About Us
Building Bridges Between Nations
The BridgeUSA Ukrainian Academic Fellows Program (UAFP) and BridgeUSA Ukraine Program for Resilience and Reconstruction (UPRR) build links between Ukrainian and U.S. scholars for long-term collaboration on joint research, shared pedagogy, course development, and publications. By fostering lasting and productive partnerships of Ukrainian universities with U.S. institutions of higher education, these programs aim to help educate and train professionals critical to Ukraine’s capacity to recover and rebuild.
Program fellows are matched with faculty mentors at a U.S. institution with whom they develop individualized, collaborative programs that meet their specific needs as researchers and educators.
The programs include a month-long visit to a U.S. university where scholars may engage in research, observe classes in their field of study, develop new courses or course materials, deliver presentations and lectures, explore U.S. higher education administrative policies and culture, and attend conferences in their academic fields.
The BridgeUSA Ukrainian Academic Fellows Program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) with additional funding provided by U.S. host institutions. The BridgeUSA Ukraine Program for Resilience and Reconstruction is a parallel program sponsored by the Public Diplomacy Section of the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.
Our Magic Numbers
Who Can Apply
The program is intended for citizens and current residence of Ukraine who are:
- employed as full-time instructors and/or researchers at an institution of higher education in Ukraine and who possess at least two years of university level experience
- proficient in spoken and written English at the time of application
- committed to returning to Ukraine after their month-long visit to the U.S.
- eligible to receive a U.S. J-1 Exchange Visitor nonimmigrant category visa.
Preferred candidates will demonstrate the following:
- Outstanding leadership or potential leadership within their university community
- A strong commitment to teaching and/or research, and the development of new materials, courses, and programs to benefit Ukraine’s capacity to educate specialists in critically important fields
- Strong potential to develop lasting collaborative relationships with U.S. academics.
Scholars of the BridgeUSA UAFP will be selected from the following academic fields:
- agricultural technology
- conflict resolution/peace studies
- engineering
- information technology (including combatting disinformation in an IT context)
- mental health
- pedagogy (including teaching and research in medicine/dentistry focused on wartime issues and needs)
- urban planning (including architecture)
BridgeUSA UPRR, in addition to the above academic fields, will also accept applications from scholars specializing in:
- environmental policy and management (including post-war environmental recovery; alternative energy and sustainable development; technologies for emergency situations management)
- health care and medicine at the time of war (including but not limited to prosthetics, rehabilitation; PTSD treatment and mental health; biomechanics).