1. Governance: uses quantitative data, statistical tools, and GIS mapping software to study governments' capacity, autonomy, delivery of services, and integrity in carrying out these functions. The team is currently undertaking projects pertaining to: (a) government audits (i.e. corruption in Honduras, Mexico, India, Africa);  (b) employment expenditures (i.e. patronage jobs); (c) money laundering and shell companies; (d) natural resources; (e) social/environmental safeguards in foreign aid projects; and (f) anti-corruption action plans in foreign aid projects.

2. Data4Peace: uses subnational data on violence, poverty, and other indicators to understand how transparency, accountability, and social services can be improved in post-conflict regions. We use various tools-- including GIS, statistical analysis, qualitative methods and experimental design--to explore these themes.

3. Civil-Military Data Team: endeavors to understand how various countries structure their military forces, create panel data sets of military geolocations, employ GIS tools to empower researchers, and to begin exploring the role of civil-military relationships in the developing world.  No prior knowledge of the military is required to participate in this research. The project leader will provide a necessary overview of military organization and initial resources to inform team members of current theoretical thinking regarding civil-military relationships in developing countries. Language and GIS skills are preferred, but all are welcome to apply.

4. Law4Development:  studies when and how international law can help developing countries to enact effective and sustainable development policies, especially with regard to environment and health. We study international treaties and international organizations to summarize and code texts to be useful for statistical analysis. In general, this team will pursue questions of push-and-pull between international law and developing countries' ability to direct their own social policies.

5. Property Rights and Poverty: a team that cleans, compiles, and learns from data on individuals' livelihoods in severely impoverished areas, both in the United States and abroad. Projects will focus on financial insecurity, especially on Native American reservations; insecurity in the ability of black South Africans' and Namibians’ ability to own productive agricultural land, as a result of racist apartheid legacies; and the controversial role of international law in helping multinational corporations protect their property rights when investing abroad.

6. The Data4Development Team will examine big questions concerning the shifts in global power and its consequences for the governance of the world economy and socio-economic development.  Specifically, the team will work on the shifting balance of power in international financial institutions (like the World Bank, IMF, World Trade Organization), the transparency and accounting of aid, and global indices (like the Corruption Perception Index) to assess and drive the performance of the state in the world economy. Key tasks and applied data work will include:: Collect key data such as relative economic weights of countries and other measures of national power and influence, staff composition in international financial institutions, and other variables to study power shifts in global economic governance. We use this data to analyze if the shifts in traditional power calculations are reflected in power shifts in international financial institutions. Interested students do not need prior experience with these data or statistical software such as Excel, Stata, or R; however, students should have a strong interest in learning about global economic governance and the world of complex data surrounding this system.”

7. Ubongo team: studies media interventions, nutrition education, and more in children's edutainment in Africa. We partner with Ubongo Learning Ltd, an edutainment enterprise located in Tanzania, to accomplish two things: 1. research to build curriculum plans for their children's shows and 2. evaluate the impact of their edutainment on their viewers. This semester, we will put together an impact evaluation plan to help Ubongo gather data about the success of their edutainment programs. Students particularly interested in education or whose studies focus on Africa are especially encouraged to apply.

8. Communications: manages IPD social media accounts, website, and blog.