Fulbright Interfaith Community Action Programme 2008

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Award Description
Deadlines
Terms and Benefits
Selection Criteria
Application

Award Description

This Fulbright Visiting Scholar initiative has been designed to promote the importance of interfaith cooperation and to facilitate community action among diverse religious groups worldwide. The Fulbright Interfaith Community Action Programme will provide a multinational group of up to twelve religious leaders, scholars of religion, nongovernmental organization (NGO) and/or community leaders from diverse religious backgrounds who are actively engaged in interfaith dialogue and cooperation programmes in their home countries with a semester-long U.S. exchange experience that includes discussion, debate, and collaborative learning centered on interfaith dialogue and cooperation.

The 2008 programme will take place from mid-September to mid-December.

Participants will begin their program participating in a two week, intensive fall seminar on Interfaith Cooperation and Community Action to be hosted at a major U.S. university with a demonstrated commitment to interfaith dialogue, effective collaboration with community stakeholders, and excellence in scholarship of comparative religion. The seminar will take place from approximately September 14-September 28, 2008 and sessions will focus on understanding religion from multidisciplinary perspectives, the relevance of global religious pluralism, and the need for translating interfaith dialogue into interfaith community action and cooperation. Throughout the programme, participants will meet with religious and community leaders, and be engaged in discussions and outreach activities experiencing first hand local interfaith cooperative efforts.

After the autumn seminar concludes, each participant will then be placed at a U.S. host institution in a metropolitan area with strong ties to the surrounding community from approximately September 29 to December 9, 2008. This assignment will give participants the opportunity to be active in the life of the host institution as well as interact with religious scholars and local community leaders in sharing experiences on different approaches to and models of interfaith cooperative action within their respective communities.

Participants' activities at their U.S. host institution may include but are not limited to: interacting with interfaith community groups and leaders, participation in university seminars, colloquia, and/or discussions on interfaith cooperation; opportunities for scholars to share their experiences and work with host institution faculty, students and community groups; interaction with appropriate university and community groups to examine models of interfaith cooperation; opportunities to attend courses relevant to developing leadership and community action, or other topics relevant to scholars' interests and goals; guest lecturing in relevant academic courses or interfaith community venues; serving as a resource on issues relevant to scholars' expertise; visiting churches, mosques, synagogues, temples, or other organizations committed to interfaith dialogue and collaboration.

A mid point seminar will be held during the beginning of November at a major U.S. university, giving the scholars a chance to reconvene as a group and collectively participate in additional learning opportunities from a theoretical and applied perspective.

At the end of the institutional placements, the group will convene in Washington, D.C. in December. The participants will be asked to share their experiences and to reflect on ways to encourage and facilitate interfaith cooperation within their own communities.

Up to twelve participants representing a variety of religious faiths and backgrounds will be selected. The following countries and territories are eligible to nominate candidates for the program: Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Azerbaijan, France, Russia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Spain, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Territories, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, India, Pakistan, and Kazakhstan.

The Fulbright Commission will recommend two British candidates for consideration by the J William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board (FSB) in the U.S., but only 1 scholar from the UK will be chosen to participate.

Deadline

Submitting an Application
The application deadline has now passed. Please check our website in February 2009 for announcement of the 2009 programme.

Interviews
Applications will be short-listed and successful applicants will be invited to interview at Fulbright House on Thursday, 12 June 2008. Interviews will only be held on this day only and may not be rescheduled. All interviews must be in-person at Fulbright House without exception; the Fulbright Commission will not conduct telephone interviews for this award category.

Domestic economy-class travel from outside London is reimbursed by the Fulbright Commission. Candidates coming from abroad must discuss their travel arrangements with the Awards Director before booking. Please note that reimbursement for travel from abroad may only be reimbursed by the Fulbright Commission at the discretion of the Awards Director and in no instance shall reimbursement exceed £150.

If you are making an application, please save this date as an invitation to interview may come within one week of the interview date.

The selection committee will be comprised of people drawn from the following list: representatives from a relevant professional field, senior academics, senior US Embassy representatives, Fulbright alumni and senior Fulbright Commission staff.

Notification
Interviewees will be notified whether they were successful or unsuccessful within 10 days of the interviews, at which time the Fulbright Commission will forward its nominees to the J William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board (FSB) for their final decision.

Final selections will be confirmed by FSB in mid-July 2008.

The Fulbright Commission is unable to comment on the reason for unsuccessful applications.

Terms and Benefits

Benefits
Participants will receive a monthly stipend of $2,500. Housing will be furnished separately by the participating institutions. In addition, participants will receive a one-time payment for pre-departure allowance ($500), a professional allowance ($1,000), a settling-in allowance ($500), an excess baggage allowance ($100), and an in-transit allowance ($100). Participants will also be provided international and U.S. domestic airfare, and will be covered by US Department of State's Accident and Sickness Program for Exchanges (ASPE) insurance coverage. During the initial two week university seminar, meals will be included. Please note that the grant does not allow for accompanying family members.

Academic Affiliation
The Council for the International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) will identify universities, interreligious institutions, and NGOs as potential host institutions for participants. Final affiliations will be determined by matching the candidate's experience with the strengths and programme goals of the host institution.

Visas
Participants will be asked to undergo the standard Fulbright medical clearance process and will travel to the U.S. on a J-1 visa. Participation in the program will be contingent upon grantees receiving both the medical clearance and the J-1 visa.

Successful applicants will be issued with a J-1 visa with the assistance of the Fulbright Commission. This is the only type of visa that Fulbright scholars may use to enter the United States of America. The present rules governing the J-1 visa impose certain restrictions upon recipients of a United States government grant under an exchange visitor programme. Fulbright scholarships are a part of this programme. Candidates should note that on completion of their study programme, they will be required to return to the UK for a cumulative total of two years to be eligible to apply for an immigrant or temporary worker's visa or for permanent residence in the United States. Tourist travel to the United States is not affected by this rule.

Please note: All Fulbright scholars are required to submit reports at specified times during or immediately after their stay in the United States.

Selection Criteria

Candidates will be considered without respect to race, colour, religion, national origin, ethnicity, sexual preference or gender (including gender reassignment).

Candidates for these awards must be UK citizens, regardless of where currently resident. Non-UK citizens are required to apply through the Commission in their country of citizenship. Dual UK citizens must apply in the country in which they currently reside; if not resident in either country then applications must be made through the Commission in the country in which they have resided for the longest period of time. Those who hold or are eligible to hold U.S. citizenship, or are resident in the U.S. at the time of application are ineligible.

Previous Fulbright grantees: Three years must elapse from the date of return from the US before an applicant may be considered eligible for another Fulbright grant.

The Fulbright Commission seeks individuals who are already familiar with and actively committed to the principles and objectives of interfaith cooperation. For illustrative purposes, please see brief profiles below of select 2007 participants.

• A Turkish professor at Ankara University, Faculty of Divinity who specialized in Prophet Muhammad studies and history of the Abbasid period, and was the first female historian to graduate from the Faculty of Divinity in Turkey;
• An Egyptian assistant lecturer in Islamic studies at Al-Azhar University in Cairo who facilitated several interfaith dialogues on his university’s campus and as part of his doctoral studies focused on the image of Arabs and Muslims in the American media.
• An Indonesian scholar who was head of curriculum development for the International Consortium for Religious Studies at Gadjah Mada University, Director of the Institute for Research and Community Development at Duta Wacana Christian University, and a community activist working with victims of trauma;
• A Pakistani scholar who worked to introduce a history of religion component as a member of the Advisory Committee on Curriculum for the Ministry of Education;
• A Nigerian scholar who co-chaired the Lagos State chapter of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council.

Fulbright Interfaith Community Action Program activities and seminars require that individuals selected for the program be prepared to interact successfully within an academic environment, as well as to engage meaningfully in interfaith community activities. Successful candidates will meet the following criteria:

• Affiliation either with an academic institution as a lecturer or researcher, or actively engaged with an organisation, agency or community group committed to encouraging interfaith cooperation (can include NGOs, the media, government departments, etc);
• Demonstrate a level of education in the field of religious studies or a related discipline of the social sciences or humanities commensurate with participation in scholarly discussion and thinking at the university level;
• Be recognized by a local faith community or communities as a religious scholar/leader whose religious thoughts are well-respected and whose opinion is sought in the matters of religion and religious thought;
• Be engaged in a project or activity that will benefit from interaction with the faculty and programs at a U.S. host institution as well as with the activities and representatives of interfaith community groups. Such projects might include the development of interfaith educational materials, the examination of the role and capacity of interfaith cooperation for building the common good; engagement with interfaith community associations and activities; establishing best practices for developing interfaith collaboration, etc.;
• Show evidence of a high level of commitment to fostering religious pluralism and to the goals of interfaith cooperation and community action;
• Be able to communicate fluently in English, both orally and in writing, and in both academic and non-academic settings.

Application
The application deadline has now passed. Please check our website in February 2009 for announcement of the 2009 programme.

Please note: Applications sent by fax, email or which arrive late will not be considered. We will not accept excess charges from the Post Office for items of mail which have been underpaid.

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