Fulbright Specialist Program

Peer Review

Review of Fulbright Specialists Applications

CIES is responsible for coordinating and conducting the initial screening of Fulbright applications through peer review. A hallmark of the Fulbright Specialist Program, peer review assures that applicants will be evaluated on academic, scholarly and professional criteria.

In collaboration with institutions of higher education, professional associations and CIES board members, CIES develops committees that represent academia's disciplinary, geographic and institutional diversity. The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) evaluate those interested in committee membership. The peer review committee membership policies are outlined below.

• To consider applications in the context of the basic objectives of the Fulbright Specialist Program

• To assess the appropriateness of the applicant's background, experience and achievements for a short-term international exchange opportunity

• To consider the expected benefits of the applicant's ability to promote mutual understanding, to benefit host countries and, upon the grantee's return to the United States, to benefit home institutions and/or networks of professional colleagues.

• Review by discipline peer review committees to screen applicants and recommend candidates for placement on the Fulbright Specialists Roster
  
  
• Review and official selection of CIES-recommended candidates for the Fulbright Specialists Roster by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, which is composed of 12 educational and public leaders appointed by the President of the United States
  
  
• Review of Fulbright Specialists Candidates by Fulbright binational Commissions or Public Affairs Sections of U.S. Embassies, together with prospective host institutions, for final consideration in matching pre-approved candidates with specific project requests
  

The Fulbright Specialist Program accepts applications on a rolling basis, and complete applications are reviewed in cycles scheduled throughout the year according to the calendar below. A complete application includes the submitted application form and both references. Applications that are submitted but are not complete will be deferred for review in a later cycle. Submitted but incomplete applications remain active in the CIES system for one year after they are submitted.

Applicants will be notified via e-mail when their applications are complete and ready for review. Please contact us at fulspec@iie.org if you believe that your application is complete and have not received a confirmation e-mail.

Peer Review Calendar >

A prospective host institution abroad may contact an individual regarding his/her interest in participating in a particular grant opportunity. If this individual is not already on the Fulbright Specialists Program Candidate Roster, he/she must be admitted to it before being considered for the grant opportunity. No applicant is eligible for final consideration for a grant until his/her application has been reviewed and approved for entry to the Candidate Roster.

All applicants to the Fulbright Specialists Roster will be notified of their final status via e-mail, according to the schedule above. Applicants who are admitted to the Roster may remain eligible candidates for up to five (5) years, subject to continuation of the Specialists Program. Please note that admission to the Roster does not guarantee eventual receipt of a grant.

When conducting the peer review of applicants to the Fulbright Specialists Candidate Roster, CIES operates in conformity with the policies of the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, the presidentially appointed body that has statutory authority over Fulbright programs. The policy on selection and nonselection stipulates: "It is the policy of the Board not to give to individual applicants, to others inquiring on their behalf, or to the public generally, the specific reasons for selection or nonselection of applicants for awards under the program." (From the "Policy Statements of the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board," Sec. 145.)

The Fulbright Specialists discipline peer review committees will evaluate applications based on basic objectives of the Fulbright Specialist Program, specific discipline criteria and the following guidelines:

Professional Qualifications

• Education, training, professional standing and position
• International, national, and/or regional reputation as a scholar, artist or professional
• Quality of professional accomplishments, as evidenced through publications, research grants, awards, work experience, exhibition records and papers delivered at conferences, seminars and workshops
• Teaching ability, as evidenced by references, teaching awards, courses taught, pedagogical approach, participation in innovative teaching, professional training or curriculum projects
• Demonstrated currency in the selected field of expertise
• Administrative/leadership experience

Suitability for Specialists Grant Activity

• Match of academic, professional or artistic expertise to the Specialists program
• Quality of the motivational statement
• Feasibility to successfully engage in eligible grant activities, at post-secondary, degree granting institutions overseas, based on credentials presented

Previous International/Intercultural experience

• The short-term nature of the Fulbright Specialists international exchange activity requires demonstrated cultural sensitivity and adaptability.  Evidence of strong international experience and cultural adaptability is therefore preferred. In the absence of international experience, consideration may be given to applicants who demonstrate significant evidence of cultural adaptability through their regional and national experiences.

Expected benefit to scholarly and professional networks

• Applicant's potential to contribute to a host institution abroad
• Applicant's potential to contribute to the home institution, or to other U.S. scholarly and professional networks, upon return

Personal Qualities

• Collegiality, adaptability, cultural sensitivity and ability to serve as a cultural ambassador

Geographic Distribution

• Other factors being equal, and to the extent possible, applicants are chosen to represent a broad U.S. geographic distribution, by both home state and type of institution

Fulbright Specialist Program Discipline Review Committees

Discipline review committees consist of individuals with specialized expertise who evaluate applications and recommend applicants for further consideration to binational Fulbright Commissions and U.S. Embassies in more than 100 countries around the world. The presidentially appointed J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board makes the final selection of Fulbright Specialists candidates.

The streamlined application consists of a brief application form, four essays, an abbreviated curriculum vitae, and two recommendations. CIES has implemented an online review process, so committee members do not have to travel to Washington to participate on a committee. Reviewers must, however, be willing to complete application evaluations on the Web.

There are two committees per discipline, and they alternate review cycles. Over the course of the review year, committees will evaluate no more than 15 applications during each of four cycles. Occasionally, committees may be asked to review individual applications between review cycles. Every effort is made to keep this practice to a minimum and to ensure that review does not occur at the traditionally busy times of the academic year. A two- to three-week period is allotted for evaluating applications and submitting them to CIES.

Appointment

Members of committees are appointed by CIES on the authority of the Conference Board of Associated Research Councils. Prospective members are identified based on recommendations from CIES board members, CIES staff, current committee members and individual self-nomination. Disciplinary, geographic, age and gender balance is taken into consideration in determining the final composition of the review committees.

Term

Committee membership is typically one year with the possibility for renewal depending on each year's committee needs. Committee makeup is determined by a needs analysis conducted annually to discern the overall pool of applications in relation to the awards available and to ensure committee membership that is broadly representative of the applicant pool. If there are no applications in a given field for a particular year, a member's term may be extended for an additional year.

• CIES Fulbright Specialists Discipline Reviewers, who are not currently active Fulbright Specialists candidates, may not submit an application for a Fulbright Specialists award until one year following completion of their service. Note: Membership on the Fulbright Specialists Discipline Review Committee does not preclude submission of an application for the core Fulbright Scholar Program or other CIES administered Fulbright grants.
  
  
• CIES Fulbright Specialists Program discipline reviewers may not serve on the peer review committees for Fulbright Scholar Program or other Fulbright grants while simultaneously completing their year of service as a reviewer for the Specialists Program.
  
  
• CIES reviewers may not write a letter of reference for an applicant being reviewed by the committee on which they serve until the academic year following completion of service or resignation from the committee.
  
  
• Reviewers will recuse themselves from evaluation, discussion and final recommendations regarding applications submitted by an immediate family member or domestic partner.
  
  
• Reviewers should consider there to be a potential conflict of interest when an applicant is a person with whom the reviewer has some other significant personal or professional relationship (members of the same department, co-authors, research collaborators, etc.) which could bias his/her judgment about the applicant or the application. Reviewers should determine whether such relationships involve a conflict of interest for them and, if so, recuse themselves from evaluation, discussion and final recommendation regarding the applicant.
  
  
• Applications should be treated in a confidential manner. Reviewers may consult colleagues on issues in an application but should not identify the applicant. Comments from someone other than the reviewer should be acknowledged in the reviewer's evaluative remarks. Reviewers are asked to strictly observe the confidential nature of committee deliberations, decisions, ratings, and comments on specific individuals.
  
  
• Reviewers should not share the outcome of the review with anyone. When considering personal and professional information on applicants, reviewers should base their evaluation solely on the information provided in the applications (reviewers should not consult any outside resource for supplemental personal or professional applicant information).

Provisions of the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961, as amended

• Applicants shall be considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex or age.
  
  
• Although the physical and mental health of candidates must be adequate to allow them to fulfill the terms of their grant, no qualified disabled candidate will be subjected to discrimination on the basis of disability.
  
  
• Preference shall be given to those who have served in the Armed Forces of the United States.
  
  
• Due consideration shall be given to applicants from all geographical areas of the United States.

Under the Privacy Act (Public Law 93-579), any individual who is requested by or on behalf of a federal agency to provide information about himself or herself must be informed of the authority, purpose and uses to which the information provided is intended to be put.

In conformity with this legislation, persons interested in Fulbright grants are informed of the following:

The solicitation of the information requested in application forms is authorized under the Fulbright-Hays Act; the information is intended to be used in screening and selecting grantees and in the administration of the grants; it may be released to appropriate U.S. governmental agencies, the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, binational Fulbright commissions, foreign host institutions, Congress, the news media, and relatives of the grantee trying to reach the individual for bona fide personal reasons.