Passion Projects

Passion Project Team Presents Research Findings at World Refugee Day Event in Athens

July 1, 2015
Migrants arrive to the Greek island of Lampedusa. Photo: Creative Commons

One Passion Project team celebrated UNHCR’s World Refugee Day on June 21 by participating in the Greek Forum of Refugees (GFR) “Europe: Protection or Exclusion” event.

SPP Students Galvanize CEU Community on Behalf of Alumni Jailed in Azerbaijan

June 8, 2015
Photo: Flickr/Vincent Desjardins

“Dozens of civil society activists, NGO leaders, journalists, and human rights defenders have been incarcerated in Azerbaijan in recent years. Two of them,” explained Saman Sardar (MPA ’16), “are CEU alumni.” Ilgar Mammadov graduated with a degree in political economy from CEU in 1997. He was an active member of the opposition in Azerbaijan and one of the leaders of the Republicanist Alternative Movement until he was sentenced to seven years in jail in March 2014.

Data Mining Event Strikes Gold!

June 4, 2015
The data mining team smiles after a productive day of research. Photo: SPP

 “It was a great success. We had ten computers, and 13 people,” summed up Daniel Szugyi (MPA ’16). The 13 people who crowded into the Student Computer Lab on the second floor of Oktober 6 utca 7 on June 1 participated in a unique event: crowdsourcing to collect data that will be used to build a database with information about accidents and violations in the garment industry of Bangladesh. The event, which was organized by HRSI and three SPP students, attracted participants from throughout CEU.

Graduating Students Present Their Passion Projects

May 26, 2015
NRGI Passion Project team member Dennis Owaraga (MPA '15) presents his team's findings. Photo: SPP/Daniel Vegel

On May 8 and May 12, teams of graduating MPA students presented their Passion Projects. A required and important component of the two-year MPA program, Passion Projects are client-driven and student-run, policy-oriented capstone projects. Students work in teams together with a partner to address challenges, identify opportunities, and/or conduct research on a pressing social question.

Crowdsourcing for Workers’ Rights and Environmental Justice

May 19, 2015
Photo: Creative Commons

“Many people have seen pictures of the devastating accident in Dhaka, Bangladesh in April 2013 when the Rana Plaza building collapsed killing more than a thousand people,” said Daniel Szugyi (MPA ’16). “Although this incident was exceptional, accidents happen all the time in the textile industry.”