INDIA CHINA INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES NEW FELLOWS
IN SOCIAL INNOVATION FOR SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENTS
Comprehensive Research Program Builds Critical Inquiry into
Social Systems Necessary to Support Sustainable Practices
New York, January 29, 2010 — The New School’s India China Institute (ICI) is proud to announce its selection of six new fellows, two each from China, India and The New School, to participate in the 2010-12 fellowship program. This year’s cohort of fellows, the third for ICI, will focus on the theme of social innovation for sustainable environments. ICI also announced the selection of five New School students to participate in its annual student fellowship program.
“We are proud to host a fellowship program with the breadth and depth to contribute to our understanding of how to create and sustain environmental change in the world’s fastest growing countries,” said Bob Kerrey, president of The New School. “ICI’s focus on bringing the principles of innovation and critical inquiry to the understanding of sustainability takes advantage of The New School’s interdisciplinary strengths in the social sciences, design, and environment, and allows these distinguished experts to bring theory and research to bear on a real-world situation that affects us all.”
The 2010-12 Fellowship Program recognizes that technology alone can not address the complex and interconnected problems associated with climate change by focusing on the social, political and market barriers that stand in the way of long-term, systemic change. Fellows will focus on social innovation as a means to better understand and explore creative solutions, skills, knowledge, and entrepreneurship for achieving environmental sustainability. This year’s six fellows will work to develop ways to reframe policymaking and implementation, reinvigorate local governance, and redirect material flows and market forces that would have direct or indirect impact on the environment.
This year’s fellows include Shikui Dong (PhD, Gansu Agricultural University), professor at the School of Environment in Beijing Normal University; Sze Ping Lo (M.Phil, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology), advisor to the Society of Entrepreneurs and Ecology, a leading Chinese NGO for environment protection; Jayanta Bandyopadhyay (PhD, India Institute of Technology, Kanpur), professor and head of the Centre for Development and Environment Policy, Indian Institute of Management; Sanjay Chaturvedi (PhD, Punjab University), professor of Political Science at Punjab University; Victoria Marshall (MLA and Cert UD, University of Pennsylvania), assistant professor of Urban Design at Parsons The New School for Design; Nidhi Srinivas (PhD, McGill University), associate professor of Nonprofit Management at Milano The New Schoolfor Management and Urban Policy. For full bios of each fellow, please click here.
“ICI’s third fellowship program is designed to create and sustain long-term change,” said Ashok Gurung, senior director of the India China Institute. “Our fellows are capable of and committed to exploring the foundational issues that define our relationship with the environment, including an understanding of individual and institutional needs. Our program is committed to building a leadership network empowered to effectively carry their findings onto a crowded international stage. Together, these two goals will make for a more sustainable world through systemic change, both academic and practical.”
While each fellow’s research will focus on India and China, the program’s requirements are designed to facilitate a trilateral discussion including perspectives from the United States and to build a network of international experts that includes ICI’s previous two cohorts of fellows. The program will launch in March with the first residency at The New School from March 14-22. The event will culminate in a conference on March 22, Prosperity and Inequality: India and China in Global Perspective, focusing on the work of previous fellows.
The 2010-2012 program expands on the previous fellowship rounds in terms of benefits and residency requirements. With a value of approximately $40,000, fellows will receive support for research, travel and programming. For the next two years, fellows engage in four international residencies. Two week-long residencies include conferences designed to support collaborative teaching and research projects. Additionally, fellows are required to complete two month-long research studies in each non-native country. Activities could include co-designing a new course of study, co-teaching an existing course, serving as a resource for students and faculty, conducting an intensive mini-course, or organizing weekly seminars with other ICI fellows. Funds will also be available to host workshops and seminars during residencies in India and China.
The recipients of ICI’s 2010 Student Fellowship will receive a $2,500 study and research grant to conduct fieldwork in India or China during summer 2010. This year’s fellows are the fourth cohort of student fellows since the institute’s creation in 2004, with a total of 23 student fellows in its short history. The program encourages students from across the university to participate to support a broad range of inquiry into the two countries as well as trilateral relations with the United States. To view the selected student fellows and their biographies, please click here.
ABOUT INDIA CHINA INSTITUTE
Established in 2004, ICI is emerging as the hub of an international network of institutions and activities that nurture conversations and interactions about India, China, and the United States and deepen our understanding of global processes. Made possible in part by a grant from the Starr Foundation, ICI is committed to analyzing major issues and trends in India, China, and the United States and helping leaders, scholars, public intellectuals, and opinion builders in all three countries address key challenges through collaborative solutions. Currently, ICI’s fifteen distinguished fellows are collaborating on a broad range of projects to address the topic of “Prosperity and Inequality: Debates in India and China.” For more information, visit www.newschool.edu/ici.
ABOUT THE NEW SCHOOL
Located in the heart of New York’s Greenwich Village, The New School is a center of academic excellence where intellectual and artistic freedoms thrive. The 10,200 matriculated students and more than 6,400 continuing education students come from around the world to participate in a wide range of undergraduate to doctoral programs in art and design, the social sciences, management and urban policy, the humanities and the performing arts. When The New School was founded in 1919, its mission was to create a place where global peace and justice were more than theoretical ideals. Today, The New School continues that mission, with programs that strive to foster engaged world citizenship. The eight schools that make up The New School are: The New School for General Studies, The New School for Social Research, Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy, Parsons The New School for Design, Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts, Mannes College The New School for Music, The New School for Drama, and The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. For more information, visit www.newschool.edu.
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