Professional Development Training Series on Poverty and Economic Mobility Research

IRP hosts a professional development training series on poverty and economic mobility research for early career researchers and students. The trainings are held virtually on a quarterly basis. The series was established to support the career development of in-resident fellows working at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) through programs administered by IRP including the National Poverty Fellows (NPF) program and the Economic Mobility Fellows (EMF) program, as well as IRP’s National Dissertation and IRP Dissertation awardees.

It is designed to increase researchers’ (1) interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of policy-relevant research contexts including the policymaking processes in federal agencies that administer human services programs; (2) ability to communicate with policy and public audiences effectively; (3) ability to work with affected communities in research development and dissemination; and (4) knowledge about research career paths outside of academia. The two-hour workshops cover a variety of topics identified by HHS and the trainees as important to their development, including topics such as the role of HHS in federal policy, effective strategies for engaging affected communities in the research process, data visualization and infographics, communicating for policy audiences, ensuring an equity lens in communications, and research careers in policy settings.

Each spring, IRP uses a competitive application process to select up to 10 continuing Ph.D. and master’s degree students to participate in the training series for a year. The series is open to students who are either from groups that are underrepresented in academia as defined by the National Institutes of Health or are attending universities that are not designated as an R1 “very high research activity” by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education. Students receive a stipend of $500 for their participation in the series.