Fulbright Commission Supports Five Dynamic Alumni Projects
Tuesday 3 April: The Fulbright Commission in Ireland is delighted to announce the recipients of five €1,000 grants for Fulbright Alumni projects and events taking place in 2018. The successful candidates are Dr Marian Crowley-Henry, Dr Rita Melia, Associate Professor Nerys Williams, Dr Susan Crawford, and Dr Aileen Dillane.
The Executive Director of the Fulbright Commission in Ireland, Dr Dara Fitzgerald, highly commended the recipients: “We are proud to support the ongoing, impactful work of Fulbright Alumni in so many diverse fields. Each of the selected projects supports the Ireland-US relationship and enhances what Awardees achieved during their Fulbright scholarships. We look forward to seeing the positive outcomes of these ambitious projects spanning migration studies, education, digital technology and the arts.”
Dr Marian Crowley-Henry, a Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management at Maynooth University School of Business, will undertake a series of interviews with skilled migrants (including Americans) living and working in Ireland. The aim of this research is to compare skilled migrants living and working in the USA, and those living and working in Ireland, with regard to their perceived career challenges and facilitators. This will inform development of a framework of factors which facilitate and/or limit career pathways for skilled migrants from different countries of origin who have relocated to the USA or Ireland. As a Fulbright-Enterprise Ireland Scholar to Northern Illinois University in 2017, Dr Crowley-Henry conducted over 25 qualitative interviews with skilled migrants living and working in the USA (including Irish).
Ms Rita Melia, Director of Training & Practice with Early Childhood Ireland, will host a conference entitled Advancing Children’s Rights Through Education: From imagination to realisation, at the Clock Tower in the Department of Education and Skills, Marlborough Street on 25thApril 2018. This is a collaborative project between Ms Melia – a 2016 Fulbright Awardee whose research at Harvard Graduate School Education (HGSE) Boston MA focused on early childhood education and care provision, and Professor Jonathan Todres – a Professor of Law at Georgia State University, who is currently a Fulbright U.S. Scholar to University College Cork. Together with Early Childhood Ireland and host institutions National University Ireland Galway and University College Cork, the Awardees will identify the current approach to advancing children’s and young people’s right through education, and consider how this approach could be further enhanced to meet obligations under the UNCRC. To book a ticket, visit the Early Childhood Ireland website.
Associate Professor Nerys Williams is coordinating this year’s Irish Association for American Studies (IAAS) Annual Conference, taking place 27th-28th April 2018 at UCD’s Humanities Institute. Entitled Foreign Bodies and Native Sons, the conference will examine the longstanding and contentious relationship between ideas of the ‘native’ and the ‘foreign’ in American cultural history. Foreign Bodies and Native Sons will be an international, wide-ranging interdisciplinary event with potential for public engagement. Professor Nerys is a poet, and lecturer at UCD’s School of English, Drama & Film. Her 2006 Fulbright research at the University of California Berkeley focused on language poetry and collaborative practice.
Dr Susan Crawford will return to the U.S. in summer 2018 to collaborate with the University of San Francisco, associated ASD units, and San Jose State University, California and roll out the GetAutismActive programme. This programme aims to help enhance the movement skills and quality of life of people with autism. Dr Crawford is a Lecturer in Sports Studies and Physical Education, School of Education at University College Cork, she initiated the GetAutismActive programme in 2015 during her Fulbright-TechImpact Scholarship to the University of San Francisco.
Dr Aileen Dillane will travel to the Francis O’Neill Irish Arts Week in Chicago this August to teach music, curate performances, and present a public lecture. The festival, organised by the Irish Music School of Chicago for young Irish traditional musicians, centres on the life and times of Captain Francis O’Neill (1848-1936) who had profound impact on Irish music recording, collection, and dissemination in the city and beyond. Dr Dillane is an ethnomusicologist and musician at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick. Her original doctoral research as a Fulbright scholar to the University of Chicago, and her current book project on Irish music in Chicago, directly engages with O’Neill’s legacy.
The 2019-2020 Fulbright Irish Awards application period will open on 31st August 2018. These Awards are open to postgraduate students, researchers and professionals in all disciplines. Irish and EU citizens interested in applying for a scholarship to study, research or teach / lecture in the USA should visit www.fulbright.ie for further information.
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For further information, please contact:
Emma Loughney, Communication Manager, Fulbright Commission in Ireland
Emma.loughney@fulbright.ie / 01.230.9802