Meet MFP Spring Fellow, Olivia Britton, Boston University

The APSA Minority Fellows Program, established in 1969, aims to increase diversity in the discipline of political science. The Spring MFP supports students from underrepresented backgrounds who are currently enrolled in the first or second year of a political science PhD program. Awards will range between $500 and $1500, depending on availability funds.

Olivia Britton is a political science PhD student and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow at Boston University. Her work, at the nexus of political economy and human security, examines how states provide services to refugees and the implications of service provision for the daily lives of refugees. She has done extensive fieldwork in Calabria, Italy where she researched and analyzed how neoliberalism has reshaped humanitarian aid efforts and transformed refugee management as a means to economically revitalize abandoned small Italian towns. Prior to coming to Boston University, Olivia graduated with honors from Union College (Schenectady, NY) with a BA in political science and anthropology. There she was awarded the Klemm Fellowship to develop her senior thesis, “New Slaves: The Entrepreneurship of Refugee Lives.” After completing her PhD, Olivia wishes to pursue a career as a senior researcher, serving as a liaison between academia, human rights agencies, and policymakers.