2013-2014 James Marshall Fellow

As SPSSI's 2013-2014 James Marshall Public Policy Fellow, Dr. Katya Migacheva served as the lead Democratic fellow on the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bipartisan Commission’s objective is to promote, defend and advocate internationally recognized human rights norms in a nonpartisan manner, both within and outside of Congress. Dr. Migacheva viewed her fellowship as an invaluable opportunity to contribute to the promotion and defense of human rights globally, learn about the work of Congress, and help develop avenues for fostering mutually beneficial collaborations between social scientists and policy makers.

Dr. Migacheva obtained her doctorate in Social Psychology with a concentration in Psychology of Peace and Violence from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In her research, Dr. Migacheva sought to understand factors that contribute or present obstacles to harmonious intergroup relations. With the support of multiple grants and a dissertation fellowship, using a variety of methodologies both locally and internationally, Dr. Migacheva researched ways to foster positive intergroup contact, and aimed to gain a psychological understanding of how drastic societal transformations affect intergroup relations.

In Dr. Migacheva's view, to effectively address urgent societal problems, collaborations between researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners are essential. Over the years, Dr. Migacheva has served as a program and evaluation consultant with several NGOs, and organized multiple community events that brought together academic and practice professionals.