Daniel Mooney is assisting Professor Diane Desierto as a research assistant in Notre Dame Law School's Global Human Rights Legal Clinic. Through the clinic, Mooney contributes to a wide range of multidisciplinary projects exploring the intersection of international law and human rights as they pertain to themes of sustainability, immigration, global corruption, and individual rights advocacy. Most recently, Mooney had the opportunity to complete a 7-week contract internship at the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland, where he assisted in the authorship of the office's forthcoming publication outlining the impacts of corruption on human rights.
Mooney previously contributed to Professor Patrizio Piraino's work involving in-depth investigations into the current state of mental health within low-income, informal settlements in South Africa through a microeconomic lens. Incorporating econometric data analysis tools, Mooney evaluated those socioeconomic factors that impact underrepresented communities with a particular focus on labor, education, and development.
Outside of his role as a Kellogg International Scholar, Mooney has been actively involved on campus as an Undergraduate Intern in the Notre Dame Law School's Global Human Rights Legal Clinic, a Project Leader in the Notre Dame Student Policy Network, a Legal Associate in the Jubilee Initiative for Financial Inclusion, and a Melsheimer Fellow in the Klau Institute for Civil and Human Rights, where he works as a volunteer researcher for the South Bend Reparatory Justice Commission and a research assistant to Professor Eva Dziadula in the Notre Dame Economics Department. Mooney has also been the recipient of the Center for Social Concern's immersive summer service grant through the NDBridge program as well as Summer Language Abroad grant through Notre Dame's Center for the Study of Languages & Cultures in conjunction with Germany's Max Kade Foundation.
During the spring semester of his junior year, Mooney studied abroad at the Free University in Berlin through Columbia University's Berlin Consortium for German Studies Program, where he completed his coursework in both English and the German language.
Thesis Title: The Impact of German Foreign Direct Investment on Vocational Training Spillover Effects and Labor Outcomes in South Africa
Thesis Adviser: Matthias Hoelzlein