IIS connects Berkeley's community with frontline humanitarian organizations, human rights groups, conflict analysts and practitioners to examine conflict and fragility in today's world, and build understanding of impacts on communities and societies.
Recent speakers have discussed conflict and human rights in specific contexts; others draw connections to shed light on global trends and patterns.
IIS’s URAP project, Support for international policymaking through news monitoring of the conflicts in Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and Myanmar, engages students in media monitoring and situation analysis to build knowledge and produce policy-relevant news monitors on complex conflict systems in three countries.
URAP students work closely with IIS and the human rights organization PAEMA (Preventing and Ending Mass Atrocities) throughout the academic year. They assist with research tasks, engage with guest speakers, and engage in conversations about conflict, global fragility, and the international institutions and mechanisms available for responding to crisis. Students can earn two units of academic credit for 6 to 8 hours of work per week.
The International Policy Research Discovery Program (IPRD), launched in Summer 2026, trains Berkeley undergraduates and master’s students on conflict analysis to produce policy-relevant research that reaches decision-makers through IIS’s civil society collaborators. In 2026, ten students conducted policy research on topics ranging from critical mineral investments, to AI usage by displaced people, to civilian protection mechanisms in conflict affected-regions of South Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa.
Read IPRD reflection essays by 2026 Research Assistants Malin Petersson and Elliott Suarez
Above: IPRD participants Kaung Lett Yhone, Jacky Li and Shunyata Lysenko
IIS also convenes periodic symposia on key issues affecting fragile and conflict-affected states. In 2026, symposia topics included geopolitical competition over access to critical minerals in Asia.
- Flash Panel on the U.S.-Iran conflict with experts Tom Moran, Sahar Razavi and Jeff Fields, March 2026
Event Recording | Event Synopsis - Ask a North Korean: A Conversation with defector Charles Ryu
Event Recording | Event Synopsis - Junta on the Defense: Making Sense of Myanmar in 2026 with Deputy Minister Human Rights Aung Kyaw Moe, National Unity Government (Myanmar's pro-democracy government-in-exile)
Topics
Comparative Politics topic page, Arms Control topic page, Conflict Resolution topic page, Diplomacy topic page, Geopolitics topic page, Human Rights topic page, Military topic page, Terrorism topic page, War topic page, Development topic page, Finance / Trade topic page, Global / Transnational topic page, Human Rights / Norms topic page, Resource topic page, Security / Defense topic page