Yale Undergraduate International Policy Competition

On the morning of October 13, 350 undergraduate students from 46 different schools converged upon SSS 114 to kick off the most recent iteration of the Yale Undergraduate International Policy Competition. During the competition, students engaged with the complexities of ongoing disputes in the South China Sea and attempted to tackle some aspects of the problem. Fifteen judges from thinktanks, the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, and the Jackson World Fellows’ program judged the solutions put forth by competing students. The top three solutions proposed new methods of stopping human trafficking through the South China Sea, reinforcing the powers of regional international institutions, and preventing the spread of and eliminating Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). The winning team, consisting of four Yale students (pictured below), Henry Suckow-Ziemer ‘21, Qusay Omran ‘21, Jake Mezey ‘21, and Abigail Leonard ‘21, was awarded the $1000 cash prize and a year-long subscription to the IISS magazine.

The IPC organizing team would like to thank its Yale-based sponsors — the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, the Yale Economics Department, the Council on Southeast Asia Studies, the Council on Latin American and Iberian Studies, the Yale Dean’s Office, and the Yale International Relations Association — for providing their consistent and overwhelming support throughout the planning process. In addition, the team would like to thank its external sponsors, McKinsey & Co, the RAND Corporation, the Century Foundation, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and the PEAC Institute for their extensive role in making the conference an excellent experience for both the organizing team and the competitors.

If you are interested in participating in next year’s International Policy Competition, keep up with us on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/YaleIPC or on our website at yaleipc.com! See you next year!