Dr. Jennifer Sciubba, associate professor of international studies at Rhodes, has been awarded a Policy Engagement Fellowship by Bridging the Gap, an organization based in Washington, D.C., that promotes scholarly contributions to public debate and decision making on global challenges and U.S. foreign policy. Fellows work with the Bridging the Gap leadership in conceptualizing and disseminating policy work.
Prior to joining the Department of International Studies at Rhodes in 2008, Sciubba worked as a demographics consultant to the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Policy) in Arlington, VA. She has expertise in demographic shifts and national security, particularly the political, economic, and social effects of population aging.
Sciubba plans to use the Policy Engagement Fellowship to share research from her current book project on population, and says, “In this book, I show how we can use demographics to answer some of the world’s most pressing questions. Is peace possible in the Middle East? Is a more prosperous Africa on the horizon? Is it still wise to invest in aging Asian countries, or is a new region poised for an economic miracle? Does the huge influx of refugees into Europe make the region more vulnerable to terrorist attacks? How likely is the spread of far-right leaders in the world’s democracies? And finally: Will the world of 2050 be more or less peaceful and prosperous than the world in 2018?”
Sciubba also will reach out to private sector audiences that use demographics to forecast trends. “I have good reach within the policy community already, but there’s so much crossover— in terms of personnel and topic—between the public and private sectors that my ideas can be influential in both,” she says.