The Keough School Integration Lab (i-Lab) is a distinctive series of interdisciplinary engagements — designed to build momentum over the course of your Master of Global Affairs experience — to prepare you for a global employment landscape that demands highly integrated mindsets and professional skillsets.
In this first semester, you’ll be immersed in innovative approaches — design thinking, systems thinking, human centered design, negotiation, and implementation science. Your creativity will be unleashed as you build a toolkit of knowledge to better understand, redefine, and solve problems.
During this year-long period, you’ll be part of an interdisciplinary team focused on addressing a specific compelling global challenge. You’ll engage closely with a global partner (a respected and high-impact organization or agency with an established relationship with Notre Dame), a Notre Dame partner (a University institute or center with scholarly expertise in your area of focus), and a Notre Dame faculty-mentor.
With insights gained from related coursework, you’ll deepen your understanding of the culture, history, and context of your future field site and develop a proposal, work plan, and budget. Once prepared, you’ll pursue immersive fieldwork for 2-3 months, depending on your project.
After extended time for analysis, synthesis, and reflection, you’ll develop a professional-quality product and prepare individual research and reflective work based on your experience.
The i-Lab global partner experience is fully funded for all students.
In this final semester, you’ll continue to build your portfolio of skills through career development opportunities and elective coursework at the Keough School. Dive deeper into the global issues that concern you the most—from water policy to food insecurity, migration to climate change and more.
You’ll also have the opportunity to elect skills-based policy lab courses, where you’ll get intensive, hands-on experience in topics such as big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.
By graduation, you’ll have the training, connections, experience and professional skills to take your international career to a new level of real-world impact.
Learn to engage with local field staff in new and innovative ways, build project teams across continents, collectively expand your reach and your impact. The i-Lab will provide you with cutting-edge tools and resources to collaborate with partners across the globe.
i-Lab Global Partner
i-Lab Global Partner
i-Lab Global Partner
i-Lab Global Partner
i-Lab Global Partner
i-Lab Global Partner