The University of Denver’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies has been awarded significant research grants from the National Science Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation, building on the school’s upward trajectory in securing sponsored research.
The Josef Korbel School is one of 16 institutions to receive a National Science Foundation grant to explore how humans interact with the environment. The $1.8 million grant, awarded to professors Sarah Glaser, Dale Rothman and Karin Wedig, will fund research on how the growth of aquaculture in and around Lake Victoria will affect the wild fisheries for Nile perch and tilapia, and whether aquaculture can be designed to provide income in an equitable fashion.
The project also looks at aquaculture’s potential pollution impacts, trade-offs in investment for farmed versus wild fish, and how supply and demand for the different types of fish might impact the global market.
In addition to the NSF grant, the Korbel School has received a $1 million combined grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Royal Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway, won by Professor Timothy Sisk. His project, “Innovations in Peacebuilding: International Norms and Local Dynamics in Conflict-Affected Countries,” explores innovations in peacebuilding in Nepal and South Africa. Through cross-regional research on Asia, Africa and the Americas, researchers will focus on how local stakeholders in conflict-affected countries relate to and advance international human rights norms.
“The project is exciting in terms of the focus on Nepal and South Africa. Both countries are seen as peacebuilding successes but have experienced recent significant social turmoil and political violence,” Sisk says. His team will collaborate with Korbel School alumna Astri Suhrke (PhD ’69) a Norwegian researcher on ethnic conflict and peacebuilding.
“These recent successes of our faculty and research staff build on the Korbel School’s upward trajectory with regard to sponsored research,” says Erica Chenoweth, associate dean for research at Korbel. “Since 2007, the Korbel School’s sponsored research activity has seen a 23-fold increase. With nearly $4 million in new research project-related funding during this fiscal year alone, we are among the most competitive social science research institutions in the country. All of our funded projects link scholarship to the real world, giving them some added distinction. These really are ideas with impact.”