News & Events

News and Events

April 11, 2022

IIE-SRF Director featured in new Christian Science Monitor article on Ukraine

Christian Science Monitor
By Chelsea Sheasley

In The Christian Science Monitor, IIE-SRF Director James Robin King discusses the importance of supporting threatened and displaced scholars.

April 8, 2022

Announcing the 2022 IIE-SRF Vartan Gregorian fellows

By IIE-SRF staff

The Vartan Gregorian Research Grants in the IIE Scholar Rescue Fund honor the life and legacy of former IIE Trustee, Dr. Vartan Gregorian. A champion for global peace and academic freedom, Dr. Gregorian worked tirelessly throughout his life to expand access to education, to promote international exchange, and to preserve the lives and work of threatened scholars.

Today, on what would have been Dr. Gregorian’s 88th birthday, we are pleased to announce the three inaugural fellows of the IIE-SRF Vartan Gregorian Research Grants: Dr. Mehrzad Boroujerdi of Virginia Tech; Dr. Yasmine Ergas of Columbia University; and Dr. Nandini Ramanujam of McGill University. These grants, each in the amount of $25,000, will fund original research and projects that deepen our knowledge of the threats faced by academics in diverse contexts across the globe and explore innovative ideas for supporting these scholars. The below profiles provide more information about the IIE-SRF Vartan Gregorian fellows, their efforts to support threatened and displaced academics in partnership with IIE-SRF, and their projects.

April 5, 2022

IIE-SRF alumnus from Liberia featured in podcast

BBC’s The Comb

IIE-SRF alumnus Alfred Brownell of Liberia shares about his life and work as an environmental lawyer and activist in a podcast interview with BBC’s The Comb.

March 11, 2022

IIE-SRF to lead Baden‐Württemberg Fund for Persecuted Scholars in Germany

As conflicts and authoritarian crackdowns contribute to the decline of scholars’ safety and academic freedom worldwide, it has become clear that creative, collaborative global interventions are required to effectively respond to the many professors and researchers in urgent need of support. The Baden‐Württemberg Fund for Persecuted Scholars (BWF) – a multilateral initiative that supports research appointments for persecuted scholars at universities and other higher education institutions within the German State of Baden‐Württemberg – is an innovative solution that combines IIE-SRF’s decades of experience in scholar rescue with critical resources and local expertise provided by multiple regional stakeholders.

IIE-SRF is honored to announce that, under a new administrative structure launched in 2022, it will implement BWF in partnership with the Baden‐Württemberg Stiftung; the Ministry of Science, Research, and Arts of the state of Baden‐Württemberg; the Klaus Tschira Stiftung gGmbH; and the MJF Gelehrtenschutz gGmbH, all of which support the initiative.

BWF has been working in partnership with IIE-SRF to support threatened and displaced scholars around the world since the initiative’s founding in 2016. Under the new structure, IIE-SRF will nominate scholars previously selected by the IIE‐SRF Selection Committee for consideration by the BWF Selection Committee for fellowship placements at institutions in Baden‐Württemberg. Working with BWF partners, IIE-SRF will then administer all aspects of the fellowship for selected scholars, who will be considered IIE-SRF/BWF fellows.

“Especially in times like these, it is very important to help persecuted scholars and to give a clear signal that Baden-Württemberg is a place where research is free and not bound to suppression or censorship,” write Christoph Dahl and Dr. Andreas Weber of the Baden-Württemberg Stiftung, who respectively serve as the foundation’s Managing Director and Head of Education Department. “It is in this spirit that the supervisory board of the Baden-Württemberg Stiftung supports BWF. With this program, we, along with our partner universities and research institutions, aim to set an example and offer persecuted and threatened researchers from all over the world and from all disciplines the opportunity to conduct research in peace and freedom. In doing so, we wish to make an essential and lasting contribution to international understanding.”


In January 2022, the Baden-Württemberg Fund for Persecuted Scholars Selection Committee selected four scholars as inaugural IIE-SRF/BWF fellows:

  • A scholar of economic geology from Afghanistan
  • A scholar of economics from Afghanistan
  • A scholar of archaeology from Turkey
  • A scholar of biology and ornithology from Turkey

IIE-SRF is working to secure fellowship appointments for these scholars to resume their work in safety at academic institutions in Baden-Württemberg.


“As IIE-SRF and its partners have long witnessed, no single individual, organization, or government is capable of supporting every scholar facing threats or displacement,” says Dr. George Rupp, Chair of the Scholar Rescue Fund Committee of the IIE Board of Trustees and a member of the BWF Selection Committee. “Recent developments in Ukraine demonstrate that the global higher education crisis is only increasing in scope and complexity. As a result, we must find collaborative solutions and pool resources and expertise both within and across borders. BWF is a prime example of such collaboration, and I am honored to be a member of its selection committee.”

IIE-SRF has been involved with BWF since its inception. Under the program’s initial arrangement, IIE-SRF vetted and prepared applications from eligible scholars for presentation to the BWF Selection Committee. Selected scholars’ fellowships were administered by the BWF team independently of IIE-SRF. Between 2017 and 2020, nine BWF fellows undertook academic appointments at six institutions across Baden‐Württemberg.

» About BWS: Founded in 2000, the Baden-Württemberg Stiftung is one of the largest foundations in Germany. Focusing on research, education as well as society and culture, the foundation invests in the future of the state of Baden-Württemberg and of its citizens. However, it does not limit its activities and its commitment to the state of Baden-Württemberg. Furthering international cooperation and understanding is at the heart of its largest program, the Baden-Württemberg-STIPENDIUM, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year.

March 9, 2022

Ecologist Eulogio Chacón Moreno of Venezuela shares the impact of his IIE-SRF fellowship

Nature
By Virginia Gewin

Faced with instability in Venezuela, ecologist Eulogio Chacón Moreno shares how his IIE-SRF fellowship made it possible for him to continue his work in Spain.

March 2, 2022

Fellow Shahla Farid of Afghanistan shares her journey to the U.S.

Rutgers Today
By Robin Lally

In a Rutgers Today article, IIE-SRF fellow Shahla Farid shares her family’s harrowing journey from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan to the US. A lawyer and human rights activist, Farid is undertaking her IIE-SRF fellowship appointment at Rutgers University.

February 25, 2022

Fellow Mahir Hazim of Afghanistan makes the case for expediting the ICC’s investigations of the Taliban in op-ed

The Diplomat
By Mahir Hazim

In an op-ed in The Diplomat, IIE-SRF fellow Mahir Hazim of Afghanistan details that the Taliban has been accused of committing numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity. He makes the case for expediting the International Criminal Court’s investigations of the Taliban.

February 11, 2022

Job opportunity: IIE-SRF Senior Coordinator

IIE-SRF is seeking qualified candidates for an available Senior Coordinator position! The Senior Coordinator performs high-level administrative and operational work tasks for the IIE-SRF program, including leading all aspects of payments, coordinating events and meetings, and maintaining administrative systems. To learn more about the position and to apply or refer, click here.

January 14, 2022

The Wilson Center partners with IIE-SRF on new initiative

The Wilson Center has launched a new initiative for scholars facing threats to their lives or careers in their home countries. In cooperation with IIE-SRF, a select number of fellowship appointments will be arranged each year for threatened and displaced scholars.

December 20, 2021

Job opportunity: IIE-SRF Program Officer

IIE-SRF is seeking qualified candidates for an available Program Officer position! IIE-SRF Program Officers manage all phases of applicant vetting and selection, grantee and host partner management, and monitoring for a complex caseload of scholars from around the world. To learn more about the position and to apply or refer, click here.