Ask the Experts: Mentors Donate
Time for DIL Innovators
By Rachel Strohm, DIL Graduate Student Researcher
Interdisciplinary collaboration is essential to foster innovation in
international development. DIL promotes interdisciplinary
collaboration through its Practitioner-in-Residence program,
which brings experienced development practitioners and social
innovators to UC Berkeley. Its one-on-one consulting sessions
are open to the entire university community, with the goal of
bringing diverse and new perspectives, knowledge, and
connections to researchers working on development issues.
In its inaugural year, the Practitioner-in-Residence program
primarily served undergraduates and PhDs, researchers and
post-doctoral scholars. Their backgrounds spanned academic
disciplines from history, business, and development practice to
electrical engineering, nutritional sciences, and education.
PROGRAM IN BRIEF. The Practitioner-inResidence program brings experts with a
wide
variety
of
experience
in
development to UC Berkeley. The
residents have a range of regional and
sectoral (private, public, nonprofit; health,
tech, energy) experience.
During the 2013-2014 academic year,
eight practitioners-in-residence provided
consulting expertise to 55 UC Berkeley
students and researchers.
The
practitioners’ expertise ranged from
venture capital in Silicon Valley to
maternal health in Africa and mobile
phone-enabled campaigns to help citizens
hold politicians accountable.
Dr. Frankie Myers, a research scientist at the Fletcher Lab in the
Bioengineering Department, met with Practitioner-in-Residence
Andree Sosler to learn about her experience expanding
Potential Energy, a clean cookstove initiative in Sudan, Ethiopia Future sessions will be advertised in the
and beyond. Myers and his team are developing a novel DIL Newsletter.
smartphone-enabled microscope for remote diagnosis of tinyurl.com/dilnewsletter.
diseases. The meeting with Sosler explored how to build buy-in
for a new technology among major players in the global health
space, and resulted in a number of concrete suggestions for
creating relationships and seeking funding from influential donors.
Many visiting practitioners see the program as an opportunity to give back to a community that shaped their
careers. Four of the eight practitioners are UC Berkeley alumni; others work with UC Berkeley-affiliated spinouts. Sosler, whose organization Potential Energy launched in Sudan with support from the Blum Center for
Developing Economies, decided to sign up as a practitioner-in-residence because she feels “committed to the
center's mission [and] personally connected to it.”
Sign up for the DIL Newsletter to hear about upcoming Practitioner-in-Residence sessions at:
tinyurl.com/dilnewsletter.
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