Where summer 2026 fieldwork took Jackson students

Jackson students spent the summer of 2026 around the world, taking part in internships central to the Master in Public Policy experience. Their stories offer a powerful look at how hands-on engagement enriches learning, and how they are contributing to solutions across borders.

Hekmat Matthew Aboukhater

In summer 2026, MPP candidate Hekmat Matthew Aboukhater returned to the G20 Youth Summit as Chair of the Fragility, Conflict, and Violence track, two years after serving as the U.S. delegate for the Reform of Global Governance track at the 2024 summit. Over several weeks of preparation and a four-day summit in Washington, D.C., he worked with delegates from across the G20 to negotiate policy recommendations on conflict, governance, and youth engagement that were included in the final Y20 Communiqué presented to G20 leaders.

Seeing delegates from China, the United States, Indonesia, Mexico, and across the G20 work together in good faith gave me a real sense of optimism. These young leaders will one day sit across from one another debating the world's most consequential issues, and I think we'll be in very good hands.”

Alex Bare

MPP candidate Alex Bare worked in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, as a Political and Conflict Analysis Intern with the United Nations Resident Coordinator's Office, the UN's lead country office. His work centered on social cohesion along Tajikistan's border with Kyrgyzstan, a region marked by tension and occasional violent clashes since 1991, exploring how that fragile peace can be strengthened through collaboration across local government, multilaterals, and international financial institutions.

Having started my career on political issues in Latin America, I used this summer to explore the UN system in a new region outside my comfort zone. I began studying Russian during my MPP, and this summer in Tajikistan is a big step towards my goal of graduating with advanced proficiency.”

Maya Berlinger

MPP candidate Maya Berlinger interned in Nairobi with Anzana Electric Group, a developer, investor, and operator of hydropower and grid distribution projects across East, Central, and Southern Africa. She worked on the investment team, supporting the company's project pipeline and existing portfolio, building on her background in engineering, consulting, and investing.

Bernard Birikorang

MPP/MEM candidate Bernard Birikorang served as a Bekenstein Climate Summer Intern with the Clean Energy States Alliance, supporting its Virtual Power Plant Acceleration Initiative. He developed implementation resources to help state governments design and launch VPP programs, including a national database of active programs, stakeholder-mapping tools, and a newsletter for policymakers.

The question guiding my summer has been: What can I build that CESA will still be using years from now? That mindset has shaped every project I take on and reminded me that lasting impact often begins with creating tools that empower others.”

Kevin Chen

MPP candidate Kevin Chen served as a Research Fellow at GovAI, the Centre for the Governance of AI in London, one of the field's most selective AI policy programs. His research evaluates geopolitical bias within large language models, and he collaborated with the UK Prime Minister's AI office to bridge his technical evaluations with practical national policy. In his time off he explored London with fellow MPP students. 

It's easy to feel pessimistic about emerging technology, but GovAI and Jackson have given me the resources to navigate the accelerating field of AI policy. Researching this summer alongside the responsible, capable people tasked with making critical decisions gives me profound optimism for the future.”

Madeline Corson

BA/MPP candidate Madeline Corson served as a Peace and Development Intern in Quito, Ecuador, with the United Nations Resident Coordinator's Office. Working primarily in Spanish, she supported the office by analyzing Ecuador's evolving sociopolitical landscape, preparing briefings for senior leadership, and contributing to the 2027–2030 Cooperation Framework.

At a difficult time for development, being closer to the people most affected by the UN's work is even more important. Different constraints don't mean dampened ambitions, but they do necessitate a change in strategy. I've learned the most important skill isn't speaking, but listening, responding, and understanding the UN's role as principal convener.”

Sherab Lhamo Dorji

Joint-degree student Sherab Lhamo Dorji returned home to Bhutan to support the Bhutan Trust Fund for Environmental Conservation in Thimphu. A joint-degree student at Yale Jackson and the Yale School of the Environment, she is strengthening the monitoring, evaluation, and learning systems underpinning Green Climate Fund and Adaptation Fund investments, while helping review grant proposals under the Trust Fund's roughly $1.3 million annual funding window.

Getting to come home and work with the Trust Fund has been an absolute privilege. Learning from Bhutan's leading experts and practitioners has shown me how deeply the country's philosophy and institutions shape its approach to development and climate adaptation, and how they can continue to define a more ambitious, just, and resilient future at home and beyond. This experience has also shown me that when resources are mobilized with purpose, they can turn national vision into real, lasting change for communities on the ground.”

Camden Dyer

MPP candidate Camden Dyer interned with UNDP's Inclusive Growth team in Bangkok. He is helping build a “dynamic governance” index and drafting a flagship report on demographics, aimed at shifting the conversation around falling fertility rates and aging populations toward the opportunities latent in societies defined by longevity.

Arunima Gupta

MPP candidate Arunima Gupta joined the CEO's Office at IDinsight, a global advisory and data analytics organization, in Lusaka, Zambia. IDinsight helps governments and nonprofits use evidence to address poverty and inequality, and Gupta worked closely with the Chief of Staff on strategic and operational priorities, gaining firsthand exposure to organizational leadership and board governance.

Arshia Haque

MPP candidate Arshia Haque joined Better Futures Guide, a Netherlands-based, early-stage evaluator that guides donors to high-impact livelihoods charities. She helped build BFG's cost-effectiveness methodology for poverty graduation, drawing on five years of field research across South Asia to sharpen her focus on effective, evidence-based giving.

The learning curve was steep, and entirely because of the people. Working beside founders who think this carefully, on questions this fascinating, I learned more in one summer than I thought was possible.”

Seiyoon Ko

MPP candidate Seiyoon Ko served on the Privacy & Data team at the Center for Democracy & Technology in Washington, D.C. She focused on consumer privacy and emerging questions around AI-driven advertising, while also researching federal and state privacy legislation, connected vehicles, and the effects of AI on workers and consumers.

Avia Liberman

MPP candidate Avia Liberman served as a Junior Fellow with the Atlantic Council's Middle East Programs. He authored five policy papers on the financial architecture of Gaza's reconstruction, working in coordination with Palestinian and Israeli economic institutions to find common ground between them.

The reality on the ground is already changing, and as bureaucrats we must be the first movers, doing the market crafting needed so Gaza's reconstruction is both compliant with international regulation and genuinely bottom-up, giving Gazans real agency. The technological solutions are already here, so let's embrace them.”

Khonzoda Murodkhujaeva

MPP candidate Khonzoda Murodkhujaeva was selected as a WBG Youth Summer Delegate and joined the World Bank Group's Summer Fellows Program in Washington, D.C., working on the jobs and just transition agenda. Her work focused on how the climate transition can create and preserve decent jobs while ensuring workers, communities, small and medium enterprises, and vulnerable groups are not left behind.

This summer reminded me that international development is not only about designing ambitious policies, but about making sure those policies reach people's lives in practical, inclusive, and dignified ways.”

Hudson Ozello

MPP/MBA candidate Hudson Ozello returned to Timor-Leste as a Business Strategy Intern at the Bamboo Institute, a full-circle moment after first partnering with the Institute as a Peace Corps Volunteer from 2019 to 2020. Working bilingually in English and Tetun, he is revising the Institute's six-year strategic plan, pursuing competitive grant funding, and automating key data systems.

After my evacuation from Timor-Leste in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I wasn't sure when I would be able to return. I'm incredibly grateful to the Bamboo Institute, my host family, and Yale Jackson for supporting my journey and making meaningful work possible this summer.”

Ana Sáenz de Tejada

In summer 2026, MPP candidate Ana Sáenz de Tejada worked at The Rockefeller Foundation in New York City, on the Strategic Learning and Impact team that shapes the Foundation's approach to impact measurement across its global initiatives. Her projects spanned developing an AI deployment strategy for monitoring, evaluation, and learning, and supporting strategy and measurement frameworks for the Foundation's Jobs, Health, Food, and impact investing initiatives.

I feel lucky that my first experience in philanthropy is with a foundation over 100 years old, still unafraid to fund new ideas and convene unlikely partnerships. This summer gave me clarity on the impact of working as a funder with subject-matter expertise, and a chance to apply what I've learned this past year at Yale.”

Isaiah Williams

MPP candidate Isaiah Williams, PE, served as a Policy Intern at CEBRI (Centro Brasileiro de Relações Internacionais) in Rio de Janeiro, working with the center's North America and Environment and Climate programs. He drafted concept notes on Brazilian trade relations, climate finance, and institutional partnerships, gaining rare access to closed-door seminars with Brazilian diplomats and policymakers.

Each week at CEBRI is a lesson in the Brazilian diplomatic tradition. Conversations with diplomats, business leaders, and researchers give me an insider's view of what Latin American policymakers are wrestling with right now — strategic autonomy, a fracturing multilateral system, negotiating with trade partners. Watching that unfold in real time is exactly the immersion I came to Yale for.”