Small Grants

To deepen the impact of its dialogue programs, the Hollings Center awards small grants and fellowships to selected participants for collaborative follow-on initiatives involving research, professional development and exchanges.

Projects funded by the Center’s small grants program include:

• an opinion survey of Egyptian university students’ attitudes toward the Obama administration
• research on the impact of Afghanistan’s National Solidarity Program on governance in Afghanistan
• a workshop on teaching Arabic to American students
• a conference on liberal arts education in the Middle East
• the launching of student and faculty exchange programs between U.S. universities and campuses in Bangladesh and Morocco
• the establishment of an international educational forum for Arab universities
• an evaluation of American “branch campuses” in the United Arab Emirates
• a workshop on higher education quality in the Middle East
• research on stakeholders’ views of U.S. aid to Egypt
• a series of workshops for early-career Turkish and American journalists on Turkey-U.S. relations
• a project assessing Lebanese-Turkish ties and Turkey’s influence in Lebanon
• research on the experience of Turkish mediation between Israel and Syria and its implications for U.S. Middle East policy

Here is what some of the Center’s small grant recipients have said about the program:

“Our Hollings small grant has created possibilities that exceeded what the presidents of our two universities, Concordia College, Minnesota, and Independent University, Bangladesh, envisioned when they decided to explore a partnership building on the Center’s conference on independent universities in the Muslim world.  Both institutions are exceedingly grateful for support that furthers perhaps the most important thing we can accomplish beyond the daily task of educating students—seeking institutional partnerships abroad that advance and enrich global liberal learning.”
Small grant recipient,
dialogue on Independent Universities in the Muslim World, 2007

“The Hollings Center small grant program has been the catalyst for a very fruitful Afghan-American research collaboration. Following on the Center’s dialogue on governance in Afghanistan, we assessed local governance in that country through a joint study, workshops, and a law school seminar—all with an invaluable combination of Afghan and U.S. perspectives.”
Small grant recipient,
dialogue on Governance in Afghanistan, 2009

“Building on the U.S.-Egypt next-generation dialogue, the small grants program allowed our Egyptian-American research team to conduct a comprehensive study of stakeholders in the U.S. aid program to Egypt.  Not only are we producing a study relevant to political science and policy alike, but our team also developed an academic partnership and cultivated professional contacts that will outlive the duration of the grant.”
Small grant recipient,
dialogue on The Future of Egypt-U.S. Relations, 2009

“With support from the Hollings small grants program and building on the Center’s colloquium on quality in higher education, Effat University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, convened a workshop that fostered dialogue among members of the higher education community in Muslim-majority countries. This spirit of collaboration and sharing that the Effat workshop spawned continues to pay itself forward, enriching the participants’ personal, professional and intellectual lives.”
Small grant recipient,
dialogue on Quality Assurance in Higher Education, 2009

Please note that small grants and fellowships are available to conference participants only.  The Hollings Center does not make grants outside its dialogue programs.