ICAR APT Team Off to Morocco M.S. and Ph.D Students Seek to Apply Theory to Practice

As one of three options for graduation, ICAR M.S. students have the chance to participate in the Applied Practice and Theory (APT) program. Under the guidance and mentorship of a faculty member, this six-credit capstone aims to provide students with real-world application of the theories learned in the classroom.

The Applied Practice and Theory program was developed in 1992 to create an opportunity for students to practice in the Conflict Resolution field with a safety net – a faculty member to counsel and mentor them as they face realistic conflicts in the community they are working in. Over the subsequent 17 years of APT team projects, a need was voiced for a similar program for students interested in comprehensive and long-term research projects.

In an effort to provide different APT opportunities that met the broad range of student interests, Karina Korostelina was asked to mentor a research focused APT team. In the years since, she has worked with groups engaging conflicts in Chiapas, Mexico – a trip made memorable by a meeting with a Zapatista leader in the middle of the rainforest – as well as projects at the International Criminal Court, and justice and peacebuilding for the United Nations.

Led by Korostelina, the current research team, comprised of eight students – 3 Ph.D. students and 5 Master’s students – is focusing on the impact of modernization on Islamic Radicalization in Morocco. Unlike most other APTs, the group met once a week in an ICAR classroom in preparation for their trip to Morocco, where they will meet with 20 to 30 international and local NGO leaders, academics and religious leaders. Essentially, they spent the last year developing their research knowledge base in order to conduct these interviews.

All eight students involved in this project had little to no research background when they met for the first time. Korostelina prides herself on teaching her students the basics of research design, which she believes, is fundamental to developing the Conflict Resolution field. In her words, she is “growing a new generation of researchers.” By participating in a research APT program, she believes students will develop the skills necessary for jobs in analytical fields post-graduation.

M.S. student Xanthie Mangum plans to use the tools she has learned in this APT program to work in the Conflict Resolution field after she earns a Ph.D. – preferably as an overseas investigator for the federal government. She sees this program as a chance to gain research tools, as well as conflict resolution practice and theory in one place.

The research-based APT group provides research tools to each student through practical experience: “Action research is conditional and learned,” said M.S. student and Fulbright grantee Aneela Shamshad. She registered for the APT class in order to internalize research methods and designs through interactions with her fellow group members, and to gain interviewing experience onsite in Morocco this spring.

Jamila Mammadova, also an M.S. student, plans to graduate this spring and is simultaneously writing her thesis on a different topic. The tools she has gained throughout the year have helped her develop her own thesis. The research APT group appealed to her for the travel opportunity, as well as the field application of research.

For the three Ph.D. students in the program, these credits are not required for their curriculum. One of those students, Clement Aapengnuo, wanted the practical experience more than the general credits he is earning toward his doctorate. Ph.D. student Suliman Giddo agrees, “At work, when you make mistakes, you get fired.” In the APT program, mistakes turn into opportunities for learning.

The Morocco APT team is comprised of ICAR students: Clement Aapengnuo, Fatima Hadji, Xanthie Mangum, Jamila Mammadova, Ali Erol, Erica Soren, Suliman Giddo, and Aneela Shamshad.