CPD Awards 2020 Doctoral Dissertation Grant

The USC Center on Public Diplomacy is pleased to announce Justin Key Canfil, Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University and Nonresident Fellow with the Belfer Center at the Harvard Kennedy School as the recipient of our 2020 CPD Doctoral Dissertation Grant. 

This grant supports research on how states manage controversies about their use of new technologies for their global audiences. Justin's dissertation project titled, “Framing Legality: Public Diplomacy for Technological Controversies" examines  how the United States, China, and Russia frame their use of emerging technologies within the boundaries of international legal obligations. This research also has implications for framing the use of emerging technologies in domains of military interest, from cyber security to artificial intelligence.

Prior to his graduate studies, Justin worked as an international education professional at the Council on World Affairs where he managed various public diplomacy programs on behalf of the US Department of State. A summa cum laude graduate of the Ohio State University, he holds MA and MPhil degrees from Columbia.

Justin is currently a fellow with the US-Asia Grand Strategy Program at the University of Southern California's Korean Studies Institute, and is a recipient of a US Fulbright Scholarship (China) and a National Science Foundation Dissertation Award. He has previously held visiting affiliations with the Wilson Center, the London School of Economics and Political Science, Peking University, and Fudan University. Justin's writing has appeared in outlets such as the Journal of International Affairs, Lawfare, War on the Rocks, and the Diplomat.

Click here to read more about the CPD Doctoral Dissertation Grant and here for a list of previous grantees.