About Us
Since its founding in 1925, the Institute of Current World Affairs has provided more than 150 young men and women with long-term fellowships in countries throughout the world. They have immersed themselves in foreign cultures, mastered languages, and gained deep national and regional understanding, while pursuing study programs of their own design for at least two years. The Institute aims to foster the growth of such world citizens, who return to the United States to share what they have learned.
Institute fellows have been teachers, journalists, archeologists, composers, physicians, economists, business leaders, foresters, artists, political scientists, farmers, chemists, playwrights, bankers, city planners, and novelists. They have gone on to excel in these and other fields, armed with a wealth of experience and knowledge gained during their immersion abroad.
Our fellowship program continues to thrive, just as the need for deep understanding of foreign cultures and political systems grows ever more obvious. This website provides information about our purpose and history.
Purpose
The Institute of Current World Affairs provides promising individuals with an opportunity to develop a deep understanding of an issue, country, or region outside the United States and to share that understanding with a wider public.
It does this by awarding fellowships at least two-years long to young women and men who demonstrate initiative, integrity, good communication skills, seriousness of purpose, and enthusiasm for their chosen fields.
The Institute invests in individuals who have great expectations and shares with them the risk of uncertain results. The Institute hopes that its fellow will not only grow personally but make significant contributions to public life in the United States and beyond.
The Institute frees the fellows from the demands and routine of their professional lives and gives them the time and resources to explore and to fulfill their intellectual promise through a self-designed program of study.
Except within the expansive boundaries of "current world affairs," and with the geographic limitation that fellows must study outside the United States, the Institute's criteria are broad. Fellowship candidates must show they are able to carry out their proposed study topic but need not meet any specific educational or other prerequisites. The Institute actively pursues diversity.
To give our investment many decades to pay off, fellows must be under 36 at the time of application. The Institute does not underwrite the pursuit of academic degrees (although many fellows go on to seek advanced degrees). It does not fund the writing of books (although many fellows go on to write books). Fellows are free to pursue any and all avenues of inquiry—investigating, absorbing, and reflecting, then reporting on their findings to the Institute, in the form of a monthly newsletter.
ICWA invests in people. It requires fellows to be well-balanced and self-disciplined, while open and mature enough for the change and growth an Institute fellowship makes possible.
Fellowships
To apply for a fellowship, see opportunities.
Archives
Through the eyes and ears of its fellows, the Institute has collected 81 years of world history, in the form of newsletters submitted as part of the fellowships. Starting with those of the most recent fellows, these documents are accessible here for the first time. Earlier newsletters will gradually appear on the site.
To access a newsletter, click on the reports map and a region's pushpin. Then click on an article title and complete the simple registration process.
The newsletters are the intellectual property of the Institute or the fellows who wrote them. They cannot be reproduced or distributed without specific permission.
