Program Manager: Veronica Aleksanych

Summary

The Fulbright New Century Scholars Program (NCS) is a global program that annually brings together 25-30 research scholars and professionals from the U.S. and participating countries around the world. Through a series of three plenary seminar meetings and a Fulbright exchange visit, scholars engage in collaborative thinking and multi-disciplinary research on a theme of global significance. NCS Scholars engage in multidisciplinary collaboration under the leadership of a Distinguished Scholar Facilitator and work together to seek solutions to issues and concerns that affect all humankind and deserve the attention of researchers, policy makers and practitioners.

The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State is pleased to announce the competition for the sixth Fulbright New Century Scholars Program (NCS). The 2009 program will focus on the role of higher education in national and global economic development with a specific focus on “The University as Innovation Driver and Knowledge Center.”

Research Theme for 2009-2010:
"The University as Innovation Driver and Knowledge Center"

Program Description

In an ever more complex and interdependent world, the knowledge and solutions needed to address many of the major public policy issues we face must increasingly be generated across borders and through the synergetic efforts of governments, the private sector, and the academic community. The Fulbright program has long supported exchange programs that promote cooperation among these sectors to increase mutual understanding and address critical global issues. Accordingly, the New Century Scholars Program offers a collaborative model for scholarly exchange that is multinational and multidisciplinary in scope, encourages the formation of new global networks of scholars and professionals, and pursues the development of collaborative activities with a long-term regional and global impact.

The NCS Program will engage scholars involved in research and project initiatives that advance understanding of the university as innovation driver and knowledge center and contribute to advancing economic prosperity.

Sub topics in which scholar applicants might have particular expertise and interest could include the examples listed below. Other sub-topics may emerge based on specific interests and expertise:

• Opportunities for and barriers to university-based partnerships for innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic development.
• Partnerships in science and technology research and development that move ideas and solutions from the laboratory to the marketplace in fields with global reach such as energy security, food production, the environment, health, transportation, and nanotechnology.
• Partnerships (clusters) that contribute to economic development and improving quality of life in local communities and regions;
• Partnerships that apply multidisciplinary research and social entrepreneurship to community issues (historic preservation, crime and drugs, needs of children and the elderly)
• Partnerships that extend the innovation pipeline to K-12 and adult education and lifelong learning.

As economic and social interaction become increasingly global, the United States and nations around the world are facing shared opportunities and challenges that will require societies to be open to innovation, entrepreneurship, and the generation of global knowledge. Rising prosperity and national well-being require that nations utilize the full creativity and dynamism of all sectors of their economies and societies.

Universities provide the natural nexus for collaboration among government, industry, academic institutions, individuals, and civil society. The world's exemplary universities underpin market productivity and economic growth, sustain civil society, and contribute to an improving quality of life. They are safe harbors for communities of joint research and open exploration and for individual creativity and free expression. In high-achieving societies, these institutions produce the human capital leadership, the theoretical breakthroughs, and the practical solutions necessary to meet global challenges, such as energy and food security, global health and disease management, and environmental protection.

Countries that create the right policy and regulatory conditions to foster public private partnerships centered in the university community are able to speed the transformation of innovative research into useful product applications, often with a global impact, and contribute significantly to the improvement of the daily lives of the nation's citizens.

A number of universities in the U.S. and other countries have gained worldwide recognition for their ability to combine cutting edge theory with meaningful applied research in an array of fields, from business and economics to the sciences and technology. Universities with the highest quality programs play an important role serving as knowledge centers that attract private sector enterprises with an interest in building on the research and innovation capacities of the university. Colleges and universities have long been regarded as economic engines of their local communities and regions; universities contributing to the global network of knowledge are now emerging as drivers of global innovation, problem-solving, and widening prosperity.

The 2009 New Century Scholars Program (NCS) "The University as Innovation Driver and Knowledge Center," will build on this body of research and experience and will advance knowledge and practical solutions to the role higher education can play in national and global economic development.

Program Design

The Program will begin in May 2009 and conclude in April 2010. A total of 25-30 subject experts from the U.S. and participating countries will be selected as Fulbright New Century Scholars. Approximately one third of the participants will be U.S. scholars who will do research in a number of countries worldwide. The remaining two thirds of the program's participants will be visiting scholars from outside the United States. Participants may be academics or professionals in the academic, public, or private sectors in their countries. During the program year, all participating scholars from outside the United States will be expected to participate in the three plenary seminar meetings, make a research exchange visit in the United States with colleagues at an institution with which they have pre-arranged collaboration and a formal affiliation, and maintain contact and intellectual exchange with fellow NCS Scholars during the program year. Research visits may be two to three months in duration, and all visits should be completed prior to April 2010.

a. In May 2009, at the beginning of the grant period, an orientation and seminar meeting for all grantees led by the NCS Leader will familiarize participants with program goals, establish the basis for informal communication and interaction throughout the grant period, and initiate collaborative work towards a set of illustrative case studies that might inform government, higher education and private sector policies, activities and practices in both national and global settings. An agenda, program roster, contact information, and a summary of Individual research interests will be provided to all NCS grantees.

b. In October of 2009, at the program's midpoint, all New Century Scholars will be brought together again to further the work begun at the orientation. The locale for the meeting will be determined in consultation with the scholars at the orientation meeting.

c. In April 2010, the NCS Scholars will meet in a final, plenary seminar again under the direction of the NCS Leader, where they will share the results of their collaborative interactions and report on the accomplishment of NCS Program objectives and their relevant global implications of those findings. We anticipate that this gathering will result collaborative work towards a set of illustrative case studies that might inform government, higher education and private sector policies, activities and practices in both national and global settings and in the opening of new avenues of research and inquiry, the formation of new international and transnational collaborations, and the development of significant policy-relevant recommendations.

The NCS Program is carried out under the guidance of a distinguished Scholar Leader, selected for his/her interdisciplinary expertise and professional standing in the area of the research topic. This Leader will ensure productive, cross-disciplinary discussion and the development of collaborative activities among the multi-national group of grantees chosen to participate.

Distinguished Leader

The selected distinguished Leader for the 2009 New Century Scholar Program is Dr. Miranda Schreurs, Director of the Environmental Policy Research Center and Professor of Comparative Politics at the Free University of Berlin. Prior to her appointment in Berlin she served as Associate Professor in the Department of Government and Politics, University of Maryland, and as Affiliate Faculty in the University of Maryland Law School. Dr. Schreurs has been a Fulbright Scholar, and received fellowships from the SSRC-MacArthur Foundation Program on International Peace and Security Affairs, and from the National Science Foundation/Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

Program Participant Requirements

New Century Scholars will be expected to:

• conduct research both within and outside of their home countries including a two- to three-month international visit.
• participate in all NCS Program seminar meetings of approximately one-week's duration each. Throughout the program year, Scholars will be expected to maintain contact and interact with other participants in the program in order to expand their own research and to explore comparative approaches to the program topic.

Eligibility Criteria

Leading scholars and professionals in any discipline relevant to one of the three key themes related to the examination of access and equity in higher education, as outlined in the section on the NCS Theme in the Program Description. Successful candidates may be established senior scholars or promising younger ones; they will be active in the academic, public or private sector and will demonstrate outstanding qualifications and a distinguished record of experience, research and accomplishment in an area clearly related to the NCS theme. Applicants must be conducting current research relevant to the program's theme and objectives, be open to exploring and incorporating comparative, interdisciplinary approaches in their investigations, and interested in developing collaborative activities with other NCS Scholars.

• For academic applicants, a Ph.D. or equivalent terminal degree in a relevant field.
• For applicants in the professional fields, the appropriate terminal degree in a relevant field.
• Ukrainian applicants must have Ukrainian citizenship and be permanently residing in Ukraine at the time of application
• Ukrainian applicants holding permanent residency "green cards", whether or not they reside in the U.S., are not eligible.
• Ukrainian applications must be submitted through the Fulbright Office in Ukraine
• Fluency in English.

Nomination & Selection Criteria

Review of candidates and selection of the New Century Scholar participants will be organized by the Department's primary cooperating agency for the Fulbright Scholar Program, the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES). CIES will convene a selection panel that will include the New Century Scholar Leader and a multi-disciplinary group of experts. The panel will seek to nominate a cohort of scholars who as a group are proposing diverse projects centered on the Program theme, who represent a variety of disciplines, and who come from different world regions. Within the context of these general Program considerations, the panel will review individual scholar nominations based on the following criteria:

A. Formal qualifications of the applicant, including academic degrees, training, status, and position
B. National and international reputation in his/her field
C. Quality of nominee's professional accomplishments as demonstrated through publications, research grants, and other professional achievements
E. Merits of the research proposal and its relevance to the New Century Scholars research topic
F. Potential for the applicant's proposed research to contribute to a high-level interdisciplinary discussion of the research theme
G. Justification for the proposed international visit and its significance for advancing understanding of the subject
H. Ability of the applicant to carry out the project
I. Oral fluency in English

Application Procedures

a. a New Century Scholars Program application cover page
b. a project abstract
c. a proposal, not to exceed four typed, single-spaced pages, and one-page bibliography of relevant sources
d. a curriculum vitae and publications list
e. two letters of support
f. letter of invitation from the prospective host institution, if available

Please read the detailed application guidelines. U.S. applicants should submit the complete application to CIES by December 1, 2008. Final review and selection of New Century Scholars will be conducted by CIES and successful candidates will be notified of their awards in January 2009. International research visits may begin at any time after the May 2009 orientation and must be concluded by April 2010.

New Century Scholar awards include individual travel/research funding in the amount of $30,000, which is intended to support travel to all program meetings, travel and maintenance for the exchange visit, research materials and assistance, and some partial salary. Accommodations and meals for program seminar meetings are covered separately.

Program Activities

To create a platform for collaborative thinking and pursuit of tangible solutions, NCS provides participants with opportunities to come together during the program year. These include:

• An orientation and goal setting meeting
• A mid-term meeting
• A final plenary meeting
• International exchange opportunities of two/three months
• Ongoing discussion and interaction among NCS fellows throughout the program year

NCS Scholars are expected to participate actively in all these activities and to contribute to the collaborative goals of the program throughout the program year.

Timeline

December 1, 2008 | Notification of intent to apply to Fulbright Office in Kyiv
December 8, 2008 | Completed applications materials submitted to the Fulbright Office in Kyiv

Complete details, application materials and instructions are available on the CIES website at www.cies.org/NCS/. Application materials may also be requested via e-mail from Veronica Aleksanych valeksanych@fulbright.com.ua.

Carina Korostelina 2002-2003 Associate Professor National Taurida Vernadsky University The Impact of National Identity and Civil Society
Biography	Carina Korostelina (MA, National Kiev University, 1991; Ph.D., Odessa State University, 1994) is associate professor in the Psychology Department at National Taurida University. She heads the Crimean Institute for Conflict Resolution and Democracy and laboratory of ethnic and social psychology and is a fellow of the European Research Center of Migration and Ethnic Relation (ERCOMER). She conducts research on the topics of national and ethnic identity; ethnic conflict resolution and ethnic relations in Crimea; and reconciliation and peacebuilding. She has received grants from the MacArthur Foundation, Soros Foundation (Research Support Scheme, Managing Multiethnic Communities Project, Renaissance Foundation), the United State Institute of Peace, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of USDS, INTAS, IREX and Council of Europe. She participated in the Regional Scholar Exchange Program, administered by the Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington, DC and funded by the United States Information Agency and in the CRC Nationalism session at the Curriculum Resource Center of the Central European University. The results of her research were presented at 20 international conferences in Europe and USA and in 4 books and 45 publications in Ukrainian and International journals. She guest lectured at Cal Poly University, San Luis Obispo; University of Delaware; Institute for Conflict Analyses and Resolution at George Mason University, at Harvard University, Boston, at the Woodrow Wilson Center and Georgetown University, Washington, DC, European Research Center of Migration and Ethnic Relation (ERCOMER), The Netherlands and lead 4 roundtable discussions on the Voice of America. Dr. Korostelina has conducted seminars, workshops and training sessions for leaders of NGOs, community activists, teachers and government officials, organized by the Danish Refugee Council, OUN and other international organizations. She has elaborated identity based training of tolerance. Selected Publications: "The Multiethnic State-Building Dilemma: National and Ethnic Minorities' Identities in the Crimea." National Identities. 2003. "Sistema social'nyh identichnostey: opyt analiza ethnicheskoi situachii v Krymu. (The System of Social Identities: An Analysis of the Ethnic Situation in the Crimea)." Simferopol, Dolya, 2002. Mezhethnicheskoe soglasie v Krymu: puti dostizeniya (Interethnic Co-Existence in the Crimea: Paths to Attainment). Simferopol, Dolya, 2001. "Identity Based Training." Nauka i Osvita (Science and Education), 6, 2001: 59-64. 2001. "The Social — Psychological Roots of the Ethnic Problems in Crimea." Democratizatsiya, 8, No. 2, 2000: 219-231.
Abstract	The Peaceful Crimean Model: The Impact of National Identity and Civil Society The Crimea of the 1990s has had a substantial potential for ethnopolitical violence. And yet, massive ethnic conflict has not occurred in the Crimea in the 1990s. This study asks: Why haven't ethnic tensions developed so far into open conflict in the Crimea in the face of momentous challenges to peace (especially given the fact that ostensibly similar conditions have often resulted in ethnic clashes)? More specifically, What effects do such factors as national identity building, ethnic identity revival and civic identity development have on processes of conflict prevention, resolution and reconciliation? The objectives of the current project are: to study the moderation effects of national identity building and the development of civil society on interrelations between conflict indicators and the readiness for conflict or compromise; to identify successful prudent actions in forestalling increased ethnic violence and third party intervention/mediation in Crimea; and to analyze how these actions took into consideration and contributed to national identity formation and civil society building. An opinion survey with approximately 1000 respondents will be conducted. To complete the case study I also plan to undertake focus interviews for identifying successful prudent actions in forestalling increased ethnic violence and third party intervention/mediation in the Crimea. During my international research visit I propose a comparative analysis of the impact of national identity building in cases where conflict resolution has largely succeeded (the Crimea and the Baltic states) versus cases where it has largely failed (Bosnia, Macedonia, Moldova), which will become a manuscript for a book. The project can contribute to the NCS Program by providing case study about the Crimea as an example of the low end of the continuum where there is a stable environment in terms of ethnic relations. The study will analyze interrelations between processes of national identity building in a "stateless nation", civil society formation, and ethnic conflict development and resolution, and demonstrate that prudent actions in forestalling increased ethnic violence and third party intervention/mediation succeeded in this
Olga Pyshchulina 2004-2005 Senior Consultant National Institute of Strategic Studies, Research: Trafficking in Human Beings and Illegal Migration as a security problem context.
Biography	Dr. Olga Pyshchulina is a principal consultant of Social Relationship and Civil Society Department of the National Institute of Strategic Studies under the President of the Ukraine. She is a leading Ukrainian expert on trafficking, illegal migration and women issues in the Ukraine. She specializes in women's human right status in the Ukraine via legislation improvement and human rights protection. Her expertise in women's issues include human smuggling and trafficking, women migration and women in the labor market. Dr. Pyshchulina received her undergraduate degree (cum laude) from Kharkov State University in Economics. She holds a PhD in Sociology from the Kharkov National University. In 1998 she was a Consultant for American University (Washington D.C.) on the project "Prevention of Trafficking in Women in Russia and Ukraine"(AU is the recipient of a United States Information Agency Grant). She is the recipient of a Contemporary Issue Program (administrated by IREX) under a State Department grant, the DAAD grant. She has received grants from the World Bank, Soros Foundation, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of USDS, and IREX. Dr. Pyshchulina participated in the John Smith Fellowship Program (Administrated by DFID, British Council and John Smith Memorial Trust), CEU, Summer course of Human Rights . The results of her research were presented at more than 10 international conferences in Europe and the USA and in 3 books and 35 publications in Ukrainian and International journals. Dr. Pyshchulina has guest lectured at American University, Washington, DC and delivered speeches at Radio Liberty Washington, DC. She has taken part in a number of international conferences such as the Joint Conference between ISA and CEEISA, Budapest, 2003, UE/IOM STOP European Conference on Combating Trafficking in Human Being — European — a Global Challenge for 21st Century. Under the High Patronage of H.R.M. the King of the Belgians, September 2002, European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium, Preparatory Committee II for World Summit for Sustainable Development, New York, April 2002 and others. Selected Publications: An Evaluation of Ukrainian legislation to Counter and Criminalize Human Trafficking — Demokratizatsiya (Heldref Publication, 2002) Feminology — Dictionary (2001), Women Political Representation -(2002) Women in the Labour Market — (1999), as well as numerous articles and book chapters on all aspects of human trafficking, gender and social issue.
Abstract	Trafficking in Human Beings and Illegal Immigration as a Security Problem The focus of proposed project is studying human trafficking and illegal migration of women. Human Trafficking is a growing transnational criminal phenomenon. Numerous governmental and non-governmental organizations and agencies around the globe have recognized the problem and raised it at the highest national and international levels. Increased economic globalization and privatization has resulted in an increased feminization of poverty, forcing greater numbers of women worldwide to migrate in search of work. Many of these migrants end up as victims of illegal and unscrupulous trafficking networks. The problem of trafficking remains too narrowly defined in many countries and that the social, employment and migration aspects of trafficking are too often ignored. The objectives of the current project are: To collect data including on the character and scale of trafficking and the trafficking and exploitation mechanisms deployed by the organized criminal groups. To develop better indicators of human trafficking which help to improve the data sharing among all relevant institution; Specifies and updates the meaning of the term "sexual exploitation" "border crossing", "consent", or "systematic" and "organized group", differences between "human trafficking" and "smuggling". Clearly define what is to be understood by "trafficking in person". It refers to a certain number of offenses included in the Criminal Code which are a component of trafficking in person. Determine the impact of human trafficking, including both the profits made and the role of trafficking in the underground economy. Development of a good perception and analysis of factors that creates a social and cultural "climate" favorable to exploitation and disregard of individuals' human rights. The data will be collected using different methods: in-depth interviews, some survey data and the mass media. The mass media in the USA will be monitored to determine the extent of human trafficking in the world, the public response to the problem and the governmental response to the problem. Further, will be conduct a total of 100 in-depth interviews with law enforcement officials, political experts, judges, sociologists and other relevant US professionals. The interviews will focus on the most critical problems of the human trafficking, including main measures of prevention, victims' assistance and prosecution. Study the latest materials and relevant publications on the subject; to discuss possibilities of application of the US experience in Ukrainian legal practices; to have experienced professionals' supervision and comments of the study. Using knowledge and practical experience of US law enforcement, especially INS agents, federal prosecutors, and US Customs investigators will help the Ukrainian government in fighting sex-trade activities. This research will also set up a process for cutting off non-humanitarian aid to internal structures that tolerate or condone trafficking and promote partnerships between and among all the different actors (such as law enforcement, social authorities, juridical and migration authorities, NGO).

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