This summer, the RGK Center awarded fellowships to several graduate students through the RGK Global Fellowships program. The fellowships were awarded to students who choose to pursue an international internship placement with an NGO or nonprofit outside of the United States. The two blog posts below were written by two of these student fellows who traveled to Japan this summer. Stay tuned for more updates from our summer global fellows throughout the month of August.
Neëma Lubin, MGPS Candidate
Hiroshima University, Saskawa Peace Foundation – Hiroshima, Japan
Working in Hiroshima, Japan has been a unique experience. It has been an honor not only to contribute to impactful programming that will impact future policymakers but also to be welcomed in by all of the caring faculty and staff at Hiroshima University.
The program for which I was interning is a seminar between Hiroshima University, the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, and Columbia University to lead the conversation on Peace and Sustainability as core principles of international relations and natural resource management. This seminar is taking place in observance of the 79th anniversary of the A-bomb that deeply impacted the Hiroshima prefecture. This seminar will include research on water quality and the long-term impact of the bombing as well as workshops and panels on natural resources, peace, and concepts to keep at the forefront of future policymaking.
Finally, participants will have the experience of being in Hiroshima during the Peace Memorial Ceremony and hear from survivors of the bombing about their experience since this event. I was fortunate enough to partake in a Language Exchange with a graduate education student who provided me with a solid foundation for interactions in Japan.
There were so many different aspects of Japanese culture to explore from the food and people to the history and spirituality. Thanks to the connections I have been able to make through the internship, I am certain that I will return shortly to further contribute to positive ways to innovate foreign policy and international relations.
Zander Mintz, MPAff Candidate
Institute for Global Environment Studies – Hayama, Japan
This summer, I had the privilege of working for the Paris Agreement Article 6 Implementation Partnership Center (A6IP) based in Hayama, Japan. A6IP was established by G7 Ministers at the G7 Climate and Energy Ministers’ meeting on April 2023 and is currently managed by the Institute for Global Environmental Studies (IGES) Japan with support from the UNFCCC Secretariat and the World Bank. Under this framework, A6IP has a global remit to promote the principles of high integrity carbon markets outlined in Article 6 of the Paris Agreement by offering capacity building workshops and support to both countries and private sector organizations. Essentially, A6IP helps to develop the know-how, the institutional arrangements, and international resource sharing needed for any country or organization seeking to finance emissions-reducing projects by leveraging carbon markets created by Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
As an intern on this team, I was involved in and led various initiatives related to data collection, analysis and visualization. One such initiative was to create a lightweight and flexible tracking and reporting tool which centralizes data related to A6IP partner countries. For another, I helped to develop and execute the data plan needed to support a research report that provides novel insight into Global Article 6 readiness. This will be A6IP’s flagship report which will be published and disseminated at COP29 this fall. In addition to supporting the impactful and important work that A6IP is doing, I had the opportunity to meet researchers from all disciplines and make great professional connections at IGES.
Outside of work, I had an amazing time exploring Japan, from visiting a ‘monkey park’ in Arashiyama, a neighborhood of Kyoto, to hiking through Nikko National Park, and to relaxing on the beaches of Hayama. Not to mention making wonderful memories with now lifelong friends.
Thanks to the RGK Center, Dr. David Eaton and LBJ Alumni Diana Khan for such an unforgettable experience and for making this all possible.
Read more about Zander's work in Japan in this article from the LBJ School >>