East-West Center announces 2015 Jefferson Fellowships for journalists

The East-West Center is delighted to announce the 2015 Jefferson Fellowships for journalists

Program Theme: The South China Sea: Trade, Resources and Conflict

Destinations: Honolulu, Hawaii; Beijing & Hainan, China; Manila & Masinloc, Philippines; and Singapore

Dates: May 2-23, 2015

Application Deadline: Tuesday, January 27, 2015

About the Jefferson Fellowships: U.S. and Asia Pacific journalists participate in a three-week study, dialogue and travel reporting program to deepen their knowledge of key regional issues and build international networks to enhance coverage of the Asia Pacific region.

Who Can Apply: Working print, broadcast, and on-line journalists in the United States, Asia and the Pacific Islands. Five years of experience preferred. English fluency required. 
 
Funding: The Jefferson Fellowships are supported by a grant from The Freeman Foundation and by the East-West Center. These funds provide for 10-13 full or partial scholarships, including approximately 4-5 for qualified American journalists and 7-8 for Asia Pacific journalists. Participants and their media organizations are strongly encouraged to cost share.

All participants, regardless of amount of scholarship, must pay an $800 programming fee to cover costs not provided by the scholarship funds. Participants are also responsible for all applicable visa fees, any additional visa-related expenses, health insurance and baggage fees.

Information and applications: For more information about the program and how to apply, please visit our website: www.EastWestCenter.org/jefferson

Program Theme

The South China Sea: Trade, Resources and Conflict

The seas are vitally important to the Asia Pacific region. Countries in the region are heavily dependent on international trade and imported energy, the bulk of which travel by sea. They are the source of much of the protein in the diets of many countries in the region, a demand that is increasing as middle classes grow. They have potentially valuable energy and mineral resources. The South China Sea is one of the world’s most heavily used transit corridors and is the key route for trade as well as the imported energy fueling regional economies. It is estimated that roughly half a billion people live within 100 miles of the coasts of the South China Sea and the seas are rich in fishing and hydrocarbon resources. There have long been disputes over sovereignty, overlapping exclusive economic zones and competing claims, but increased demand for resources and shifting geopolitics have heightened these tensions, creating conflict and an urgent need for regional coordination in the seas. These tensions can hinder needed cooperation on other critical challenges of sustainable management of sea-based resources, protecting the environment, combating criminal activities such as poaching and piracy, and ensuring the stable and efficient freedom of navigation that plays a key role in Asia’s growth and prosperity.

The 2015 Jefferson Fellowships will provide journalists with an opportunity to deepen their understanding of these complex issues including the role that oceans play in the prosperity and security of Asia Pacific countries, the legal frameworks that govern the use of the seas, the roles of various countries and organizations in enforcing these rules, the disputes over ownership of maritime territory in the South China Sea and the prospects for the way forward. In Honolulu journalists will learn about these issues and the role of the United States from regional experts, US military officials, and presentations by one another. Travel to China and the Philippines will provide first hand perspectives from two of the key claimants in South China Sea territorial disputes. Visits to the capital cities as well as local communities bordering the South China Sea will explore the importance of the seas to both countries—one a continental rising global power and the other a developing island nation. In Singapore, participants will explore the business of trade by sea in a city-state highly dependent on maritime transshipment for its prosperity and one of the gateways to the Malacca Strait, through which almost 50,000 ships carrying half the world's trade and one-third of global oil pass each year. Singapore also offers an opportunity to explore strategies and scenarios for regional cooperation in managing territorial disputes as well as efforts to mitigate piracy and manage congestion in these vital shipping lanes.

Contact: Ann Hartman, jefferson@eastwestcenter.org or (808) 944-7619

Apply Now! Deadline: Tuesday, January 27, 2015