UMass Boston

Research & Impact

Areas of Expertise

Our faculty conduct research and service projects in the following broad areas:

  • cross-cultural conflict and intergroup relations
  • democratic development
  • environmental governance and sustainability
  • gender studies
  • global health
  • international relations and political economy
  • mediation and negotiation
  • politics and governance in Africa, Middle East, Latin America, Europe and Asia

Affiliated Centers & Special Projects

Sample Publications and Presentations

Professor Karen Ross:

Dennis, B., Li, P., Ross, K., & Zhao., P. (2021). Making sense of social research methodology: A student and practitioner centered approach. SAGE Publishing.

Ross, K. (2017) Youth Encounter Programs in Israel: Pedagogy, Identity, and Social Change. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.

Ross, K. (2022). Aspiring to transformation: Solidarity and prefiguration in educational social movement organizations. In Factis Pax: Journal of Peace Education and Social Justice, 16 (1), 1-25.

Ross, K.(2022). Reclaiming impact in qualitative research. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 23(2), Article 5.

Ross, K.,P. Li & M. Call-Cummings. (2022). Solidarity as methodological praxis. Qualitative Research.

Li, P. & K. Ross. (2021). Validity of transformative experiences: An unfolding. Qualitative Inquiry, 27(3-4), 385-396.

Professor J. Samuel Barkin:

International Organization: Theories and Institutions, 3rd edition (Palgrave, 2023).

The Sovereignty Cartel (Cambridge University Press, 2021)

International Relations’ Last Synthesis? Decoupling Constructivisms and Critical Approaches, co-authored with Laura Sjoberg (Oxford University Press, 2019).

Interpretive Quantification: Methodological Explorations for Critical and Constructivist IR, co-edited with Laura Sjoberg (University of Michigan Press, 2017).

Professor Courtenay Sprague

Penner L, Sprague C. Vaccine Inequities and the Legacies of Colonialism: Speculative Fiction's Challenge to Medicine. J Med Humanit. 2023 Sep;44(3):395-399. doi: 10.1007/s10912-023-09782-5. Epub 2023 Feb 6. PubMed PMID: 36740657; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9899654.

Sprague C. What Matters Most? The Power of Kafka's Metamorphosis to Advance Understandings of HIV Stigma and Inform Empathy in Medical Health Education. J Med Humanit. 2022 Dec;43(4):561-584. doi: 10.1007/s10912-022-09729-2. PubMed PMID: 35188615; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8858723.

Brown S, Sprague C, Lindsay AC. Understanding perinatal mental illness as a governance concern in South Africa through health provider perspectives. Glob Public Health. 2022 Dec;17(12):3519-3532. doi: 10.1080/17441692.2022.2129727. PubMed PMID: 36735659.

Sprague C, McMahan LD, Maqsood L, George G. 'Eventually I wanted something more': sexual self-reflections of South African women engaged in transactional sexual relationships with blessers. Cult Health Sex. 2022 Jul;24(7):871-885. doi: 10.1080/13691058.2021.1892193. Epub 2021 Apr 10. PubMed PMID: 33840377.

Link to PubMed Articles

Professor Stacy VanDeveer Follow Stacy on Google Scholar

Stability and Politicization in Climate Governance. Paul Tobin, Mat Paterson & Stacy D. VanDeveer, eds. (Cambridge University Press, Forthcoming 2025)

Oxford Handbook of Comparative Environmental Politics, Jeannie Sowers, Stacy D. VanDeveer & Erika Weinthal, eds. Oxford University Press (2023).

The Global Environment: Institutions, Law & Policy. 5th Edition. Regina S. Axelrod & Stacy D. VanDeveer, eds. (CQ Press/Sage, 2020)

Routledge Handbook of the Resource Nexus, Raimund Bleischwitz, Holger Hoff, Catalina Spataru, Esther van der Voet, and Stacy D. VanDeveer, eds. (Routledge, 2018)

“Resource Nexus Perspectives towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals" Raimund Bleischwitz, Catalina Spataru, Stacy D. VanDeveer, Michael Obersteiner, Ester van der Voet, Corey Johnson, Philip Andrews-Speed, Tim Boersma, Holger Hoff, and Detlef P. Van Vuuren. Nature Sustainability(December)(1)(2018): 737-43.