U.S.-Pacific Institute for Rising Leaders Fellowship

The program will bring up to 30 mid-career professionals from the Pacific Islands to the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington for a three-week leadership development program.

The second cohort of the Fellowship will be held in October 2024 for three weeks, and will focus on strengthening leadership, decision-making, and communications skills, as well as building Fellows’ understanding of contemporary international issues such as climate, development, public health, and maritime topics.

Fellows will have the opportunity to learn about U.S. approaches to these issues, as well as U.S. views on Oceania and the Indo-Pacific—through interactions with faculty, thought leaders in the public and private sector, and experts on U.S. engagement in the region. They will also discuss U.S. models and best practices in public management while building leadership capacity in areas such as citizen engagement and resource management.

The program will consist of classroom and extracurricular activities to help mid-career leaders develop these skills, drawing on faculty from SAIS and other divisions of the university, and experts from the policy community. During the first cohort, for example, Fellows had high-level engagements with experts from the U.S. Department of State, the National Security Council at The White House, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, The Asia Society, U.S. Coast Guard, various think tanks, and an array of academic experts.

What expenses does the program cover?

• This fellowship is fully funded, and will cover participants’ roundtrip economy travel, lodging, travel medical insurance, food, visa fees, and program materials and activity expenses, to include a per diem to cover incidentals.

Eligibility Criteria

• Participants should be high-achieving mid-career leaders from the public, private, or non-profit sectors. Suitable nominees will generally have at least seven years of relevant work experience, and will have demonstrated a track record of leadership. Participants must be proficient in spoken and written English.
• Applicants from the following countries and territories are invited to apply: Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

For more information, visit Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies.