FELLOWSHIP 2011 IN POST DOCTORAL – FULBRIGHT, USA
Fulbright-ISEF Post-Doctoral Fellowship 2011 of USA
About Fulbright:
The US Government’s Fulbright Program is one of the world’s most prestigious and widely-known academic exchange programs. The main goal of the Fulbright Program, initiated in 1946 by Senator J. William Fulbright, is to strengthen the basis for peace by strengthening mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the peoples of partner countries around the world. Student and faculty exchanges at the highest possible level of academic excellence are the principal means employed by the Fulbright Program to achieve this goal.
Detail:
The United States – Israel Educational Foundation (USIEF) and ISEF – the International Educational Foundation offer a joint grant to a post-doctoral scholar who is about to begin a program of research in 2011/2012 at an accredited university, or a public or private, non-profit research institute in the United States, which is authorized to issue SEVIS DS2019 forms to enable candidates to obtain J-1 exchange visitor visas.
Criteria:
The three main criteria for evaluation of candidates for the Fulbright-ISEF grant are:
1. academic excellence;
2. involvement in community service activities and proven leadership capabilities in such activities;
3. underprivileged economic background.
Eligibility criteria:
1. Candidates must be Israeli citizens. Dual American-Israeli citizens or permanent residents of the United States are not eligible to apply.
2. Candidates must be resident in Israel at the time of application and must continue to be resident in Israel until the beginning of their post-doctoral research in the United States as Fulbright Fellows. Researchers who have already begun their projects in the United States or who are planning to depart Israel for the United States before July 2011 are not eligible to apply.
3. Candidates who have received a USIEF Fulbright Student Fellowship are not eligible to begin a visit to the United States as Fulbright Post-Doctoral Fellows until five years have passed from the conclusion of their stay in the United States as Student Fellows. See the regulations regarding repeat fellowships in the Fellowships section above.
4. Holders of tenured or tenure-track positions are not eligible to apply.
5. Researchers in medicine, dental medicine, veterinary medicine, nursing and other fields whose research proposals include clinical contact with patients are not eligible for Fulbright grants. Candidates with medical degrees are not allowed to pursue medical residencies or internships in the United States as Fulbright Fellows.
6. Prior to activation of the grant, the candidate selected must give proof of completion of all requirements for receipt of the doctoral degree.
7. Prior to activation of the grant, the candidate selected must give proof of acceptance as a post-doctoral research fellow at a recognized institution in the United States.
8. Candidates must be in good health. The applicant selected to receive the grant will be required to submit a Medical History and Examination Report before the grant can be activated.
9. Prior to activation of the grant, the candidate selected must give proof of having obtained adequate financial support for his/her stay in the United States.
10.Prior conviction or current indictment for a felony may result in disqualification.
Evaluation criteria
1. Academic excellence is the primary criterion for the evaluation of candidates.
2. Involvement in community service activities and proven leadership capabilities in such activities are an important evaluation criterion.
3. Underprivileged economic background is an important evaluation criterion.
4. English language proficiency is an important evaluation criterion.
5. Preference will be given to applicants who have not had a substantial, recent, academic experience in the United States, or other English speaking country.
6. Preference will be given to candidates who have received their doctorates within two years prior to the presentation of their applications.
7. Preference will be given to candidates under 35 years of age.
8. Preference will be given to candidates who have not had previous Fulbright grants.
9. Possession of skills required to promote mutual understanding between the United States and Israel is an important evaluation criterion.
Conditions of award:
1. Funding is for one year only. The grantee must arrange funding for the remainder of his/her stay in the United States.
2. The grantee is responsible for making his/her own travel arrangements.
3. The grantee must travel on a J-1 Exchange Visitor visa sponsored by the Fulbright program.
*Upon the conclusion of the one-year Fulbright funding period, the grantee must arrange transfer of visa sponsorship from the Fulbright program to his/her American host institution.
*Current visa regulations limit the stay of J-1 scholars to 5 years. Limited extensions of the visa may be granted by the visa sponsor or by the State Department.
*It is a condition of the visa that after completion of their Fulbright program, including any transfer of visa sponsorship, grantees must return to Israel and reside in the country for two years before being eligible to immigrate to the US, to take up permanent residence there, or to enter the US with a work permit. The purpose of the two-year home residency requirement is to ensure that exchange visitors return home and fulfill the exchange objectives of the Fulbright program.
*Two years must pass from the completion of the grantee’s Fulbright program before it will be permitted to return to the US as the holder of a J1 professor/research scholar visa.
*The above restrictions do not apply to re-entry to the United States as the holder of a J visa in another category (short-term scholar, specialist, international visitor), or as the holder of a student or tourist visa.
*Dependents of grantees will enter the US as holders of J-2 visas. Many conditions applying to the grantees as holders of J-1 visas, such as the two-year home residency requirement and other restrictions, also apply to the holders of J-2 visas.
*Unless they have received a waiver of the two-year home residence requirement, Fulbright Scholars, holding J-1 visas, are ineligible to change their status from J-1 to J-2 while in the US. Similarly, accompanying dependents, who possess J-2 visas, are ineligible to change their status from J-2 to J-1 while in the US, unless they have received a waiver of the home residence requirement.
4. The grantee must begin his/her research program in the United States no later than June 1, 2012. The award cannot be deferred to the following academic year.
Grant benefits:
1. $20,000 award
2. limited health insurance for grantee only
3. pre-departure orientation meeting
Deadline: Earliest date for submission of applications December 1, 2010
Contact:
United States-Israel Educational Foundation
Ben Yehuda 1
P.O. Box 26160
Tel Aviv 61261
Fax: +972-(0)3-516-2016
