With the support of ASEAN, USAID and the U.S. Government, the Fellowship has generated 8 fellows in 2014, 14 fellows in 2015, and 15 fellows in 2016. Between the periods of 2014-2017, the Fellowship has generated a total of 35 alumni from 8 ASEAN Member States.
The fellowship is expected to encourage appropriate talent and application of scientific inputs into policy making in the S&T ministries and promote a more cross-sectoral approach to applying evidence and data for evidence-based policymaking. It will also boost the placement of women scientists in identified ASEAN sectoral bodies/line ministries. The Fellowship draws upon a two-pronged approach of improving and increasing the level of STI in policy making:
- Leveraging lessons learned from the ASEAN S&T Fellowship by enhancing collaboration between ASEAN sectoral bodies and potential host national-level institutions to not only grow the number of hosts, but also better determine appropriate technical areas for Fellows’ contribution.
- Empowering the Fellows to engage in policies that drive national and regional priorities, while also enhancing their leadership and communications capacity to engage with policy-makers through orientation and participation in ASEAN meetings.
For the topics of fellowship year 2018/2019 are: 1) Climate Change; 2) Sustainable Energy; and 3) Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) Policy. These priority areas aligned with the APASTI (ASEAN Plan of Action on Science, Technology and Innovation).
The open application for the upcoming ASEAN S&T Fellowship is scheduled from January – February 2019. Fellowship usually will take place in the second half semester of the year around in the month of June – July. Duration of fellowship is one year and it is fully funded. Fellow is entitled to receive monthly stipend, orientation, capacity building and mentorship from the experts.