Nicholas Barber (MA International Affairs ’09) was working on an HIV/AIDS project in the nation of Lesotho when he decided to return to school. He knew he wanted to study international affairs but wasn’t sure if he wanted to pursue a master’s degree or a PhD. Because of its flexible options, The New School’s MA in International Affairs seemed to him to be the perfect fit.
“I was particularly attracted to the International Affairs program’s thesis and practicum options, which allowed me the flexibility to choose whether I wanted to pursue a PhD later on,” Barber says. “I was also drawn to The New School because it was based in New York City, and I could interact with the city's range of international NGOs, intergovernmental institutions, global companies, and, specifically, the UN system.”
While studying at The New School, Barber developed critical and theoretical perspectives on international problems. He immersed himself in field-based learning through the International Field Program (IFP), under whose auspices he traveled to Brazil to work in media production and editing with Viva Favela, a Rio de Janeiro–based NGO. Barber used this valuable hands-on experience as the basis for his thesis, which focused on participatory video. After graduating from The New School, Barber went on to pursue a PhD in Cultural Anthropology at McGill University.
Barber currently works as a policy analyst with the G7 Task Team at Environment and Climate Change Canada. Working in the International Affairs branch, he is responsible for delivering on Canada’s agenda on climate change, oceans, and clean energy during its 2018 G7 presidency.
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