We are inviting applications from undergraduate and graduate students to participate in the Disability Inclusive Development Initiative during winter and spring quarters. Students with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply. 

 

WHAT IS THE DISABILITY INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE? 

The global community has committed to ensuring development benefits everyone, even the most marginalized.  Yet people with disabilities are often denied the most basic rights, including the rights to an education, to live free from violence, and to have access to information about their sexual and reproductive health.  DIDI brings together high-achieving students from across the university to produce quality research that explores the meaning of inclusion in international development.  Our goal is to generate new evidence and ways of thinking about when and why inclusion works best and for whom, paying particular attention to the many factors that can present barriers such as gender, age, race, class, indigeneity, and others.

Student fellows will receive valuable experience through intensive, mentored research experiences, interactions with professionals working in the field, and opportunities to present research in different public contexts. 

You can learn more about the program here: https://jsis.washington.edu/research/ipi/disability-inclusive-development-initiative/.

 

EXPECTATIONS OF FELLOWS

Fellows will be required to attend weekly meetings of approximately one hour during both Winter and Spring Quarters and to work independently on their own or in small groups to accomplish discrete tasks given to them by DIDI faculty.  All students will be expected to complete a minimum of one writing exercise by the end of the program which could include a policy brief, an op-ed article or blog post, or other piece of writing for public consumption.

Weekly meetings will be arranged based on the availability of the research team. Accepted students may sign up for research credit if they choose.

Required hours for this project are up to 19.5 hours a week.

 

ELIGIBILITY

To be eligible to participate in the DIDI undergraduate students must have taken at least one of the following classes: JSIS/LSJ/DS 346 Disability in Global and Comparative Perspectives; LSJ 491/DS 430 Gender, Disability and Law; or participated in the LSJ study abroad program on Disability, Development and Ageing in Jamaica.  If you are an undergraduate, you must also be either a junior or a senior.  Applicants who do not meet these criteria may be considered on a case by case basis.

Graduate student applicants who are working in the area of human rights, international development and/or disability in civil society and social movements are encouraged to apply.  

  

APPLICATION PROCESS

Students interested in becoming DIDI Fellows should email Stephen Meyers (sjmeyers@uw.edu) and Megan McCloskey (meganmc@uw.edu) by 3pm on Friday, January 24, 2020.  LATE APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. 

 

The email should include: 

1: A cover letter identifying your research background/abilities, any language skills you have, relevant courses you have taken, and your interest in working on the topic.

2: A resume.

3: A writing sample. The writing sample may not be coauthored with other individuals.

4. An unofficial transcript.

 

Please make the subject line of the email DIDI APPLICATION. 

Please contact Stephen Meyers (sjmeyers@uw.edu) or Megan McCloskey (meganmc@uw.edu) with any questions.