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International Affairs Fellowship for Tenured International Relations Scholars
The Program
The International Affairs Fellowship (IAF) for Tenured International Relations Scholars, sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, offers tenured academics from a variety of scholarly backgrounds practical experience in the foreign policy–making field. The fellowship is geared toward professors whose research and teaching is connected to peace and security issues and who seek a twelve-month placement at a U.S. federal government agency, in Congress, or with an international organization.
The fellowship helps close the gap between research and practice on peace and security as well as enrich the teaching and scholarship of tenured academics by enabling selected fellows to become practitioners. The program also benefits policymakers by exposing them to critical scholarly research relevant to the foreign policy and national security issues facing the United States and the world.
Interested applicants should check back for updates in September 2022.
The IAF-TIRS exposed me to a wealth of new information about U.S. foreign policy pertaining to security, economics, and humanitarian matters. I use these insights to inform my teaching to better link theory and practice in international affairs in the classroom.
Eligibility
- Applicants must be U.S. citizens.
- Applicants must be full-time tenured professors at a U.S. college or university whose research and teaching focuses on international relations or U.S. foreign policy.
- Applicants must have arranged a paid sabbatical with their home university.
- Applicants must hold a PhD.
- Applicants must propose to spend a year working on peace and security issues in the U.S. government or at an international organization.
Strong preference is given to candidates with no significant previous work experience in the U.S. government or at an international organization.
Fellowship Award
The fellowship is for twelve months. Selected fellows will begin their one-year fellowship between June and September. Fellows must arrange a paid sabbatical with their home universities. The program will match 50 percent of the fellow’s base salary for the academic year at their university (up to a maximum of $80,000 for the year) as well as provide modest assistance for moving expenses for those who need to relocate for the fellowship. Fellows are considered independent contractors rather than employees of CFR and are not eligible for employment benefits, including health insurance. No indirect costs can be deducted from the stipend award.
CFR will work with each fellow to find a suitable placement for their fellowship year. However, all placements are made at the discretion of the host institution. CFR cannot guarantee placement at any particular agency, office, or organization.
Fellows seeking to spend the fellowship year working at a U.S. government agency likely will need to obtain a security clearance. The process for obtaining a security clearance can be lengthy, and the U.S. government alone determines when a clearance can be granted. Because of the time needed to obtain a security clearance, affected fellows need to be flexible about their fellowship start date and/or be willing to begin their fellowships in a position that does not require a security clearance. Placements at international organizations, academic institutions, think tanks, and on Capitol Hill typically do not require security clearances.
Selection Process
Selection as an IAF for Tenured International Relations Scholars is based on the following criteria:
- scholarly qualifications
- professional experience and accomplishments
- merits and feasibility of an application proposal that addresses a relevant U.S. foreign policy topic
- contribution that the fellowship will make to the candidate's insight on policymaking and its application to the candidate's future research and teaching on peace and security issues
The selection process is highly competitive. The selection committee chooses up to five applicants each year as fellows.
How to Apply
Interested candidates who meet the program's eligibility requirements should check back for updates in September 2022 for information regarding the 2023–2024 application.
Alumni
A list of former fellows is available online at the Historical Roster of CFR’s International Affairs Fellows for Tenured International Relations Scholars.
As a fellow based at the U.S. Mission to the African Union in Ethiopia, I gained invaluable experiences that will inform my research and teaching for years to come, linking theory with practice and helping students to connect their knowledge to actual decision-making.
2021–22 Fellows
Affiliations at the time of the award.
Associate Professor; Faculty Director, Human Rights Data Sciences Lab, Michigan State University, James Madison College
Associate Professor, University of Notre Dame
Professor; Director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies, George Washington University
Associate Professor, University of California, Santa Barbara
Associate Professor; Director of Asian Studies, Union College
Professor, Kent State University
Associate Professor, University of California, Irvine
Professor, University of South Florida, Sarasota-Manatee
Colin Mackey and Patricia Molina de Mackey Associate Professor of Middle East Studies, University of Oklahoma
Professor, University of Houston-Downtown
Associate Professor, Wofford College
Professor, Cornell University
Contact Us
For more information, please contact [email protected] or 202.509.8449.
Steven A. Cook, Eni Enrico Mattei Senior Fellow for Middle East and Africa Studies and Director of the International Affairs Fellowship for Tenured International Relations Scholars