Meet the IRC-Zolberg Fellows for Spring 2024
The IRC and the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility at The New School are excited to announce the spring 2024 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.
Benjamin Serra, The New School for Social Research, Politics, MA, 2024
Ben is pursuing a Master’s in Politics at the New School for Social Research. Originally from Baltimore, Ben has eight years of experience working in a variety of community development and nonprofit research settings, including refugee and asylee resettlement, water security, poverty intervention, and restitutive justice. Currently a tutor at the University Learning Center, Ben’s research focuses upon migration and mobility studies, exploring the various relational components between movement, climate, and urban politics.
As the Locally-Led Climate Change Adaptation Research Fellow, Ben will support the implementation of research and learning initiatives for the Governance Technical Unit’s response to the climate crisis. Fundamental to this response is the belief that people affected by the global climate crisis must play an active role in shaping local, subnational, and global adaptation and response. Collaborating closely with the Deputy Director of the Governance Unit, Senior Technical Advisor for Systems Strengthening, Governance Advisors, and the regional and country teams, Ben’s work will inform the strategic orientation and programmatic approaches for a new iteration of the Locally-Led Climate Change Adaptation intervention.
Te Asia Hunter, Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy, Public & Urban Policy, PhD, 2026
Te Asia holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) from Columbia University (2021) where she concentrated in Sociomedical Sciences and earned a certificate in chronic disease epidemiology. She began working at the American Medical Association (AMA) Center for Health Equity shortly after completing her masters program. There, she contributed to efforts to advance equity throughout the organization and healthcare ecosystem at large. She currently remains at the AMA where, since 2022, she’s focused on research and policy work related to the sustainability of medicine. Topics include physician burnout, regulatory burden, and physician mental health. At The New School, she is a second year Public and Urban Policy PhD student within the Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy. Her research focuses on the decimation of Black traditional midwifery and its effects on current-day experiences of obstetric racism, as well as barriers that impede Black women’s and birthing people’s access to Black midwives.
As the Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care Study Research Fellow, Te Asia will contribute to a qualitative study assessing the feasibility and effectiveness of maternal and newborn healthcare referral systems in Nigeria and the Central African Republic. She will engage in data analysis and documentation of findings and recommendations, participating in coding and thematic analysis of in-depth interviews. Working closely with the research team and primary investigators, Te Asia will also collaborate with country teams and stakeholders to document and disseminate the study’s findings, identifying policy and advocacy implications.
Mauricio E Vargas Sosa, The New School for Social Research, Politics, MA, 2025
Mauricio conducted interdisciplinary research on the sociology of knowledge and utopian thought, graduating with honors as a social psychologist. In public academic conferences, he has focused on approaching the psychological discipline from a critical theoretical perspective. Mauricio received a scholarship from the Mexican Ministry of Public Education to study educational sciences at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He was an assistant at the Global Strategic Litigation Council for Refugee Rights, a teaching assistant for the course “Contemporary Psychoeducational Paradigms” at the UNAM [National Autonomous University of Mexico], and a research assistant at the IISUE [Institute of Research on University and Education]. Additionally, he contributed to the educational sector as a head librarian and tenured schoolteacher, and volunteered in the co-creation of a progressive and non-partisan political organization.
As the Health Technical Support Fellow, Mauricio will contribute to a new technical support model currently being implemented across the IRC, with the goal of making it more relevant to country programs. Specifically, Mauricio will conduct interviews with different stakeholders across the Health Technical Unit and regional and country program teams, as well document and disseminate lessons learned, best practices, and challenges related to quality of care in fragile and conflict-affected settings.
Ahmad Abbasi, Parsons School of Design, Transdisciplinary Design, MFA, 2025
Ahmad is currently pursuing an MFA in Transdisciplinary Design at Parsons School of Design. With a background spanning design, engineering, and education, Ahmad co-founded Naqsh Science Initiative, making science fun and engaging for children through stage shows across Jordan. He worked with the Crown Prince Foundation’s fabrication lab, TechWorks, where he contributed to designing and prototyping over 50 products. He also collaborated on design and content creation projects with NGOs like Doctors Without Borders and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
As the Content Development Fellow, Learning & Development, Ahmad will support the IRC’s Online Learning & Innovation team in establishing and piloting processes and systems for online learning. Collaborating closely with instructional designers and subject matter experts, Ahmad will apply instructional design principles and creative thinking to transform scripts, storyboards, and content descriptions into tangible digital learning materials. He will also coordinate with LMS administrators to configure engaging online courses for staff, contributing to the technological advancement of knowledge and skills within the IRC.
Angel Melgoza, Andrada-Francesca Ungureanu, Julie Caracino, Carolina Simbaña González, Sachchal Ahmad, and Isabelle Groenewegen are continuing their fall 2023 fellowships into the spring, and Connor Smith and Azra Tanović are continuing their summer 2023 fellowships into the spring.
