Summer 2023 Fellow: Ronak Shetty ’26
Office Description
The Sivis Institute is a nonpartisan and non-profit Civil Society Organization whose vision is to build a collaborative, honest and democratic Brazil. Our purpose is to deepen the roots of democratic values in the hearts of Brazilians.
Description of the Work
We will develop a work plan for the fellowship that will combine Sivis’ main themes of work with the research and academic preferences of the student. Currently, Sivis Institute is working to foster democratic culture in Brazil by working with the following topics: (a) freedom of expression and polarization; (b) education for citizenship, and (c) the implementation of “Work4Social”, a certification based on a metric that evaluates the social component of the acronym ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance) in Brazilian companies. Currently, we are finishing a research on freedom of expression in Brazil. We developed this research by surveying representative samples from the Brazilian population, as well as from Brazilian National Congress members. In 2024, we plan to advance our research work in the field of freedom of expression, which includes advocacy activities so we can promote this right in Brazil. Besides, we plan to continue the work we have been developing in the field of civic education, which includes the development of civic education materials for Brazilian school teenagers. Lastly, we plan to carry on our ESG activities with the Work4Social initiative. The interns are invited to express their interest in one or more areas and together we will define working activities that are aligned with the interests of both the student and Sivis.
Desired Skills
If possible, it would be highly desirable that the student fellow speaks Portuguese, as most of our current projects are developed with Portuguese speakers. Regarding the main themes, the ideal student fellow for Sivis Institute is interested in working with one or more topics such as democratic culture, freedom of expression and polarization, education for citizenship, and ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance) in private companies.
