The APSA Diversity Fellowship Program, established in 1969, aims to increase diversity in the discipline of political science. The Fall DFP supports students who are currently in the process of applying to PhD programs in political science for Fall 2022 admission. Fellows will receive $5,000, over two years, to support their studies.
Sadaf Dastan is a master’s student studying international affairs and the Middle East at The George Washington University, where she is a Foreign Language and Area Studies fellow. Dastan is interested in U.S. foreign policy, domestic Iranian affairs, and Middle East security studies. She has conducted research projects on media freedom in Iran and Hungary, the United States’ usage of sanctions as soft power, and the use of history and revisionist cultural policy as a means of nationalism abroad. Dastan has presented her research at the International Studies Association and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has also served as a teaching assistant for a cultural anthropology class as an undergraduate, and more recently, as a graduate assistant for a human rights course. Dastan holds a bachelor’s degree from George Mason University in international conflict analysis and resolution with a minor in anthropology.