Diplomacy Students Continue to Gain Real World Experience Through Idea Hall Project

The School of Diplomacy and International Relations hosted an Idea Hall-funded project during the spring 2026 semester. Titled “Global Women’s Health Innovation Through Cross-Cultural Service Learning,” the initiative was organized by the U.S.-Pakistan Intercultural Coalition (UPIC), a new program affiliated with the Center for United Nations and Global Governance Studies. The project is connected with the course, “Religion, Race, and International Relations (RRIR),” taught by Father Brian Muzas, the UN Center’s director. It provides both multi-sectoral collaboration and an experiential learning opportunity for students. It also brings together four Seton Hall divisions (University Core, TLTC, Campus Ministry and DOVE) and three external industry partners (PinkDetect Inc., Just Results LLC and Rose Castle Foundation).

“The partnership among Seton Hall, UPIC, PinkDetect Inc., and Just Results LLC represents something meaningful: the alignment of complementary callings,” says Father Muzas. “When those distinct missions converge around a shared project, students witness—and discover experientially—what cultural diplomacy looks like in practice, not just in theory. Global health is never a purely technical problem; it is always embedded in questions of culture, trust and relationship. This collaboration modeled that reality.”

Under the Idea Hall project, RRIR students participated in a series of four skill-building workshops that developed their technical, interpersonal, creative and problem-solving skills. Students gained hands-on experience in social media health advocacy, scriptural reasoning and theory of change before applying their learning in a final student innovation hackathon where they pitched digital solutions aimed at helping PinkDetect Inc. in their East Africa expansion plans.

PinkDetect is Pakistan’s first AI-powered breast health management app with operations in Pakistan, India, USA and Canada. (Click Here to read a previous Idea Hall project story).

The winning hackathon team included Diplomacy graduate students Robbie Hughes, Ryan McCafferty and Aminata Doucoure. Their proposed digital health solution was an NGO Partnership Brief, that functioned as a deployable pitch tool to open partnership conversations with on-ground Community Health Worker (CHW) organizations. Taking the hackathon’s 1st prize, the team received Idea Hall-funded cash awards, souvenir gift bags from Pakistani handicrafts enterprise Polly and Other Stories and a month-long virtual summer externship with PinkDetect.

The externship took place in August and was spearheaded by PinkDetect CEO Solmaz Ebrahimi-Iranpour and UPIC Executive Director Anjum Malik. Designed as a professional development opportunity, student externs worked directly with PinkDetect on fundraising efforts to kickstart an audio awareness campaign with an anticipated reach of one million women across rural Uganda.

Under the externship, Hughes, McCafferty and Doucoure participated in weekly virtual working sessions and completed assignments to develop fundraising materials. They also explored different aspects of grant writing and strategic fundraising, donor and stakeholder communications, personal online branding and using AI for written applications. “I came into this program already working in the field,” Hughes explained, “and I'm leaving it with a newer, sharper, and faster version of a skill I already use every week.

McCafferty suggested future programs offer more in terms of scope, depth and access. He said that “the interns and externs want to see the change they make in the world. So, let's make that possible.”

Noting that the experience provided “real world exposure to the digital world, digital health advocacy and public-private partnerships,” Doucoure said she liked to see the length of time the project ran expanded.

The externship culminated in student presentations focusing on their experience through the lens of diplomacy analysts. Drawing on their academic experience and understanding of diplomacy sector trends, Hughes, McCafferty and Doucoure delivered observations, assessments and recommendations to Courtney Smith, Ph.D., dean of the School of Diplomacy and to Assistant Dean Catherine Ruby, Ph.D., as well as to campus colleagues, Nancy Enright, Ph.D., director of the University Core, and Linda Karten, senior director of marketing and communications.

Smith later invited the students to represent Seton Hall University at a panel discussion of AI and Human Rights at the United Nations headquarters in New York City, which took place on September 24 and featured UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.

Under UPIC’s vision, the Idea Hall project on global women’s health innovation has developed professional relationships and learning materials that extend beyond a single semester. In addition to the PinkDetect externship, RRIR students were invited by Idea Hall external industry partner Just Results LLC to apply for a summer internship opportunity in Washington, D.C.

Idea Hall learning materials, including student projects and lecture videos, will soon be featured on UPIC’s website, serving as an open-access educational resource.

The social media health advocacy campaigns that RRIR students designed as part of their ‘Artifact A’ assignment will be showcased on PinkDetect’s Instagram. These artifacts will also be used in a critical thinking exercise organized by Anjum Malik during Father Muzas’ fall 2026 “International Relations Theory” course. UPIC’s long-term goal is to continue building on the Idea Hall momentum and providing real-world experiences to Seton Hall’s diplomacy students.

By applying principles of Track II diplomacy that prioritize peacebuilding efforts among non-state actors like civil society members, UPIC fosters connections between people who might otherwise not have had the chance to meet. As a ‘practical’ peacebuilding program at Seton Hall, UPIC recognizes that experiential learning opportunities are essential for preparing future diplomats and peacebuilders.

Categories: Nation and World