Before beginning an application for the Fulbright Specialist Program, contact your local Fulbright Commission or U.S. Embassy for country-specific details concerning eligible institutions, disciplines and activities, application deadlines, and required project components, as these may vary.
Types of Institutions
Institutions that may be eligible to request a Fulbright Specialist include, but are not limited to:
Institutions of Higher Education
Government Institutions (ministries or agencies, courts, parliamentary or congressional bodies)
Cultural Institutions (conservatories, museums, etc.)
Non-Governmental Organizations including non-partisan, issue-centered institutions and think tanks
Medical Institutions (public health organizations, teaching hospitals, etc.)
Eligible Project Activities
The Fulbright Specialist Program encourages host institutions to tailor projects to their own needs. However, all projects should have an education or training focus. Due to the short-term nature of the exchange, projects should have concrete objectives that can be achieved over the course of the Specialist’s visit. Past Specialists have supported host institutions by conducting activities such as:
Delivering a seminar or workshop
Consulting on faculty or workforce development
Developing academic or training curricula and materials
Lecturing at the graduate or undergraduate level
Conducting needs assessments or evaluations for a program or institution
Note: Personal research projects, including clinical medical research or projects involving patient contact, are not eligible for funding under the Fulbright Specialist Program.
In addition, proposals requesting a Specialist to assist with activities focused specifically on English language such as designing curriculum or conducting a needs assessment, teacher training or high-level educational consultations, are not eligible for the general Fulbright Specialist Program. Please contact the local Fulbright Commission or U.S. Embassy in your country for more information about the English Language Specialist Program.
For additional information on the type of activities conducted by previous Fulbright Specialists, see Making an Impact.
Project Parameters
In general, all projects designed by host institutions must adhere to the below eligibility requirements.
One country per project: With the exception of projects falling under a trilateral grant initiative, Fulbright Specialist projects are restricted to one country. All project activities must take place in the country requesting the project. If the project requests the Specialist to be in multiple locations, all locations must fall in the same country.
One Specialist per project: A Fulbright Specialist project is restricted to one Specialist grantee.
Length of project: The length of a Fulbright Specialist project must be a minimum of 14 days and a maximum of 42 days, including travel days and weekends.
Time between projects for Specialists: A Specialist candidate will not be approved for a second Fulbright Specialist grant unless two years have passed from the date of completion of the previous Fulbright Specialist grant.
Multi-Visit (Serial) projects: A Multi-Visit project is one in which a Specialist conducts more than one visit to the host institution for the purpose of necessary program evaluation or follow-up. If a project is approved to be Multi-Visit, all visits must occur within a one-year period, which is calculated by adding 12 months from the initial start date of the first visit through the end date of the final visit.
A Multi-Visit project cannot include more than three visits in total, and all visits must not exceed six weeks (42 days) in total. In addition, each visit must be a minimum of 14 days.
Please note that the majority of approved projects are not Multi-Visit, and project proposals should provide a strong justification for why more than one visit is necessary to achieve project outcomes.
Program Costs
In general, host institutions should be prepared to provide the Specialist with lodging, meals, and in-country transportation, either through monetary or in-kind contributions, throughout their full stay in country. However, if your institution is unable to cover these costs, in certain countries, there may be limited funding available to support these expenses. Please contact the local Fulbright Commission or U.S. Embassy in your country for more information.