Asfari Fellowships | Chatham House: Independent thinking on international affairs

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Asfari Fellowships

Chatham House is pleased to invite applications for the first year of Asfari Fellowships at Chatham House, a joint initiative of Chatham House and the Asfari Foundation.

The purpose of this Fellowship scheme is to offer potential and established civil society leaders from the Middle East the opportunity to further develop their understanding, ideas and approaches on the most pressing challenges facing the Arab world, in the unique and neutral venue of Chatham House.

The Fellowships will be open to individuals who are resident citizens of Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine or Syria, and displaced citizens of these countries living elsewhere in the Middle East. Candidates should be engaged in, or working with, civil society in these countries, whether they come from academia, NGOs, business, government departments, the professions or the media.

Fostering Leadership in Civil Society

Chatham House will provide a dynamic base within which the Fellows can pursue their own research interests; further develop their personal interaction, communication, and leadership skills; extend their global networks; and deepen their expertise by contributing to the institute’s research and activities. This experience will inform the Fellows’ contributions to improved regional and national decision-making on issues of great relevance to prosperity and security in the MENA region.

Two levels of Fellowship are available: Asfari Fellowships and Asfari Senior Fellowships.

Asfari Fellowships are open to individuals at the mid-stage of their career. They will be offered a comprehensive 12-month programme of activities at the institute and will work towards producing a Chatham House publication from their research. This new generation of emerging leaders will bring fresh insights to debates on critical issues for their region, while gaining a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities of a competitive yet interdependent world.

Asfari Senior Fellowships are open to individuals at an advanced stage in their career. The Senior Fellowships will be flexible to allow for variations in the existing professional and family commitments of the candidates and will last between six and twelve months. These Fellowships will provide an opportunity for established thought leaders to undertake a targeted research project of their own design, bring their particular expertise and perspective to UK and Western policy and public debates, and contribute to the life of the institute more generally.

Each year, there will be one Asfari Fellowship position and two Senior Asfari Fellowship positions available. The Fellows will be hosted by and based in one of Chatham House's research departments, whether thematic (energy, environment and resources, global health, international economics, international law and international security) or regional (Africa, Asia, Americas, Europe, Middle East and North Africa, Russia and Eurasia). In each case, the Fellows will work on issues relating to the Arab world, whether directly within the Middle East and North Africa Programme or within another research department.