Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs

People who lack access to clean drinking water also tend to struggle to get enough safe food to eat, according to a new study in Nature Food by IPR anthropologist Sera Young and her colleagues—a finding that holds across 121 nations and every income level.

The researchers say the study underscores the urgent need for coordinated global action to address these issues together.

"What these data show is that water and food insecurities go hand-in-hand, from the lowest income countries to the highest income countries," Young said. "We aren't doing ourselves any favors by our siloed approach to trying to solve food issues separately from solving water issues."

Read the full study: http://spr.ly/6184B8fnxA

Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs

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📚 Our new Buffett Faculty Fellows

🎬 Our short documentary Atypical Anthropologist

✈️ Our COP30 student delegates on regime complexity, nationalist narratives, and scientific representation at the UN's annual climate change conference

🌏 Research on how Hindi operates as a global language

🎶 An international collaboration to develop pedagogical best practices in musical theatre training for gender expansive singers

And more!

📣Call for poster abstracts!

Stellenbosch University (South Africa) and Northwestern University invite you to participate in the SU/NU Global Health Knowledge Hub Conference, taking place at Northwestern University in Chicago September 28–30, 2026.

Join researchers, students, university leaders, and practitioners from across disciplines for a dynamic gathering focused on advancing global health innovation, collaboration, and equitable care.

Submit a poster abstract related to global health research, implementation, education, and practice in any discipline.

Northwestern submissions due: Mon, June 15

Details and submit: http://spr.ly/6186B8tcMj

With the Roberta Buffett Institute's support, our new cohort of Buffett Faculty Fellows is embarking on research projects spanning Colombia, France, Jeju, Okinawa, Hawaiʻi, and beyond. Their projects deal with issues ranging from the hidden costs of civil war to the sacred grounds of Pacific islands, and from the logic of kidnapping to the philosophy of the unthinkable.

The 2026–27 cohort includes Weinberg College Center for International & Area Studies, Northwestern's Professors Ana Arjona, Jeong Eun Annabel We, Danielle Gilbert, Silyane Larcher, and Shmulik Nili. Each year, the Roberta Buffett Institute awards non-residential fellowships to full-time Northwestern faculty conducting international research, supporting scholars whose work requires them to engage deeply with communities, archives, and field sites around the world. This cohort reflects the breadth and ambition of that mission. Learn more about this cohort's work: buffett.northwestern.edu/programs/faculty-funding/faculty-fellows-program/cohorts/

When people lack reliable access to clean drinking water, they are far more likely to struggle with food insecurity and food safety concerns according to new research co-authored by Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University's Sera Young, co-lead of the Roberta Buffett Institute's former Making Water Insecurity Visible Global Working Group. Drawing on data from 121 countries, this study shows how food insecurity, water insecurity, and food safety challenges often go hand in hand in both low-income and high-income countries, and underscores the need for a more integrated approach to addressing these challenges worldwide. Learn more about the study:

A lack of clean drinking water is associated with lacking food and experiencing food safety threats in 121 countries across the globe - Nature Food Food preparation typically requires access to clean drinking water. This Analysis of data from the World Risk Poll explores the links between food sufficiency, clean drinking water availability and their impact on food safety threats across low-, middle- and high-income regions.

Academic freedom is often discussed as a faculty concern. But what role do international higher education practitioners play in protecting and advancing it?

In a new practitioner brief, Samantha Nissen, Senior Director for Global Programs and Strategic Initiatives at the Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs, explores how academic freedom is shaped not only by teaching and research, but also by the everyday work that enables international collaboration, student mobility, and global knowledge exchange.

Drawing on research and professional experience, Nissen examines how visa policies, research security frameworks, institutional risk management, and administrative practices can either support or constrain academic freedom in practice. Read the brief: https://scholarship.shu.edu/cisr/vol6/iss1/3/

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, thousands of Ukrainian children have been separated from their families and communities. New research, supported by the Roberta Buffett Institute's Global Fam DNA Global Working Group, shows that this crisis is not unique to Ukraine. "We have found reports from Syria that also describe conflict-related child separations. Children are displaced, absorbed into new systems or lost across borders with little documentation...Families are left searching, often with few leads and real fear of the regimes involved with the disappearances. This is why we must work as a global community to build systems not just for today or for specific countries, but also for years and decades to come," shares Sara Huston, Global FamDNA co-lead and Research Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, in her op-ed for the Chicago Tribune.

Huston emphasizes that effective reunification requires more than advancement in DNA technology, but prioritizing sustained community engagement and trust-building with the families of the missing. Read more: https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/05/27/opinioin-ukraine-missing-children-dna-identification/

Malicious actors and rogue states are seeking to exploit AI for phishing, malware generation, intellectual property theft, and even the development of dangerous biological or chemical agents.

Join the Northwestern Security & AI Lab (NSAIL), jointly housed at the Roberta Buffett Institute and McCormick School of Engineering, for a workshop on AI-driven threats to global security and a new framework for countering them. The framework was developed with support from the US Department of State in collaboration with leading experts from Georgetown University’s Security Studies Program and the Netherlands Defence Academy. Learn what AI threats, both cyber and kinetic, are emerging, and explore several threat-specific mitigation methods developed by the team, including how you can safeguard training data, protect AI models and trade secrets, mitigate drone threats, and more.

🗓️ Thursday, May 21 from 9:30–11:15 a.m.
📍 Chambers Hall, Ruan Room (600 Foster St.)
👥 Register to attend in person: http://spr.ly/6184BBQWRj
💻 Register to attend online: http://spr.ly/6186BBQWRe