interests include climate change and environmental justice, global inequality, community action, grassroots outreach, nonprofits, and social business.
As the Learning Innovation Fellow, Benjamin will help drive innovative learning initiatives, including: 1) supporting the delivery of the IRC’s first VR pilot centered on a safety and security training simulation; and 2) identifying and testing existing options for delivering microlearning to our staff, and/or develop a new approach for delivery of microlearning. Benjamin will design and carry out staff and user experience interviews, contribute to research tools and pathway prototyping, and facilitate a VR pilot as a key focal point. His work will influence the scaling, delivery and impact of these initiatives across the organization.
Belen Fodde, Gao Kabubi, and Julie Kim will be continuing their Fall 2021 fellowships into Spring 2022. Monica Salmon Gomez and Lesley Onstott will be continuing their Summer 2021 fellowships into Spring 2022.
