Capstone: Practicum I & II
The Conflict Resolution Practicum I & II series is equivalent to an M.A. capstone. The Practicum is a project-based, team-based, experiential course.
The course runs over two semesters, spring and fall. During the Practicum, students form teams, recruit an outside partner, plan, create and deliver a real-world project that requires them to apply their knowledge and develop practical skills. Practicum projects reflect the particular interests and skills of the students’ teams and serve the needs and interests of the partner organizations.
The Practicum provides students an opportunities to become substantially acquainted with a particular dimension of the conflict resolution field, cultivate a range of practical skills and contribute to their career development.
2025 Partners & Projects
U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Congressional Helsinki Commission): Students wrote a report on the occasion of the Commission’s 50th anniversary.
Women for Women International: Students contributed to the group’s blog, conducted interviews with partners, and developed case studies based on their data for use in organizational evaluation and learning.
International Criminal Justice Initiative: Students wrote the quarterly report for the organization; student team was embedded with the ICJI during their Practicum.
The United States Institute for Peace, Peace Games team: Students wrote a peace game that entails a crisis response to a cascading series of events in the Marshall Islands.
International NGO Safety Organization: Students reviewed data on humanitarian aid access refusals, including interviews with key informants, and wrote a report on recommendations.
International Center for Religion and Diplomacy: Students conducted research on the changed environment for peacebuilding organizations and civil society in Lebanon. Students organized a stakeholder workshop, conducted on the ground interviews, wrote up their research and presented it at the 2025 Peace and Justice Association annual conference.
DC Peace Team: Students organized a one-day conference that included a panel discussion on polarization and opportunities for dialogue, as well as a workshop on techniques for dialogue-across-difference.
Stimson Center: Diplomacy Wins, students organized a panel discussion of former diplomats at the Stimson Center on diplomatic approaches to multilateral negotiations.
2024
Beyond Conflict: Students designed and carried a survey of Congressional staffers on polarization and de-polarization.
Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE): Students devised sector-specific recommendations for combatting corruption in a series of post-conflict states.
ReBin: Students worked on a green/circular economy project in Benin involving a review of international fundraising laws and recommendations, as well as a business plan for taking the project into new towns. One of the members of this team presented the work at the World Water Congress in fall 2025.
Search for Common Ground: Students researched and wrote a policy brief on the Youth, Peace and Security agenda, conducting interviews with key informants throughout DC working on the issue.
United States Institute for Peace (USIP): Students reviewed Taliban decrees, built a dataset, tracked them against external events to identify when/why the Taliban issues decrees circumscribing women’s rights.
2023
The Carter Center: Students studied scoping for climate sensitive peacebuilding programming in Mali.
DC Student Consortium on Women, Peace and Security: Students conducted interviews with women activists in indigenous communities throughout North America and designed a social media campaign to raise their profile.
International Organization for Migration (IOM), Western Hemisphere: Students researched and wrote a white paper on how to operationalize the loss and damage fund in the Caribbean, with a special emphasis on indigenous communities. The white paper was presented to IOM Geneva.
Mercy Corps: Students conducted a review of methods for working with vulnerable populations in Jordan, and recommendations for methods in project design.
Pollack Peacebuilding Systems: Student facilitated several dialogue across difference groups, testing a methodology for de-polarization.
the Prosecution Project (tPP): Student contributed to the creation of a new dataset on domestic terrorism targeting infrastructure.
Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre: Students carried out a data visualization project on famine and climate change in North Korea.
The Stimson Center: Students contributed in researching and writing a chapter on policy recommendations in preparation for the UN New Agenda for Peace summit: Redefining Approaches to Peace, Security and Humanitarian Action.
United States Institute for Peace (USIP): Students conducted a multi-sector policy review and recommendations, and presentation for the Russia/Ukraine team.