Summer Student Fellowship

About the Fellowship Program

PDRI–DevLab’s student summer fellowships provide undergraduate, predoctoral, and postdoctoral students with hands-on opportunities to contribute to policy-relevant research in international development. Fellows work directly with faculty and global partners, gaining experience in rigorous methods, research design, and policy engagement.

The program is designed not just as a research placement, but as a training community: fellows participate in seminars, technical workshops, and peer presentations, while building connections with global institutions such as the World Bank, the United Nations (IOM), and leading NGOs.

Through these fellowships, students:

  • Apply research tools and methods in live projects.

  • Engage directly with international development organizations.

  • Build professional skills through mentorship, training, and collaboration.

  • Contribute to research outputs that inform policy and practice worldwide.

📚 Fellowship Structure

The fellowship combined applied research with structured training:

  • Weekly project meetings with faculty and advisors

  • A brown bag seminar series on New Research, Tools and Methods for International Development

  • Bi-weekly presentations by fellows, faculty, and guest speakers

  • Technical workshops in R, GIS, data visualization, citation management, and Penn Library resources

  • Community-building activities, including Slack collaboration, peer mentoring, and a pizza meet-and-greet

Learn more about our Summer 2025 Student Fellowship collaborations

Summer Fellowship 2025

World Bank Learn More International Organization for Migration (IOM/UN) Learn More
Summer 2025 Student Fellowship Cohort Click Here

Training & Fellowship Experience

Beyond project work, fellows participated in skills workshops, a brown bag seminar series, and bi-weekly research presentations. Sessions covered tools like R, GIS, and data visualization, as well as broader research design and professional development.

Community activities, including a pizza meet-and-greet and Slack-based collaboration, helped build a strong sense of cohort.

Looking Ahead

All six projects will continue into the 2025/26 academic year, with expanded teams and deliverables:

  • World Bank: Land Gap analytics brief, infrastructure restructuring dashboard, benchmarking paper on land record costs, and revenue analysis note.

  • IOM/UN: Global Compendium dissemination, expanded migration briefs, and a comparative synthesis for regional policymakers.

The fellowship exemplifies PDRI–DevLab’s mission: to bridge rigorous research with actionable insights, while training the next generation of leaders in development research and practice.

Stay Connected

Be part of the PDRI–DevLab Fellowship community and follow our journey as fellows bring research to life in partnership with global institutions. Stay updated on future fellowship opportunities, events, and publications.

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