The PED study track, which combines ISS’s and IBEI’s expertise, seeks to deepen applicants’ knowledge in problem situating approaches of public policy. Problem situating approaches emphasize the centrality of knowledge production in relation to public policy formulation. It engages and trains students in how to critically examine conceptual, theoretical and philosophical dimensions of problem identification before they are in turn situated within concrete, thematic and empirical policy domains. At a general thematic level, the track aims to understand how different modes of governance, production and trade regimes, financial institutions, knowledge structures, identity constructions, international organizations, and cross cutting processes (such as regionalism, regionalization, globalization and capitalism and democratization among others) influence the setting and application of policies at global, regional and national levels of interaction. Accordingly, the ISS’s situational analysis of governance in development, which draws on approaches in policy sciences, international relations and international political economy, is complemented with IBEI’s situational and extensive case-study based approach drawing on the fields of International Relations and Development Economics. Applicants wishing to study public policy with the objective to work for international organizations, think tanks or NGOs or applicants interested in a research career should find this track particularly attractive.