Wilson Center Announces 20 Members of 2024-2025 Fellowship Class

PRESS RELEASE 
Contact: Ryan McKenna
Phone: (202) 691-4217 
ryan.mckenna@wilsoncenter.org 

WASHINGTON - The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars is proud to announce its 2024-2025 fellowship class. This year's group features 20 distinguished scholars and practitioners, made up of 11 women and 9 men, hailing from all over the world including the United States, Afghanistan, Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Germany, India, Japan, Nigeria, the Philippines, Poland, South Korea, Taiwan, Ukraine, and Zimbabwe. 

"Wilson Center fellows are a core part of our mission to provide nonpartisan counsel and insights on global affairs to policymakers, delivered through their deep research, impartial analysis, and independent scholarship,” said Ambassador Mark A. Green, Wilson Center president and CEO.

The 2024-2025 fellows and the projects they will pursue while in residence at the Wilson Center are: 

Angela Ajodo-Adebanjoko, Research Professor, Olusegun Obasanjo Centre for African Studies, National Open University of Nigeria, Abuja. “Voice for the Vulnerable: The Women Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism in North-Eastern Nigeria.”

Margarita M. Balmaceda, Professor of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University. “The Last Frontier of Decarbonization: Hidden Industrial Fossil Fuels Between Geopolitics and Climate Change.”  

Margarita Fajardo, Professor of Latin American History and Global Studies, Sarah Lawrence College. “Taming Markets: Latin America and the Global Neoliberal Era.”  

Lisa Gilman, Professor of Folklore and English, Institute for Immigration Research, George Mason University. “My Culture, My Survival: Arts Initiatives by Refugees for Refugees.”  

Steven Heydemann, Ketcham Chair in Middle East Studies and Professor of Government, Smith College. “Trajectories of Stateness in the Arab World.”  

Toshihiro Higuchi, Associate Professor of History, Georgetown University. “Nuclear Marine Propulsion and the Oceanic History of American Empire.” 

 Pamela Jagger, Professor of Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan. “Weathering Africa’s Climate Traps.”  

Courage Mlambo, Researcher, Mangosuthu University of Technology, Zimbabwe. “China in Africa: Cooperation, Exploitation, Democracy and the Future of the Global Order.”  

Neeti Nair, Professor of History, University of Virginia. “Capitals in the Margins: South Asia Since Partition.”  

Molly O’Toole, Journalist; former Immigration and Security Reporter, The Los Angeles Times. “The Route: How American Policy, a Billion-Dollar Black Market, and Indomitable Resilience are Bringing the World’s Refugees to the US Border.”  

Akachi Odoemene, Professor of African History, Federal University Otuoke, Nigeria. “The Resurgence of Coup D’états in West Africa: Causes, Dynamics, and Implications for Democratic Development.”  

Amy Paik, Associate Research Fellow, Center for Security and Strategy, Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, South Korea. “A Study of International Law Relating to Undersea Cables and Pipelines: Does Current Law Adequately Protect Them from Attacks or Sabotage in International Waters?”  

Raul Pangalangan, Professor of Law, University of the Philippines, and former Judge, International Criminal Court (The Hague). “Judging History in the Courts: Atrocity Crimes and the Limits of International Criminal Justice.”

Ronojoy Sen, Research Fellow, Institute of South Asian Studies and South Asian Studies Program, National University of Singapore. “Imagining the Nation: An Intellectual History of Hindu Nationalism.”  

Sylwia Spurek, PhD, attorney-at-law, Member of the European Parliament 2019-2024, Deputy Commissioner for Human Rights 2015-2019, Poland. “Cyber-Violence Against Women - A New Face of an Old Problem.” 

Christoph von Marschall, Chief Diplomatic Correspondent, Tagesspiegel (Berlin). “Rethinking the Idea of the ‘West’: Why its Future Could Lie in the (Far) East.”  

Diego von Vacano, Professor of Political Science, Texas A&M University. “Power Over Energy: The Geopolitics and Ethics of Lithium in Latin America.”  

Gaisu Yari, Practitioner in the field of women’s rights, Afghan Voices of Hope Project. “Collecting Testimonies of Women in Exile and Afghanistan.”  

Sergei Zhuk, Professor of History, Ball State University. “The KGB/Russian Intelligence, Academic Imperialism, Ukraine, and Western Academia, 1946-1991.”  

Carin Zissis, Editor-in-Chief, AS/COA Online, Americas Society/Council of the Americas. “The Parity Paradox: Lessons from Mexico’s Rise as a Global Leader in Women’s Political Representation.”  

Notes to editors: 

1. The Wilson Center provides a strictly nonpartisan space for the worlds of policymaking and scholarship to interact. By conducting relevant and timely research and promoting dialogue from all perspectives, it works to address the critical current and emerging challenges confronting the United States and the world.