Policy Engagement Streams

Solving highly uncertain, unpredictable, and complex problems often requires teamwork among individuals with expertise in multiple areas. Pardee RAND recognizes that future policy analysts will need not only mastery in one area but also the ability to work with and understand colleagues across a range of areas of expertise.

To that end, Pardee RAND offers three different streams of policy engagement for our Ph.D. candidates. When students apply, they choose the stream that best fits their interests:

1. Research, Analysis, and Design: mastering analytic tools and methods for addressing complex policy problems
2. Community-Partnered Policy and Action: partnering with and working in communities to effect real and sustainable change
3. Technology Applications and Implications: creating technology-focused solutions to policy problems and understanding the societal implications of changing technology

Each policy engagement stream has a unique set of focused learning objectives, requirements, and mechanisms for mastering the skills and techniques students will learn. While students focus on one policy engagement stream, they will have access to content from other streams. Additionally, students work together with their peers in the other two streams to develop coordinated solutions to challenging policy problems.