June 15th, 2012: Press Release – Irish Fulbright Awardees 2012-2013 Announced
RECORD YEAR AS 37 RECIPIENTS HONOURED WITH FULBRIGHT AWARDS
- The arts, the environment and EU-US relations feature strongly
Friday 15th June 2012 – A record number of 37 Irish Fulbright Awards were officially announced today and will be honoured at an event at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin. The awards are jointly funded by the Irish and US governments under the Ireland-United States (Fulbright) Commission for Educational Exchange. Fulbright scholarships have provided Irish students, scholars and professionals with the opportunity to study, lecture and research at top universities and institutions in the U.S. since 1957.
This year’s recipients will attend leading institutions across the US including NASA, Harvard, Columbia, MIT, NYU, Berkeley, Fordham, Notre Dame, Northeastern, Villanova and UCLA.
Ireland also had a record year in the Fulbright-Schuman Category winning 4 out of 13 awards which are open to citizens across 27 EU member states. This category promotes US-EU relations and is funded through the U.S. State Department and the Directorate-General for Education and Culture of the European Commission.
Speaking about this year’s Fulbright Awards, Ms Una Halligan, Chair of the Fulbright Commission said:
“37 Fulbright awards is a record for Fulbright Ireland. We were delighted but not surprised by the level and standard of applicants in the 2012 Irish awards competition. The reputation of Fulbright continues to grow as the international value and influence associated with being a ‘Fulbrighter’ becomes more widely recognised in both academic and professional contexts.
“The breadth of each recipient’s field of expertise highlights the innovative nature of Fulbright which values all disciplines equally. Although their subjects are varied, each of these recipients has one very important trait in common – outstanding leadership ability. This is the true essence and purpose of Fulbright.
“We have no doubt the collaborations and accomplishments they make while in the US will impact enormously on future growth across all realms of Irish society well into the future.”
In addition to Fulbright Commission Awards, there were three sponsored awards that attracted a great deal of interest including:
- The Fulbright – Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Award in Water, Climate Change & Sustainable Environment worth €20,000 won by Ms Alice Cowman who will undertake a Masters in Climate and Society at Columbia University.
- The Fulbright – Enterprise Ireland Award in Innovation worth €10,000 won by Ms. Natasa Paterson who will attend the University of California Los Angeles’s renowned Film Scoring program
- The Fulbright – CRH Award in Business Studies or Engineering valued at €20,000 won by Mr Shane Kiernan who will undertake a Masters degree in Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health
Reflecting on the candidates, Colleen Dube, Executive Director of the Fulbright Commission said;
“This year we have seen many interesting trends with increased awards and applicants in the environment, creative arts and Irish language categories. One of the candidates will carry out cutting edge research on solar storms at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Two of Ireland’s young composers will attend Berklee College of Music, Boston to study Jazz Performance and Composition and the University of California Los Angeles’s renowned Film Scoring program respectively.
“Ten of this year’s awardees are in the Irish language category funded through the Irish Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. This includes 8 Foreign Language Teaching Assistants and 2 Irish language scholars. This year we will send an Irish language scholar to University of California Berkeley for the first time and two teaching assistants to the University of Montana.”
The Fulbright Awards are presented on an annual basis to Irish students, scholars and professionals to undertake postgraduate study and research at higher education, cultural and related institutions in the United States. Applications are encouraged in all disciplines including the visual and performing arts. Later in the year the Commission will welcome 13 US Fulbright Scholars and 3 US Fulbright Students to Ireland
The next Fulbright Awards Competition 2013-2014 will open to applicants on Monday 27th August 2012. For more information visit www.fulbright.ie.
ENDS
For further information please contact:
Pippa Halley – Programme & Communications Manager
01- 660 7670 // 087-0576844
Notes to Editor: