At the start of the new admissions cycle, Kenan joins Hannah and Mark for the fourth annual application update episode, highlighting changes to Yale’s first-year application. The admissions officers discuss a revised Yale-specific question and changes to two parts of the Common Application that invite applicants to share additional information. This episode is an update to episodes titled “Essays: The Little Stuff” and “Application Update 2024-2025.”
In this episode, Elliot Canfield-Dafilou talks about his interest in the architectural acoustics of sacred spaces. He begins by recounting his background in musical training and technology, eventually combining the two to find his interdisciplinary home in musical acoustics. With a particular emphasis on sacred spaces, Canfield-Dafilou explores in his research the unique liturgical contexts within which musical acoustics unravels itself.
Episode 3: Finding Hope after Gaza, with Jaser AbuMousa
In this episode, host Robert Malley and guest Jaser AbuMousa talk about defining moments of Jaser’s life and work in Gaza, how he honors the memory of his wife and sons, and how he finds hope in continuing to work towards peace in the Middle East.
Jaser AbuMousa is a Palestinian political analyst and development specialist from Khan Younis, Gaza. He most recently served as a Program Manager for the Swiss Development Cooperation in the occupied Palestinian territory, where he managed humanitarian projects and authored biweekly reports on Gaza’s political, economic, and humanitarian dynamics. His career spans roles in engineering, social work, and political research, including with UNRWA and the EU-funded ‘Private Sector Reconstruction in Gaza’ program.
In October 2023, Jaser lost his wife Heba and two sons in an airstrike. Following the incident, he and his two surviving children spent over a year in the United Arab Emirates for medical treatment. As a Yale Peace Fellow, Jaser focused on postwar reconstruction strategies that reflect Palestinian priorities and mend Gaza’s torn social fabric.
The host: Robert Malley is a seasoned diplomat and conflict resolution expert with decades of experience in international affairs. He has served in senior roles under multiple U.S. administrations, including as Special Envoy for Iran and as a lead negotiator for the Iran nuclear deal. He is a Senior Fellow at the Jackson School of Global Affairs and the founding director of the International Leadership Center’s Peace Hub.
This episode is part of a 4-part interview series with Yale’s 2025 Peace Fellows. Find out more about the Yale Peace Fellowship: Yale Peace Fellowship – Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs
Episode 2: Africa’s Leadership Crisis, with Mengistu Assefa Dadi
In this episode, host Yuval Ben-David and guest Mengistu Assefa Dadi explore the roots of conflict in the Horn of Africa, the decline of regional leadership, and the critical role of grassroots peacebuilding and local resilience in driving long-term stability.
Mengistu Assefa Dadi is an Ethiopian political and conflict analyst known for designing peace dialogue projects, managing initiatives that promote human rights, media freedom, and democratic governance, and implementing innovative strategies to address complex socio-political challenges in fragile states. Throughout his career, Mengistu has held roles at organizations such as the Center for Advancement of Rights and Democracy (CARD) in Ethiopia and has most recently been a Peace Fellow at Yale’s International Leadership Center. Mengistu holds a Master’s in Global Studies and International Relations and is pursuing another master’s in African studies at Addis Ababa University.
In this episode, host Rob Malley and guest Elhanan Miller discuss the power of religious and cultural dialogue in building bridges between Jewish and Muslim communities, and how Elhanan’s Arabic-language media project aims to foster empathy across deep political divides.
Rabbi Elhanan Miller is the founding director of People of the Book, an educational non-profit that explains Jewish faith and culture to Muslim audiences. His viral videos reach some 450,000 subscribers and millions of monthly hits, mostly in the Arab Middle East. Miller is a research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, specializing in Arab and Israeli politics and the intersection of Judaism and Islam. He regularly comments on Israeli affairs for international Arabic news channels, such as: BBC Arabic, Sky News Arabia, DW Arabic, France 24 Arabic, al-Mashhad (Dubai), and Israeli public news channel Makan. Miller previously served as the Arab Affairs Correspondent for The Times of Israel and as rabbi of the Jewish community in Canberra, Australia. Born and raised in Jerusalem, Miller began studying Arabic at 13. He completed his BA and MA degrees in Middle East History and Islamic Studies at Hebrew University.
The host: Robert Malley is a seasoned diplomat and conflict resolution expert with decades of experience in international affairs. He has served in senior roles under multiple U.S. administrations, including as Special Envoy for Iran and as a lead negotiator for the Iran nuclear deal. He is a Senior Fellow at the Jackson School of Global Affairs and the founding director of the International Leadership Center’s Peace Hub.
This episode is part of a 4-part interview series with Yale’s 2025 Peace Fellows. Find out more about the Yale Peace Fellowship here: https://jackson.yale.edu/international-leadership-center/peace-fellowship/
From Learning to Leading | Franziska Weiss | Continual Forward Progress
Franziska Weiss is a Munich-based business coach who hit reset at age 40 after a long career in corporate public relations. In this episode, she shares how stepping away from the automotive industry led her to rediscover her purpose, and build a more connected, intentional approach to leadership. Franziska reflects on how the Connected Leadership course shaped her coaching practice, how she helps teams align across generations, and why meaningful system change starts with knowing yourself. From energy management to team values to shifting workplace paradigms, she brings both structure and spark to leadership development.
Kinase Pathways Driving the Future of Tick Control: Interview with Emily Johnson”
Could hacking a tick’s biology help prevent the next outbreak? In this episode of the YJBM, we sit down with Emily Johnson to travel across the scale of life, all the way from the environment that surrounds us to a molecular pathway called kinase signaling. We dive into the fundamentals of vector biology and the transmission of diseases like Lyme. We also discuss the tools and technologies driving the field forward, from mRNA vaccines to the potential of AI, and what the future holds for understanding disease and transmission through the lens of signaling pathways.
In this episode Jesse Zixi Sun discusses his new book, Salvation and Revolution: A Twentieth Century Odyssey of the Chinese Protestant Mind, with Chloë Starr. They discuss the relationship between national modernization and religious salvation in China, and the disproportionate civic and social engagement of Christian intellectuals in national life in the early twentieth century.
In this episode Naomi Thurston discusses her new book, Moltmann in China: Reception and Dialogue, with Chloë Starr. They discuss the reception of Moltmann’s theology—from despair and hope to eco-theology—among Chinese scholars, and Moltmann’s own forays into comparative work with his studies of the Daodejing.