This summer we celebrated the phenomenal success of three Durham scholars who have just been awarded a prestigious Fubright Scholarship to continue their studies and research at universities across the USA.
Fulbright is an international educational and cultural exchange programme between the UK and USA. Since 1948, Fulbright Awards have funded American and British students to do a postgraduate degree or research on the other side of the Atlantic. They have also funded American and British scholars—and mid-career professionals— to do research or teach in each other’s country.
Durham University’s ‘Fulbrighters’ for 2024/2025 are:
Amy Campbell, Fulbright All Disciplines Postgraduate Award, to study for a Masters in Climate and Society at Columbia University. Amy studied her undergraduate degree in Geography at Durham University before entering the UK’s Civil Service Fast Stream in Climate Policy. She is currently in the UK negotiations team in climate diplomacy. She hopes to specialise in climate disaster preparedness whilst at Columbia University.
Mattie Denison, Fulbright All Disciplines Postgraduate Award, for a Physics PhD at the University of Pennsylvania. Mattie has just graduated from Durham University with a MSc in Particles, Strings, and Cosmology, she will now be joining the Center for Particle Cosmology studying how the smallest things in the Universe affect the structure of the Universe as a whole.
Fusako Innami, Fulbright All Disciplines Scholar Award at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Fusako Innami is an Associate Professor in Japanese and Performance Studies at Durham University. Fusako’s Fulbright project, Gestural Writing: Performance, Topography, Trace concerns performance which, by its very nature, disappears. How do we recollect live performances that are not available in recordings, but only remain in the form of reviews, scores, pictures, or digitized archives? Her project gathers traces of dancers’ transcultural movements, contacts, and memoirs. Based in the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies at UC Berkeley, she will explore new methods of reconstructing past performances.
The success of Durham applicants follows the Festival of Fulbright held in February in Durham, an event which aimed to raise the profile of Fulbright for applicants across the North East. With funding from the US State Department, US Embassy in London and US-UK Fulbright Commission, Professor Arlene Holmes-Henderson (Classics and Public Policy, Durham University) brought key stakeholders across the region into conversation to promote the value of international educational and cultural exchange. The event led to an increase in applications, both from UK students and from students in the USA to Durham.
This year’s Fulbright scholars from the USA joining us at Durham in September will be Saif Salim who will be continuing his studies in Physics, and Dr Theodore Them, who will be arriving in January 2025 to continue his research within our world-renowned Durham Geochemistry Centre, comparing industrial and societal pollution on the South Carolina coast and Cleveland coastlines.
Fulbrighter Arlene Holmes Henderson commented on her experience as a Visiting Professor at the University of Hawaii in 2013/14:
“I was able to teach in new ways, in a completely different environment while showcasing and sharing some of the traditions of home. From surfing at Waikiki to addressing the Haggis at a Burns Night Supper!
Arlene has recently stepped down from the US-UK Fulbright Alumni Council after serving for 10 years. She says, “Fulbright scholarships offer an incredible opportunity for cultural and academic exchange. Whether you’re a student looking to experience a different culture for living and learning, an academic with a passion for sharing knowledge and inspiring change-makers of the future, or a businessperson looking to learn from new markets.”
Applications for the Fulbright-Durham Award and the Fulbright-Durham Scholar Award for 2025/26 academic year are still open until September and October respectively.
We wish Amy, Mattie and Fusako all the best for their next exiting steps and look forward to welcoming Saif and Theodore to Durham, and showing them all that the North-East of England has to offer.
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