Students in a small group in the Grille area of the JRC.

Global Development Studies (GDS)

More than anything, you want to know how you can use your talents and abilities to make the world a better place. Global Development Studies will introduce you to an array of imminent global challenges in human development and sustainable development. From there, you will discover research and internship opportunities specific to regions of the world that include sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, Asia, and South America. Whether you seek meaningful solutions to climate change, food security, or human rights, GDS allows you to integrate your particular interests through a convergence of humanities, social science, and STEM disciplines. Economically, politically, historically, and culturally, the GDS concentration will provide you the flexibility to not only thrive in settings around the world, but to have a significant and positive impact for the common good.

Convergence of Disciplines

Students preparing for meaningful careers in global society gain an advantage by understanding how scientific, economic, and social issues impact their work, their service, and their futures.

Intro to Global Development Studies (GDS) 111 is just such an interdisciplinary exploration into globally-informed problem-solving.
Insight and Innovation

Internships in the Global Development Studies (GDS) concentration can require critical and creative thought at the nerve centers of international problem-solving.

In summer 2017, Kirtimay Pendse ’19 interned with the Department of Program Partnerships, Donor Relations, and Innovations — a new department within the United Nations Joint Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) — at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
GDS Becomes Student's 'Guiding Track'

Charlie Paquette ’19 tackled his Global Development Studies (GDS) research requirement by traveling to Paris to interview policy analysts, retired French military personnel, and political activists — all of which helped to inform a summer Mentored Advanced Project (MAP) that focused on France’s war on terror in its former colony of Mali.