Hear What Our 2018 Fellows Have to Say About Summer in the Field

Take Your Research Abroad This Summer with 2019 Summer in the Field Fellowship

“The Summer in the Field Program creates the opportunity, frame, and process through which students hungry for new experiences can easily and safely access them,” said Federico Pisani, an MA candidate at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies and the 2018 Summer in the Field Fellow.

The Global Development Policy Center’s Summer in the Field fellowship offers qualified Masters and/or PhD students a stipend of up to $4000 to participate in unpaid internship opportunities and field research. Here are some pictures from last year’s research fellows: Rebecca Olson (BU School of Public Health, MPH candidate), Gedeon Lim (BU Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, PhD candidate in Economics) and Federico Pisani (Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, MA candidate).

To read the stories of other Summer in the Field fellows, click here.

More information on the fellowship, the application process, and requirements can be found here.

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For six weeks, Summer in the Field 2018 Fellow Federico Pisani investigated how the social connections of women in India affect their access to family planning.
Summer in the Field 2018 Fellow Rebecca Olson lived for much of the summer in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, working with expectant mothers in the region as a program manager with the nonprofit Tag International Development.
For six weeks, Summer in the Field 2018 Fellow Federico Pisani investigated how the social connections of women in India affect their access to family planning, alongside Professor Mahesh Karra.
Summer in the Field 2018 Fellow Rebecca Olson lived for much of the summer in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, working with expectant mothers in the region as a program manager with the nonprofit Tag International Development.

Pisani worked with Mahesh Karra, Assistant Professor of Global Development Policy at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies and Associate Director of the Human Capital Initiative, to design an experiment where three groups of women received either information and a brochure (the control group), a voucher to purchase reproductive health-related services, or a voucher and the opportunity to bring two friends who would receive a voucher as well. The goal of their research was to investigate the impact of social networks on family planning in Jaunpur, India.

“The Summer in the Field Program allowed me to draw unique data that I intend to use for my final MA Paper. Moreover, the experience gave me some clarity over the topics that interest me the most. I found out about my need to improve in several skill sets, and earned some confidence in finding out I wasn’t that bad at others,” he added.