CIE encourages students to participate in a wide range of professional development activities outside of courses as part of their degree programs at CIE. Students undertake consulting, work on projects, attend training sessions, participate in workshops and do field research, all as part of CIE's commitment to producing Scholar Practitioners - graduates who can effectively combine academic and theoretical knowledge with practical skills.

Recently, CIE students Natia Mzhavanadze, David Epstein, Yaëlle Stempfelet, Christina Chen, and Stephen Richardson, and CIE faculty member Jacqi Mosselson attended the Unlearning Violence: Evidence and Policies for Early Childhood Development and Peace Conference at Tufts University Fletcher School, just outside of Boston, Mass. The conference provided a forum for scholars and practitioners to share their work related to early childhood development, violence, and peace, as well as engage in dialogue with conference attendees.

The case was made for early childhood development from a variety of perspectives including neuroscience research on the positive effects of early childhood education, an address from Harvard's Dr. Steven Pinker, and cautious cultural considerations for both research and practice from Columbia University's Dr. Michael Wessells. Topics of rampant use of  corporal punishment by parents and teachers, child trafficking, gender-based violence, and sexual exploitation were brought to light highlighting the complexities of violence around the world which is complicated by the rise of intra-state conflicts. Still, the conference theme called on attendees to consider how insights from early childhood education can provide evidence for education policies that can help mitigate and break the cycles of violence. Attending CIE members were engaged in the dialogue as the conference format provided ample time during the Question and Answer portion of each panel.

The event was hosted by the World Peace Foundation in association with the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development at Tufts University and the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University.