Independent Undergraduate Research
The Independent Undergraduate Research option offers students the following:
- Research opportunities guided by a faculty mentor
- Exposure to human rights issues through visits to local ngos and community associations
- Face-to-face interviews with immigrants, academics, civic and religious leaders
- Three academic credits upon successful completion of a 7000 page research paper
Recent examples of independent research projects conducted in Bologna include:
Blood and Borders: Immigrant Children and Jus Sanguinis (recognized as the top undergraduate research project in 2012 by The Forum for International Education)
Understanding the Social Representation of a Roma (gypsy) Community in Bologna, Italy
Bounded: Comparative Study of the Italian Roma (gypsy) and Native American Indian
Post-Cold War Immigration to Italy: Case Studies of Morocco and Albania
The Croatian Wine Industry and Social Media
How Undergraduate Independent Research Works:
The Italy Center provides logistical coordination and academic oversight to mature students who are willing to integrate and apply skills in a research project (on some campuses referred to as a “capstone project”). Students are assigned to a faculty and in many cases to a community leader who will assist the student in guiding the project. The Italy Center seeks to support student research initiatives that focus on issues of social justice, religious traditions, migration and global issues (topics which fall outside of the human rights realm have been accepted). The student, with the encouragement of an assigned Italy Center faculty advisor, will be asked to engage in the local community and are asked to use their Italian language skills (regardless of one’s level of proficiency). Research that could potentially be conducted within the confines of a United States library will not be accepted.
Related Research Activities Include:
An alternative model for conducting research is to participate in the John Hopkins Graduate School for Advanced International studies (SAIS) seminar series. Students are required to attend a minimum of ten lectures coordinated by the Bologna Center for Policy Research.