SASP-SPSP International Teaching Fellowship

The Australasian Society of Social Psychologists (SASP) and the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) are pleased to announce their decision to co-sponsor a series of International Teaching Fellowships. The program supports one-week expert-led graduate schools in Australasia and North America. Applications are now welcome.
The aims of this program are: (1) to foster international cooperation between members of these two organizations, (2) to provide an opportunity for groups of graduate students to receive intensive specialist education from an academic expert from overseas, and (3) to provide an opportunity to build links between groups of researchers and research institutions within a geographical region.
The program will operate on a trial basis for the first two years. Two fellowships will be awarded each year, one to be hosted in Australasia, the other in North America.

How the Program Works

The program operates as follows. A host institution (e.g., a university psychology department in North America) invites a distinguished scholar from overseas (e.g., somewhere in Australasia) to provide one week of tuition and supervision for a group of graduate students. The host institution, together with other participating departments, must cover all the costs of accommodation, meals, and entertainment.

In addition to providing official backing (e.g., the title of the Fellowship) and program coordination, SASP and SPSP provide financial and material support. Each Fellow will receive a stipend from SASP and SPSP amounting to US$2,000. This stipend may be used to cover travel or other expenses including those of companions.

The host institution need only have a few graduate students who participate, but must arrange that students from other neighboring institutions also visit for the week. At least one, and preferably two or more, other institutions should send graduate students to join the activites. The total number of students should be between 8 and 16. The organization of the week’s activities is flexible but should ensure that as many graduate students as possible are able to benefit from a mixture of large and small-group or one-on-one interaction with the Fellow. The week should include social as well as academic activities and should include ways of ensuring that links and communications are set up on a longer term basis among the participants.

The first SPSP-SASP sponsored fellow was Jim Blascovich, who visited Macquarie University in 2002 and conducted a Social Psychology Virtual Reality Workshop.

Application Procedure

One fellowship will be awarded to an institution in Australasia and the other to an institution in North America. The host institution organizer must be a member of SASP or SPSP, respectively. The Fellow visiting North America must be a member of SASP, and the Fellow visiting Australasia must be a member of SPSP.

The host organizer should prepare a 2-page application that provides an explanation of how the expertise offered by the Fellow will provide education in an aspect or area that is not normally covered by faculty already working among the host-site group of departments. The application should describe how many students will participate, and from which departments or institutions. In addition there should be a summary of the type of social and extra-curricular activities that will be arranged around the Fellow’s visit (e.g., the visit could be attached to the end or start of a conference, there could be other academic events linked to the visit, and there might be a trip to a regional tourist attraction, museum, exhibition, or other event), and what steps will be taken to ensure that the network of participating graduate students is sustained after the conclusion of the Fellow’s visit. The application must include a copy of the proposed Fellow’s vita, and a letter from the proposed Fellow stating that, if the fellowship is granted, she or he will accept the invitation from the host organizer.

If multiple applications are received, priority will be given to those that most fully meet the criteria of bringing international social psychological expertise to a wider group of graduate students. Applications from institutions that have limited resources or access to such expertise will receive higher priority.

The application should be submitted by email to either the SASP administrative secretary, Julie Fitness , or to the SPSP office . Applications will be considered jointly by representatives of the Executive Committee of SASP and SPSP. Proposals must be for meetings to be held at least 6 months later. This period will allow time for the meetings to be publicized in SASP and SPSP bulletins and newsletters and to ensure that participation is as full as possible. Applications must be received by March 15th and September 15th.

Summary Report

After a Fellow’s visit, the host organizer must provide a brief report summarizing the week’s activities and the list of participants, for publication in the SASP Bulletin and SPSP’s Dialogue newsletter.

Source: http://www.spsp.org/sasp.htm

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