The Institute for Regional and International Studies (IRIS) has awarded summer fieldwork awards to two Sociology grad students.
James Rosenberg is a PhD candidate in sociology and a visiting research fellow at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center. His dissertation investigates how the use of digital technology as a tool of statecraft shapes relations among states, markets, and citizens. Specifically, he considers the linkage of state-led digital identification systems with digital payment systems. He considers three paradigmatic cases of this linkage: those of Singapore, India, and the EU. With the support of the IRIS fellowship, he will conduct archival research in Singapore on the country’s “Singpass” initiative.
Michael Zaslavsky is a fourth-year PhD student in the Sociology Department and an affiliate of the Center for Demography and Ecology. He is interested in how populations change due to conflict and, relatedly, how ethno-national groups whose home countries are at war relate to one another in third countries. With this IRIS award, he plans to study the relationship between the Ukrainian and Russian communities in Türkiye.