Fulbright Arctic Initiative III

Frekari upplýsingar

Frekari upplýsingar um verkefnið og umsóknarferlið, sem og skilyrði sem umsækjendur verða að uppfylla:

Fulbright Arctic Initiative III will create a network to stimulate international scientific collaboration on Arctic issues while increasing mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. Using a collaborative model to translate theory into practice, program participants will spend 18 months engaged in addressing public‐policy research questions relevant to Arctic nations’ shared challenges. Program participants will focus their research on one of the following Fulbright Arctic Initiative themes:

• Arctic Security and Cooperation
• Arctic Infrastructure in a Changing Environment
• Community Dimensions of Health

Approximately 16 outstanding scholars from the U.S. and abroad will be selected to participate in the program as Fulbright Arctic Initiative Scholars through an open, merit‐based competition. At least four of the scholars will be selected from the United States and at least one scholar will be selected from each of the other Arctic Council member states.

Eligibility

Successful candidates will include scholars at all career stages, to include applied researchers, professionals, and indigenous and traditional knowledge experts active in the academic, public or private sectors that demonstrate outstanding qualifications and a record of experience and accomplishment in an area clearly related to one of the designated research themes. Applicants must be actively engaged in an area of inquiry or activity relevant to the program’s themes and objectives, be open to exploring and incorporating comparative, interdisciplinary approaches in their investigations, and interested in developing collaborative activities with other Fulbright Arctic Scholars.

• Applicants must be citizens of Iceland and residing in the country at the time of application. Icelandic applicants who have dual‐U.S. citizenship or who hold permanent residency “green cards”, whether or not they reside in the U.S., are not eligible.
• A Ph.D. or equivalent professional/terminal degree is preferred, but not required.
• Preference will be given to early or mid‐career academics, applied researchers and/or professionals with research experience in the public, non‐profit, or private sectors.
• Applicants should have particular expertise and research experience in one of the identified thematic research areas.
• Applicants must demonstrate proficiency in English.

A number of factors will be taken into account when applications are evaluated, including: traditional criteria for academic and professional excellence, compelling research methodology, relevance of applicant’s previous research, training, and experience to proposed project area(s), ability of the applicant to work as part of an interdisciplinary team, necessity of conducting research in the United States and the overall strengths of the applicant and application in comparison with others in the applicant pool. Further, the exchange experience should be of intrinsic value to the scholar as well as to the scholar´s home institution.

Length

Program activities will commence in Spring 2021 and conclude in 18 months, in Fall 2022. All grantees are expected to attend three seminar group meetings, complete a research visit to the U.S. for a minimum of six consecutive weeks and a maximum of three consecutive months, participate in monthly virtual plenary meetings, and maintain ongoing virtual communication with fellow grantees and lead scholars. The research visit must be completed prior to August 2022.

Timeline:

• March 2021 – First Group Meeting and Orientation (to be held in Canada)
• Winter 2021-2022 – Mid‐year Group Meeting (to be held in Norway)
• Fall 2022 ‐ Final Group Meeting (to be held in the United States)

Grant Provisions

• Scholars will receive funding in the amount of USD $40,000 (or an equivalent amount in local currency). This allowance is intended to support travel to all program meetings, travel and maintenance for the individual exchange visit, research materials and assistance for grantees only.
• Accommodations and meals for all group meetings will be covered separately.
• Grants will also include limited accident and sickness benefits.

Application Notes

All applicants must complete and submit an online application:

• Visiting Scholars: https://apply.iie.org/fvsp2020

The following materials comprise a complete Arctic Initiative application:

• Application form
• Statement of purpose (three to five pages)
• Bibliography (up to three pages)
• Curriculum vitae (up to six pages)
• Letters of recommendation (two)
• Letter of invitation (recommended but not required)

* Applicants are welcome to provide a letter of invitation from a potential host institution. Scholars without proposed affiliations can be assisted by the Fulbright Commission, Arctic Initiative Lead Scholars and/or IIE in finding appropriate hosts.

Research proposals must fall within one of three inter‐related areas:

Arctic Security and Cooperation

The Arctic region benefits from innovative models of international cooperation, particularly in the areas of search and rescue, management of the Arctic marine environment, emergency preparedness for global pandemics and collaborative governance through oversight bodies such as the Arctic Council. Individual Arctic states have also created innovative models of co‐management and self‐government with Indigenous peoples. As the Arctic region becomes more accessible, the need for greater attention to Arctic security in all its dimensions—human security, environmental security, energy security, and traditional security—will continue to grow in importance.

a. What role can the Arctic Council play in strengthening human security, environmental security, energy security, and traditional security in the Arctic region?
b. How can non‐Arctic states play a role in the Arctic without undermining the interests of Arctic states and residents, especially those of Indigenous peoples?
c. How can the potential need for future military development in the Arctic be reconciled with and even used to enhance opportunities to develop and ensure the health and well‐being of Arctic communities?
d. How can Arctic Indigenous communities’ governance structures be integrated into contemporary governance structures in the Arctic?
e. How does the globalization of the Arctic impact human security, environmental security, energy security, and traditional security?
f. What are the remaining or emerging ethical considerations to address in the areas of human security, environmental security, energy security, and traditional security in the Arctic?
g. How might arts‐based approaches promote Circumpolar solidarity, create opportunities for non‐traditional (other than publications) forms of knowledge translation?
h. What events outside the Arctic affect Arctic security and cooperation and how might these be disentangled?

Arctic Infrastructure in a Changing Environment

More research is needed to understand the environmental changes taking place in the Arctic and the impacts they are having on human and the built environment. The prosperity, security and health of the region depends on sound infrastructure for housing, transportation, communications, energy and emergency response systems. Changes to land, human and marine environments are placing stress on both coastal and inland communities in the Arctic. At the same time, these very same changes are generating interest in the Arctic for energy and mineral
resources, increasing tourism, and opening up new fisheries and transportation routes. The global energy transition is placing greater pressures on Arctic and sub‐Arctic regions as sources of minerals and renewable energy from wind and hydro. Together, these trends provide new opportunities for sustainable development that have the potential to improve life for Arctic communities.

a. What are the most significant biophysical and ecological changes in Arctic and sub‐Arctic regions that are affecting current energy, transportation, communication and building infrastructure?
b. What are the projected hydrological changes in the Arctic and sub‐Arctic regions and what are their impacts for future energy and transportation options?
c. Will changes in oceanic currents bring and/or reduce opportunities for fisheries and bioprospecting, and what are the new transportation and communications technologies that will be required to address these changes in the future?
d. How can national investments in renewable energy enhance local energy security for heat and power and provide new local revenue streams?
e. How can new coastal port structures and investments in military bases be leveraged for civilian needs such as lowering costs for dry goods and food stuffs, improving search and rescue capabilities, creating export opportunities for Arctic products to global markets, and improving broadband and communications for healthcare, education, commerce, and environmental surveillance?
f. Are there new opportunities to design housing and building stock that is culturally and environmentally appropriate? Can these opportunities be designed to improve health outcomes?
g. What are the opportunities for new electric‐based transportation for snow machines, boats, and local air transportation?
h. Can new concepts and approaches such as regenerative sustainability help address current and future policy challenges in the Arctic?
i. What role do Indigenous and local knowledge systems need to play to better inform policy decisions?
j. What is the future of the Arctic cities in changing environments? What are the risks and opportunities for relocation of coastal settlements? How can small towns and settlements be redesigned in changing environmental conditions?
k. What hazards need to be examined? What liabilities exist? How long should monitoring last?

Community Dimensions of Health

The health of children, youth, adults, and the elderly is vital to the security of Arctic communities and the region’s future. While Arctic communities are constantly innovating to address their own needs, environmental fluctuations, underdeveloped infrastructures, food insecurities, economic development, infectious diseases, health disparities, and entrenched institutional systems have created challenges for human health and the diverse ecologies of Arctic peoples. Most recently global pandemics pose an extreme risk to isolated Arctic communities due to under-resourced health care services, transportation challenges and limited housing options. Citizens of the Arctic are looking to engage in research that addresses their concerns and will find ways to improve and sustain human health in the Arctic.
a. How can community practices, perspectives, and priorities be integrated into diverse and/or Circumpolar monitoring/assessment, programmatic, and governance infrastructures in the Arctic to promote human health?
b. What multi‐level intervention designs, frameworks, and methods might address the complex interconnected human health ecology in diverse Arctic populations?
c. How can community‐driven policies and practices in workforce development, employment, cultural heritage initiatives, service delivery and/or education positively support human health?
d. What concrete mechanisms and tools support the integration of Indigenous knowledge/local knowledge into research, policy and practice that addresses human health?
e. What strategies or steps can be taken to incorporate the natural and/or built environment to support human health?
f. What innovative strategies, programs, and policies might prevent and/or mitigate infectious diseases, environmental exposures and/or environmental risk across the diverse levels of the human ecology (biological, individual, family, community, environmental, economic)?
g. How can cumulative effects of exposure(s) to multiple elements/risks be assessed and analyzed in the Arctic in a way that brings together the medical, social, and natural sciences and humanities?
h. How might arts‐based approaches tell the human dimensions of health story in the Arctic for youth, families and elders?