The new Weatherhead Scholars Program, which evolved from the former Fellows Program, welcomed its first group of participants this fall. This first class includes both academic scholars, such as visiting faculty and postdoctoral researchers, and practitioners in the field of international affairs, such as diplomats and military officers. Collectively termed as Scholars, most are here for the full academic year and have dedicated their time to pursuing various research projects. In addition, they participate in the Center’s closed seminar series for affiliates, the Weatherhead Forum, and in a biweekly breakfast meeting to share their research and receive constructive feedback from their colleagues in the program. It is a diverse group, in terms of research discipline and topic as well as choice of profession.
Affiliates in the Scholars Program have made valuable connections since arriving on campus. Several are collaborating with faculty through their participation in the Center’s research clusters. They include Camille Hamidi, a visiting scholar from the University of Lyon, who is working with WCFIA Director Michèle Lamont in the Research Cluster on Comparative Inequality and Inclusion, and Adrien Abecassis, former advisor to the French president François Hollande, who is participating in the new Research Cluster on Global Populism. Øyvind Skorge, a postdoctoral fellow from the Institute for Social Research in Oslo, Norway, has connected with the Weatherhead Initiative on Gender Inequality, while Darja Djordjevic, also a postdoctoral fellow and recent Harvard MD and PhD, is working with Harvard faculty in the Department of Anthropology as well as at the Harvard Medical School.
Making connections across the Harvard campus, Scholars also share their research findings and expertise through participation in seminars. Sophie Lemière, a postdoctoral fellow from France, joined four Harvard faculty on a recent panel on “Islam and Democracy,” sponsored by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation and chaired by WCFIA Faculty Associate Tarek Masoud. Harald Stieber, a senior economist from the European Commission and visiting scholar in the Scholars Program, recently presented to the Scholars his research on digital currency and financial regulation.
The Weatherhead Scholars Program is currently accepting applications from would-be visiting faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and practitioners who wish to conduct research at the Weatherhead Center in 2018–2019. As the current class has demonstrated, the opportunities for intellectual engagement and collaboration are considerable.
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The affiliates of the 2017–2018 Weatherhead Scholars Program. Credit: Martha Stewart