Last week we traveled to Querétaro, Mexico so I could participate in the Mid-Year Conference for the Interamerican Foundation’s (IAF) PhD fellowship program. There are 15 other students in the fellowship program at various stages in their grassroots development related research projects throughout Latin America. It was really inspiring to hear about everyone’s work. Many of the students are working in challenging environments and topical areas than- from Central American migration in Mexico to the Colombian peace process to the implementation of reparations for political violence in Peru, it was great to exchange ideas with this group of people from diverse disciplinary and cultural backgrounds.