Jiaxuan ‘Joy’ Yue is a first-year MPP student at the Jackson School of Global Affairs exploring peacebuilding approaches and migration governance in the context of identity politics in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to Yale, Joy did policy and advocacy work on conflict in West and Central Africa at Search for Common Ground, an international peacebuilding organization, in Washington, DC. In particular, she conducted research and facilitated policy engagements on emerging digitalization-related conflict in the Sahel and urban security issues in Nigeria. Joy was previously a migrant protection and assistance intern with IOM’s Bangkok-based Regional Office for Asia-Pacific, where she provided technical support for a portfolio of migrant rights, counter-human trafficking, and return migrant reintegration projects. She was also a strategic communications consultant at IDinsight, a data-driven international development advisory organization.
Joy grew up in Beijing, China, and graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University in 2021, where she studied international politics with minors in international development and German. As an undergraduate, Joy spent three months in Sarajevo, where she helped strengthen the fundraising and marketing capacities of a grassroots organization empowering women in post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina. Joy hopes to pursue an international public sector career promoting sustainable peace, minority rights, and global governance.