New German Initiative Launched to Support Threatened Scholars

The IIE Scholar Rescue Fund (IIE-SRF) is honored to partner with the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation on its launch of the Philipp Schwartz Initiative. With funding available beginning in summer 2016, the Initiative will allow up to 20 scientists and scholars who are under threat from political persecution and war to continue their research for two to three years at German universities and research institutions. IIE-SRF will provide partnering institutions with assistance in identifying and evaluating candidates, pre- and post-arrival advice, and transition support for scholars going off the fellowship. In addition, IIE-SRF will collaborate with the Humboldt Foundation and Scholars at Risk to organize events for German universities, with IIE-SRF in particular aiming to convey best practices in scholar rescue to German institutions. The launch of the Phillip Schwartz Initiative comes at a critical time when scholars around the world need sanctuary from persecution and violence more than ever.