Month: May 2023

Anna Lindh Foundation: Public Policies Manager (Egypt)

“JobPublic Policies Manager, Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation, Alexandria, Egypt. Deadline: 11 June 2023.

The Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures (ALF) is looking for an experienced professional ready to make a change in the region to join its multicultural team. The Public Policies Manager, working from the ALF Secretariat in Alexandria, will have the overall responsibility to lead the ALF Secretariat’s action towards the public bodies of the 42 Member States and the European Union’s institutions; ensure well-oiled internal and external coordination schemes and procedures; actively contribute to the fundraising strategy of the Foundation; direct the Public Policies team; supervise the assigned budget; develop, implement and organise all the ALF Public Policies Unit activities and coordinate with the other Units of the Foundation, in accordance with the ALF Multiannual Work Programme 2022-2025.

Applicants must be nationals of one of the 42 (UfM) countries: Albania, Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mauritania, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Palestine, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Syria, The Netherlands, Tunisia and Türkiye.

MOOC Teaching and Learning in Multicultural Contexts (Italy)

“MOOCs”Teaching and Learning in Multicultural Contexts MOOC, created by Politecnico di Milano, Italy. Opens 8 May 2023 with free access until 5 May 2024.

The growth of human mobility together with globalization are shaping the demographics of many societies and of many interactive contexts, including new ways of learning and of working modalities. Thus, the possibility of facing intercultural relationships, even without moving, is today very frequent. And in the academic contexts, the internationalization of higher education makes the issue of teaching and learning in multicultural contexts, whether in person or online, relevant and essential to be learned and managed effectively.

This MOOC is divided into six weeks, with an estimate of 2-3 hours of time per week. It is addressed mainly to university teachers, with the aim to enhance their intercultural and global citizens’ skills and practices, so they can consciously foster the same skills in their students. It is open to anyone who is interested in understanding cultural diversity, thus to better live together and collaborate in multicultural contexts. It is taught in English, and it is offered without charge.

One of the instructors will be Maura di Mauro, affiliated with CID, who developed it for the Politecnico of Milan and for Somali National University. 

Dance and Intercultural Dialogue

Intercultural Pedagogy

Hu, Vanessa B. (19 March 2023). Let’s Dance Together! Bridging Cultural Siloes on Campus. The Harvard Crimson.

Honestly, dance — and any cultural form of expression — is a great middle-ground to start dialogue.

Vanessa Hu likes to dance, but when she joined Candela, Harvard’s Latin social dance group, and simultaneously chose not to join the Asian-American Dance Troupe, she got a lot of comments. That made her notice “the unspoken cultural borders divvying up campus organizations.” This essay would be a good example to use in an intercultural communication course to spark discussion.

Mediterranean Capitals of Culture & Dialogue Grants

Grants

Mediterranean Capitals of Culture & Dialogue:
A yearlong celebration of Euro-Mediterranean identity and cooperation, Union for the Mediterranean and Anna Lindh Foundation, for 2025. Deadlines: 23 July 2023.

The Union for the Mediterranean launched the “Mediterranean Capitals of Culture & Dialogue” (MCCD) initiative during their 7th Regional Forum in November 2022. Based on the call of Ministers of Culture of the Euro-Mediterranean region on 17 June 2022 in Naples, as well as the recommendation of more than 200 young representatives from the civil society of over 20 countries at the Forum des Mondes Méditerranéens on 7 February 2022 in Marseille, this initiative was shaped to further promote the diversity and shared identity of the Euro-Mediterranean region and contribute to a better mutual unders- tanding of its peoples.

Two cities will be chosen, one from the North and one from the South; they will collaborate during 2024, and hold events in 2025. They must both be members of the Union of the Mediterranean. Activities will include offering programmes which may include conferences and seminars on topics critical to the region, civic engagement initiatives, and cultural performances that celebrate the Euro-Mediterranean identity and diversity, coordinated by local authorities with the support of a coalition of cultural institutions, schools and universities, sports institutions, civil society organisations, and other relevant actors.

Core objectives:

  • Euro-Mediterranean Identity: Encouraging intercultural dialogue and greater mutual understanding across the Euro-Mediterranean region: the initiative will aim to combine local objectives and realities with solid regional visions.

  • Territorian Cooperation: Promoting innovative partnerships at the local level to enhance regional integration: collaboration will be open to all eligible cities, irrespective of previous cooperation and territorial collocation, to promote fruitful interactions of territories with limited integration.

  • Bottom up Approach: Strengthening the role of civil society, and particularly young people, in shaping Euro- Mediterranean cooperation: every step of the initiative is designed and implemented in close cooperation with networks of youth and civil society actors.

Sacramento State U: Hellenic Research Fellowships (USA)

Fellowships

Hellenic Research Fellowship Program, Sacramento State University Library, Sacramento, CA. Deadline: 23 May 2023.

Thanks to generous ongoing funding from the Elios Charitable Foundation, Tsakopoulos Hellenic Foundation, and the Tarbell Family Foundation, the University Library is pleased to offer the continuation of the Hellenic Research Fellowship Program (HRFP) for an 11th year. The Program supports the use of the Tsakopoulos Hellenic Collection by fellows for scholarly research in Hellenic studies while in residence in Sacramento, CA. The HRFP provides a limited number of fellowships ranging from $1,500 to $5,000 in the form of reimbursement to help offset transportation and living expenses incurred in connection with the awards.

The Program is open to external researchers anywhere in the world at the graduate through senior scholar levels (including independent scholars) working in fields encompassed by the Collection’s strengths who reside outside a 75-mile radius of Sacramento. The term of fellowships can vary between two weeks and three months, depending on the nature of the research, and for the current cycle will be tenable from September 1, 2023-August 31, 2024.

New CID Competition/Publication: Student Voices

“Student Voices

The Center for Intercultural Dialogue invites students to apply for the opportunity to be published in a new publication, to be titled Student Voices.

Students (at any level, high school to doctoral students) may submit entries at any time; they will be judged four times/year. All entries submitted will be reviewed, and the best ones prepared for publication. This is not a competition with just a few winners; all entries passing review will be published. The students whose work is accepted for publication will be given profiles on the website.

The goal is to invite a wide range of students to tell the story of their own experience with intercultural dialogue, or what they have learned about intercultural dialogue, or what they want to share with others. As made clear on our website, intercultural dialogue is jointly constructed by participants, requiring cooperation to engage in new and different ways of interacting. This series is designed to publicly amplify the voices of students who have engaged in intercultural dialogues. Those dialogues do not have to have been successful; we can learn as much from things that go wrong as when things go right.

You may describe a time when intercultural dialogue occurred, providing a model for those who do not frequently participate in such dialogues, or write a letter to the editor arguing for the inclusion of training for intercultural dialogues in education; you may explain how to facilitate digital intercultural dialogues based on either personal experience, or write an opinion piece explaining what changes when intercultural dialogue is the norm rather than conflict. Think about the following as beginning points:

Consider a time when you noticed cultural differences.
  • How were the differences resolved?
  • What impact did this have on you?
  • Did it matter whether this was face-to-face communication or digital?
  • What lessons did you learn?
  • What would you do differently in future?
  • What advice do you have for others?

Each student can select their own topic to write about, however, it must emphasize intercultural dialogue. The context framing the dialogue discussed can include: family, friends, or relationships; the economy; education; politics, etc.

Potential formats can include: the narrative of a personal experience; a letter to the editor, an op-ed piece for a newspaper; a letter to someone; a short essay. Whatever the format, these should be written (as opposed to filmed, or recorded). If anyone wishes to include images (sketches, diagrams, cartoons) accompanying the text, that would be great. But what you write should be brief, no more than 2 pages in length.

As with all publications on this site, accepted submissions will be made available for free as printable PDFs which can be downloaded, printed, and shared (as is, without changes), without cost, so long as there is acknowledgment of the source.

Criteria for acceptance:
• Clear descriptive title
• On topic
• Clearly articulated thesis
• Original and creative thinking
• Good writing

There will be multiple competitions per year, in order to include as many students as possible without conflicting with existing schedules. The next deadline will be June 30, 2024.

Essays should be submitted in English. Anyone wishing to also publish a translation in another language should say so. Students retain copyright to their own work but give CID the right to publish it for them. Submissions should be in the form of a Word document, and sent to the CID email.

SOAS U London: Postdoc in Revitalising Languages & Safeguarding Cultural Diversity (UK)

Postdocs
Postdoctoral Researcher in Revitalising Languages and Safeguarding Cultural Diversity, SOAS University of London, London, UK. Deadline: 16 May 2023.

The Post-Doctoral Researcher will contribute .6 FTE (21 hours per week) for 3 years to Work Package 3 of the EU Horizon Europe Project Revisiting Languages and Safeguarding Cultural Diversity (RISE UP) which focuses on linguistic ecosystems. The project will be managed by the Principal Investigator at SOAS, Julia Sallabank.

SOAS University of London is the leading Higher Education institution in Europe specialising in the study of Asia, Africa and the Near and Middle East.

U Bedfordshire: Intercultural Competence (UK)

“Job

Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Intercultural Competence, School of Leadership and Management, University of Bedfordshire, Luton, UK. Deadline: 15 May 2023.

The University of Bedfordshire is seeking to appoint a Lecturer or Senior Lecturer in Intercultural Competence. The successful candidate will be responsible for delivering research-informed teaching in undergraduate and postgraduate International Business courses and for ensuring an excellent student experience. An integral part of the role will be to work with colleagues to enhance the curriculum and programmes, including developing and delivering new practice-based units and courses. They will consider applications from across the spectrum of Intercultural Competence but are particularly interested in candidates also able to deliver high quality and innovative teaching in the areas of cross-cultural management in business, inter-cultural competence in business, intercultural relations, peace-keeping, international marketing and global issues affecting international business and consumer behaviour. The post will be based at the Luton campus, with travel to other campuses as required. Opportunities for delivery at international partner campuses may also be available.

US-Japan Foundation: Communication & Public Opinion Grants 2024

Grants

Communication and Public Opinion grants, United States – Japan Foundation for 2024. Deadlines: Letter of inquiry: 30 June 2023; Full proposal: 10 August 2023.

The Foundation supports projects that seek to enhance communication and mutual understanding between the American and Japanese people. Technology has evolved, and the institutions and topics of conversation keep changing, but the high value of greater awareness and communication among average citizens, as well as leaders in a variety of fields from these two countries is a constant.

The Foundation will consider communication and public opinion projects that not only raise awareness about Japan in the US and/or US in Japan, but also deal with concrete issues that affect the bilateral relationship (or are faced by the two nations). As foreign policy increasingly is subject to public opinion (and is often influenced by non-governmental actors), there is a need in both countries for increased and more diversified coverage of international news and current events, as well as strong links between certain non-government organizations (NGOs) to enhance bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

In addition, since mutual understanding between American and Japanese society requires deeper cultural knowledge, the Foundation occasionally supports documentary films, performances, exhibitions, and lectures that focus on Japanese/American culture.

A look at recent grant activity will help potential applicants understand the diversity of projects supported under this program. As with all other Foundation Programs, priority is given to projects that can demonstrate originality, broad appeal, enduring impact, excellent management and a well constructed plan for execution and success.

PLURAL+ Youth Video Festival 2023

Film Festivals
#PLURALplus23! call for videos: Youth video festival on migration, diversity, and social inclusion, a UNAOC and IOM initiative. Deadline: 30 June 2022.

PLURAL+ is a youth video festival that encourages and empowers global youth to explore the issues of migration, diversity, social inclusion, and the prevention of xenophobia and to share their creative vision with the world. PLURAL+ is a joint initiative of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) that invites the world’s youth to submit original and creative videos focusing on the themes of migration, diversity and social inclusion. By supporting the distribution of youth-produced media, PLURAL+ recognizes youth as powerful agents of positive social change in a world often characterized by intolerance, and cultural and religious divisions..

Every year, PLURAL+ gives young people around the world the opportunity to express their vision and their creativity through multimedia production. PLURAL+ invites young people of up to 25 years old to submit original and creative short films focusing on the themes of migration, diversity, social inclusion, and the prevention of xenophobia. PLURAL+ video entries are five minutes maximum and can be of any genre (animation, documentary, music video, comedy, etc.) as long as they convey a message that can contribute to making the audience think in constructive ways about the cross-cutting issues of migration, diversity, social inclusion, and the prevention of xenophobia. In addition, videos can be in any language as long as English subtitles are provided.