International Strategy and Reconciliation Foundation
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Can you lead
interdisciplinary applied research to resolve pressing problems
afflicting many people?

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Interdisciplinary Research Promoting Evidence-based Public Policy

The ISR Foundation conducts interdisciplinary research on various topics of public interest, such as evidence-driven public policy studies, research on separated families and forecasting the results of American and Korean elections – presidential and midterm elections - among others.

Evidence-based Research and Studies (1998 - present). The ISR Foundation has presented since 1998 a number of interdisciplinary research and studies of DPR Korea issues and policy options to governmental and nongovernmental institutions, UN agencies, the NGO  community, leading academic organizations and international gatherings of stakeholders that are interested in  engagement between DPRK and the international community. Audience of ISR  research briefings included US Department of State, US Agency for International Development, House International Relations Committee, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Royal Society of the UK, the national representatives of the Republic of Korea, ROK Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROK Ministry of Unification, and European Union among others.

da Vinci Grant to Promote Interdisciplinary Research by Students and Emerging Scholars in DPRK (2012 - present)
The  da Vinci Grant Program (DVG) supports highly promising university  students  and emerging leaders in Asia committed to innovative research in  health sciences,  technology, arts, humanities, social science and related  disciplines. The  program aims to invest not only in creative research 
relevant to Asia, but  also in the students as future scholars and  leaders of Asia and the global  research  community. Successful research proposals detail a  creative plan for interdisciplinary research with pragmatic  applications.  Students should incorporate their main disciplines with at least  two other  fields that include survey methodology and statistics. In addition,   students should demonstrate how the research project fits into their  projected plans for study or work at the hosting university and  beyond. Examples of  possible research topics include, but are not limited  to: improving  international business management by incorporating survey  data and statistical  analysis, evaluating agricultural programs by  collecting survey data with  farmers, designing and testing an educational  assessment survey for high school  or college students, developing a method  of survey data collection by cell phones, or crafting a computerized method  of linking big data such as  international surveys, census and  administrative records, etc.

The First-ever Survey Estimate of Ethnic Korean-Americans with Their Families Remaining in DPRK (2007 - present)
In 2007, the ISR Founding President and the chief research scientist, Dr. Asaph Chun reported that, according to a survey research
conducted for a year, the number of ethnic Korean-American citizens who have the  immediate family members remaining in the DPRK is estimated over 104,000. He  noted, “I wish that this data may be used to inform the Congress and help pass a  bill to support the right of separated families to meeting their family members in  DPRK." The U.S. Congress and media  frequently use this research-based survey estimate as a semi-official estimate of the number of American citizens of Korean  ethnicity who have their immediate family members left in DPRK. The US Congress has passed resolutions to support the right of separated American citizens of Korean ethnicity to meeting their loved ones in DPRK.

US Election Forecasting Studies (2004 - present)
The ISR Foundation has accurately forecasted every presidential election since 2004 and the results of each midterm election.  By using the ‘ISR G3 Forecasting Model,’ ISR predicted a win for President Bush  in the 2004 elections by 51.1 percent in the popular vote compared to a 47.8  percent for John Kerry. The actual result was a 51 to 48 win for President  Bush. During  the 2008 presidential election, the ISR used the same model to predict a major win for Senator Barack Obama with 52.2 percent of the popular vote and 378  Electoral College votes. The actual result was an Obama win of 52 percent of the popular vote and 364 Electoral College votes. The ISR has also  successfully foreseen a Democrat win of the majority in both houses in the 2006  midterms and is the only organization that  accurately predicted a 51 to 49 majority win for the Democratic Party in the
Senate in 2006. The ISR also accurately forecasted a  win for President Lee Myung Bak during the 2007 presidential election in the  Republic of Korea.