Scholarships, Fellowships and Internships

Scholarships and Fellowships

The Fulbright Program provides U.S. students with grants to conduct an independent research project or teach English as a second language abroad. Grantees are paired with a host institution, where they engage in research or teaching. The Fulbright Program in the Middle East operates in Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman and the UAE.
The Carnegie Junior Fellowship gives students the opportunity to live in Washington, D.C., for a year and support the Carnegie Endowment's staff in their research. IMES students are strong candidates for the Middle East program.
The State Department's Critical Language Scholarship Program sends students to countries around the globe for language immersion. In addition to furthering their language skills, participants have the opportunity to learn about the cultural context of their chosen language through activities in the host country. The costs of the program are entirely covered by DoS.
Boren Scholarships are another great way for students to further their understanding of the Middle East and deepen their knowledge of a regional language, since they fund summer, semester, and year-long study abroad programs.
The Crown Center for Middle East Studies offers travel, research, and study grants up to $5000 for both undergraduate and graduate students in the Middle East. These grants may be used for travel, study, research, or to support an internship.
The Schusterman Center for Israel Studies offers undergraduates $2,500 grants for study abroad or internships in Israel. This wide-reaching grant covers academic pursuits in science and business, as well as social sciences, humanities and arts.
The American Institute of Iranian Studies offers fellowships for advanced language study at the Sa’di Foundation in Tehran. Eligibility: U.S. citizens enrolled in a Doctoral or Masters program in the humanities or social sciences, have an approved research topic that requires use of Persian, and have completed at least one full academic year of Persian language study.
The Center for Arabic Study Abroad (CASA) offers advanced Arabic language and culture training to members of the academic community-at-large who represent various disciplines in the area of Middle Eastern studies.
The Anna Sobol Levy Foundation Fellowships provides fellowships to U.S. citizens who are college graduates to pursue a master’s degree in English at the IDC Herzliya’s Raphael Recanati International School, located near Tel Aviv.
The American Research institute in Turkey (ARIT) offers summer fellowships to advanced students in Turkish language. Fellows study at Bogaziçi University in Istanbul.
The CAORC Multi-Country Research Fellowship Program supports advanced regional or trans-regional research in the humanities, social sciences, or allied natural sciences for U.S. doctoral candidates and scholars who have already earned their PhD.
The Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellowship invites recent college and graduate school alumni to apply for full-time, six- to nine-month fellowships in Washington, DC. Outstanding individuals will be selected to work with nonprofit, public-interest organizations addressing peace and security issues.
The American Academic Research Institute in Iraq Fellowship provides fellowships for U.S. and Iraqi scholars researching Iraq-related topics. Currently, projects must include travel outside of Iraq and the United States. TARII's fellowships are open to post-doctoral and advanced pre-doctoral researchers and for a variety of topics.
American Institute for Maghrib Studies - Short/Long-Term Research Grants offers grants to U.S. scholars to conduct research on North African topics in Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco, or Tunisia. AIMS Overseas Research Centers in Oran, Tunis, and Tangier facilitate AIMS grants and support AIMS scholars. AIMS funds only primary research conducted in the Maghrib.
American Center of Research (Jordan) - Named Fellowships encourage and facilitate scholarly research and archeology in Jordan. Undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers of all nationalities are eligible to apply.

Internships

Center for Strategic & International Studies offers post-grad internship opportunities with their Middle East program as well as advice for job seekers in Middle East policy.
Middle East Institute offers undergraduates, recent grads, and graduate students numerous opportunities in a variety of departments to gain hands-on experience in a nonprofit organization that focuses exclusively on the Middle East.
Middle East Policy Council offers university students an opportunity to gain insight into the professional work of a nonprofit organization and gain in-depth experience with Middle East issues.
National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations offers a summer internship program for both undergraduate and graduate students.
U.S. Department of State offers paid and unpaid internships for both undergraduate and graduate students seeking substantive opportunities to support U.S. foreign policy and diplomacy.
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy — The program features a demanding mix of professional involvement, intellectual challenge, career exploration, and cross-cultural encounters designed to provide students with a rich and varied experience.
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars offers undergraduates, recent grads, and graduate students part time, unpaid internships in the Middle East Program. Fluency in Arabic, Farsi or Turkish highly desired.
The American Enterprise Institute — The American Enterprise Institute's Summer Honors Program is an intensive, fully funded educational and professional development opportunity in Washington, DC, for top undergraduate students. Participants in the program have the chance to connect with the ideas, research, and network of AEI, one of America's preeminent policy think tanks.
Arab Center Washington DC — Arab Center Washington DC (ACW) offers internship opportunities for undergraduate students, graduate students or recent graduates. Interns will have the opportunity to contribute to this unique growing think tank and learn through events and research activities related to the Arab world and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.
The Brookings Institution — The mission of the Internship program is to provide students and recent graduates with a pre-professional, meaningful, and practical work experience related to the student’s field of study or career interest. Interns may work with Brookings’s staff in research areas - Economic Studies, Foreign Policy, Global Economy and Development, Governance Studies, and Metropolitan Policy. Brookings also offers students the opportunity to intern in departments such as communications, human resources and central operations management.
The Atlantic Council — This new initiative is designed to provide exceptional young people with in-depth exposure to international affairs and an opportunity to play an active role in shaping real-world solutions to global challenges.
Project on Middle East Democracy — The Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) offers a number of summer internships in policy (regional, Egypt, Tunisia, Gulf, Turkey), research and communications.
CSIS Internships — The Middle East Program takes on full-time, paid interns each spring, summer, and fall. The Middle East Program’s analysis focuses on the drivers of change in the region.
University of Cairo Post Graduate Internship — Associates spend one year working at AUC. Each associate fulfills a full-time position in an AUC office or department that aligns with their professional and academic interests. Through their work, associates gain substantive skills and professional experience that will contribute to the AUC community and their own professional development.
Middle East Forum Internships — Tasks include research, editorial, writing, web publishing, and fundraising.
Wilson Center Internship — Selected candidates to the Middle East Program paid internship will gain hands-on experience at one of the world’s most premier think tanks, as well as exposure to leading international public policy experts and practitioners.
Middle East Policy Council Programs — The Middle East Policy Council encourages undergraduate and graduate students from a variety of backgrounds - political science, international relations, history, foreign language, regional studies, communications, and more - to apply for our internships. Interns should expect to gain valuable insight into the inner workings of a nonprofit, while fostering informed and productive policy making towards the Middle East.

Language Study

The State Department's Critical Language Scholarship Program sends students to countries around the globe for language immersion. In addition to furthering their language skills, participants have the opportunity to learn about the cultural context of their chosen language through activities in the host country. The costs of the program are entirely covered by DoS.
Middlebury College offers summer language immersion programs in both Arabic and Hebrew. These programs are ideal opportunities for IMES students to sharpen their language skills for study abroad, internships, and employment opportunities.
The Harvard Summer Language Program offers an eight-week, intensive program in language study designed specifically for the curriculum in theological and religious studies taught with a focus on translation and reading comprehension in a foreign language.
The Amideast USA Intensive Arabic Abroad Program offers two, 4-week sessions in either Amman, Jordan or Rabat, Morocco in which students take a blended Modern Standard Arabic & Colloquial Arabic course, for a total of 6 credits per session.
The American University of Sharjah’s Summer Intensive Arabic Language Program in the UAE allows students with an elementary-level knowledge of Arabic to study Elementary I (for complete beginners) or Elementary II Arabic at the American University of Sharjah (AUS) in the UAE, in a 5-week, 6-credit hour intensive program.
The American University of Beirut Summer Arabic Immersion Program allows students to immerse themselves in Arabic language and culture inside and outside the classroom in the city of Beirut.
The American Institute of Iranian Studies - Persian Language Study in Tehran offers fellowships for advanced language study at the Sa’di Foundation in Tehran. Applicants must be U.S. citizens who will conduct all fellowship travel on a U.S. passport, who are enrolled in a Doctoral or Masters program in the humanities or social sciences, have an approved research topic that requires use of Persian, and have completed at least one full academic year of Persian language study.
The Boğaziçi University - Turkish Language and Culture Program is an accredited program which offers courses at three basic levels of language instruction taught by university staff specialized in teaching Turkish as a foreign language. The program provides intensive instruction in Turkish to adult learners while offering them an opportunity to have first-hand experience with the Turkish culture.
The University of Haifa - Summer Intensive Hebrew Study Program brings students from over 40 countries to the University of Haifa to study Hebrew in one of the most effective language learning programs in Israel.

Crown Center for Middle East Studies

Scholarships, Fellowships and Internships

Scholarships and Fellowships

Internships

Language Study

Graduate Programs