Learning from the practitioners of statecraft

A cohort of 18 Perry World House undergraduate student fellows traveled to Geneva to learn from diplomats, technical experts, and activists working to advance global security, economic growth, and well-being.

A cohort of 18 Perry World House undergraduate student fellows traveled to Geneva during their 2026 spring break to meet some of the heroes who have helped to create a global system that has enabled us to escape the cycle of human suffering. PWH student fellows advance their interest in global affairs throughout the school year, attending classes, workshops, and keynote addresses by visiting leaders on campus every week throughout their fellowships. In early March, they got a deep dive directly into the global community for what has become an annual capstone opportunity of the program: travel to a key location where diplomats, technical experts, and activists work to advance global security, economic growth, and well-being.

While the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council headquarters in New York is often the focus of headlines when international crises break out, Geneva is where the actual work to prevent, mitigate, and resolve those crises is rooted. PWH fellows met with UN officials from multiple agencies and supporting organizations: the International Organization for Migration, the UN Institute for Disarmament Research, the International Telecommunications Union, UNAIDS, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the World Trade Organization.

The PWH fellows also met with leading non-governmental organizations that both support UN missions and hold its members accountable through fact-based reporting: the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Center for Human Rights, and Geneva Calls—an NGO led by a Penn Wharton alum that presses non-state armed groups to be bound by the international laws on armed conflict. Additionally, the students got direct insight into how member countries advance national priorities by working with UN agencies in meetings with the U.S. mission to the UN, and with the Swiss permanent mission to the UN.