Diplomacy Lab lets Tar Heels address global challenges
In Carolina’s first year as part of the State Department program, faculty and students completed five different projects.
In August, UNC-Chapel Hill joined the Diplomacy Lab, the U.S. Department of State’s strategic effort to “engage the American people in the work of diplomacy.” Through the Diplomacy Lab, Carolina faculty bid on projects and, if selected, work together with students to address a real global challenge in consultation with a federal government agency.
The projects faculty and students take on include environmental sustainability, management challenges and policy solutions. The Diplomacy Lab opens a new avenue for Tar Heels to gain experiential learning and contribute directly to the policymaking process.
In Carolina’s first year as part of the Diplomacy Lab, Tar Heels submitted 11 proposals and were selected to complete five different projects.
“I wanted to gain more research experience by doing a real-world project,” Martha Carey ’26 said. “When this one came up, I thought it was such a good opportunity.” Carey is in Carolina’s TransAtlantic Masters program and is part of the group studying the social consequences of cocaine usage in Belgium.
Robert Jenkins, teaching professor in the political science department in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences, serves as the faculty adviser for the group. He is the Diplomacy Initiative Faculty Fellow and received a Faculty Award for Global Excellence in 2023. Jenkins, Carey and the other students in the group are working with the U.S. Embassy in Brussels to understand the implications of illegal drug trafficking and its correlation with gun violence, education, public safety and public health.
Thomas Ketterer ’26, who’s studying math and philosophy, was excited to participate in the Diplomacy Lab because he could use his skills in video design in one of its projects. With faculty adviser Tyler Pratt, assistant professor in political science, Ketterer and his groupmates are helping the State Department create better ways to form strategic plans.
“We create video modules on how to write effective strategic plans,” he said, “mainly for foreign partners who need more guidance with writing or for employees who don’t have English as their first language.”
The Diplomacy Lab helps students develop critical skills, such as problem-solving, research and communication, which are essential to the Diplomacy Initiative’s purpose of equipping students with the skills necessary to solve shared global challenges. Meanwhile, the State Department benefits from Carolina students’ “fresh perspectives” and “practical research solutions.”
Since the State Department launched the Diplomacy Lab in 2013, thousands of students and faculty from more than 60 academic institutions around the U.S. have helped broaden the State Department’s research base by completing Diplomacy Lab projects.
