State Department’s Diplomacy Lab

Diplomacy Lab, State Department initiative, invites student teams to ‘course-source’ policy-relevant research and innovation to solve real-world policy challenges. Te State Department designated Georgetown University as its first Diplomacy Lab partner in the nation’s capital. The Institute for the Study of Diplomacy is the university-wide coordinator but projects are open to programs, schools and colleges across the campus.

Undergraduate and graduate student teams and faculty across Georgetown’s schools and disciplines can now bid on Diplomacy Lab projects for fall 2019 Check out our FAQs below:

What types of issues will I be working on?

State Department offices and embassies generate a semi-annual lists of project topics.
Issues range across the policy spectrum – climate change, nonproliferation, democracy and human rights, counterterrorism, global health, energy security, gender equality, economic policy, trafficking in persons, food security, and conflict stabilization.

How do I get involved?

A Diplomacy Lab project team is comprised of at least four students and is led by a faculty member who serves as the project point of contact with State.
To bid on a project for fall 2017, faculty members should review the available projects, contact the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy by February 16 and provide a brief description (1000 characters) of the proposed approach to the project. (Please send this write-up to Jim Seevers, ISD Director of Studies, jps67@georgetown.edu.) Georgetown can bid on up to eight projects, with eight alternatives.

How do these projects work with my curriculum?

A Diplomacy Lab project can be:
integrated into an existing course,
an independent study course for credit; or
a course designed around one or more Diplomacy Lab topics, and,
may include collaboration across disciplines or departments/schools.
Student teams engage directly with State Department officials – either in person or via video or teleconferences – at least twice during the semester.
Final products are short policy memos with supporting research and data attached.
Top student teams may be invited to brief senior officials on their research and policy recommendations, or present their work at an annual State Department showcase event.