Dear
Global South Caucus members,
It
is once again time to solicit nominations
for our GSCIS Distinguished Scholar Award to be presented at the Annual ISA Convention
next February. As has been our tradition, we rotate regions each year and for
2017 our scholar will be from Latin
America or the Caribbean.
Criteria
for nominees is the following, as noted on the ISA website, http://www.isanet.org/Programs/Awards/GSC-Distinguished-Scholar:
-A distinguished record of scholarship and
policy contributions reflecting a sustained interest in global south
affairs.
-It
is not required that the nominee be an ISA member but s/he should be familiar
with the association and usually will have participated in some way in the
past.
Members
and friends of the GSCIS are asked to submit
nominations by email to me with a note substantiating consideration of the
nominee and a bio/CV (or web link to one) by November 15, 2016. Final decisions will be made by the GSCIS
Executive Committee serving as well in its capacity as the Nominations
Committee.
Many
thanks for your consideration and I look forward to hearing from you!
Nanette Svenson
Chair, Global South
Caucus
International Studies
Association
Dear all,
I write with regard to
the recently awarded ISA travel grants for the annual ISA Baltimore conference
next February. I received a number of communications from our caucus members
expressing unmet expectations, which motivated further investigation to help
clarify the situation. Here is what we have to date, though the figures are
very preliminary:
1. The ISA travel
grant budget is now at $225,000, $25,000 above last year but still able to meet
only a fraction of the demand.
2. Demand for the
grants this year was more than double (250% above) that of last year, so although
more was given and to more recipients, average amounts were less (around $300
compared to $450 last year).
3. GS applicants
received more overall this year: last year GS participants received $104,500 of
the total $200,000 (52%) and this year GS participants received $127,000 of the
total $225,000 (56%), plus more GS scholars received awards this year.
4. The criteria for grant decision-making is detailed on the
ISA website, http://www.isanet.org/ISA/Governance/Policy, but has
not been applied consistently over the years and is in need of revamping.
5.
These criteria, along with the surrounding procedure and protocol, will be sent
to the Professional Development Committee (PDC) for review and reworking with the
aim of producing a new set of operational standards in for 2017.
While there is little
we can do to change the travel grant situation for this year, we can work on improving
the process for coming years by presenting to the PDC an official GSCIS memo detailing
our views on the policy redesign. I suggest we collectively come up with
concrete ideas and priorities to document our GS concerns and put on record
what we would like to see changed in future travel grant decision making.
It is important to
note that no matter what we achieve with the ISA travel grants, we will still
not solve the financial issue of GS participation in ISA conferences. Even
increased travel grants will cover only a small portion of the cost of
attendance for developing region scholars. Therefore, we must highlight this
issue in the GS Task Force discussions, as well, and try to be creative with solutions
for obtaining more funding (from ISA and beyond).
This also offers an opportunity to reiterate our
interest in reaching out to scholars and institutions in the GS with the aim of
facilitating and sponsoring more local/regional conferences, meetings, and
workshops. Many of our caucus members are located in GS locales, hence our
great potential for really hearing and understanding the views in these parts and
including more local discussions in our agenda.
Thanks, everyone, and
I look forward to hearing your input!
All the best,
Nanette Svenson
Chair, Global South
Caucus
International Studies
Association
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