WSI Caucasus Fellowship

In an effort to address the issue of regional integration and foster mutual trust among the three South Caucasus republics, the World Security Institute, in collaboration with the Washington University in St. Louis, established the WSI Caucasus Project. This is a comprehensive multidisciplinary initiative that aims to defeat the barriers preventing Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia from cooperating and build bridges of tolerance and understanding between the communities of these three states.

The WSI Caucasus Project mainly works with the young generation of the Caucasus, who is more open and receptive to progressive ideas. The essential venue, through which the WSI Caucasus Project creates its network of distinguished and promising Armenian, Azeri and Georgian young professionals, is the WSI Caucasus Fellowship. The Fellowship intends to bring together young representatives of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia to work in cooperation and create a joint product – something quite uncommon in the Caucasus nowadays.

Project procedures and activities include:

• Selecting three young professionals from Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia (one from each country) to conduct research at the World Security Institute in Washington, D.C.

• An important requirement of the fellowship program is that the participants are only selected from within Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia and must return to their home countries after the completion of their research in the United States.

• Assigning the fellows a single research topic concerning a common problem, common interest, or unifying aspect of the region for all three republics.

• Having the fellows produce a report that will be published as a separate document, appear in the Defense Monitor, published by the Center for Defense Information (a division of WSI), as well as in Caucasus Context journal and other analytical publications.

• Distributing the group’s findings to the governments of the republics, as well as to expert communities in the United States, Europe, Russia, and the Caucasus.

• Having the fellows travel to Washington University in St. Louis and/or Dartmouth College to report on their findings. This will involve making a special presentation of their results to academic communities of the schools.

• All WSI Caucasus Fellowship graduates will form an alumni network, work together in different collaborative projects and thus support the cause of uniting the divided region.

• All the expenses of WSI Caucasus fellows in the United States (i.e. travel, insurance, accommodations, allowance), will be covered by the World Security Institute.

The WSI Caucasus Project is an effort to establish citizen-to-citizen contacts among neighboring, and in many instances rival countries, by harnessing the energies of the progressive young generation. This generation tends to look beyond subjective local interests and envision the benefits that a unified Caucasus could bring to their countries. Improved relations at the public level will ultimately lead to better chances for resolving the existing regional conflicts and problems in the future.

Fellowship Application Deadlines and Requirements

Fellowship Application Form

Contact Information
Lilit Petrosyan
World Security Institute
1779 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Suite 615
Washington, DC 20036

Phone: 202-797-5288
E-mail: