Conflict & Development at Texas A&M

NOTE: Archive post originally posted March 2012. Request for applications for 2013 will be out in May.

The H.G. Buffett Foundation Chair on Conflict & Development is proud to announce the new C&D Student Media Grants Program starting this summer for student photographers/videographers to use their talent to chronicle hunger and poverty. The program is open to both undergraduates and graduates at Texas A&M University.

Guided by the book, Fragile: The Human Condition, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation Chair on Conflict & Development will provide travel and research grants for students to explore issues facing international agricultural development. Awardees will be named as Conflict & Development Fellows and will be selected annually based on an application process. Students should submit proposals that will describe their expected travel, research and photographic subjects. They should choose an international development area that reflects issues of food insecurity, hunger, conflict and poverty. During their experience, students will be required to accomplish the following:

• Show three-month engagement (minimum) with international development issues through extension activities, internships, student research, etc.
• Write a series of blog postings for Dispatches from the Globe during experience, and
• Document opportunity through photo and/or video journalism that draws attention to conflict and development issues.
• Publish or exhibit the results of their work in a form of refereed media.

Students are encouraged to use the book and associated photographic art from Fragile: the Human Condition as an example of both engagement and documenting issues at the nexus of conflict and development. APPLICATION Interested students should submit a proposal by June 1^st, 2012 that outlines their intended use of grant funds, with details about locations to be visited, issues to be studied, how the funds will be used, and any special needs. Proposals should not exceed four (4) 8.5x11 pages typed in 12 point Times New Roman font. Proposals must include:

• Cover sheet with their personal contact details including academic year and academic department with at least two faculty or staff references.
• Thematic focus
• Motivation for doing this work (½ to 1 page)
• Planned activities over a 3-month period
• Plans for blogging
• Target media for publication
• Timeline
• Budget
• Travel
• Per diem
• Other expenses

Proposals should be submitted to proposals@condevcenter.org and only one proposal can be submitted per student. Awards can be used during the 2012-2013 academic year. An award is not expected to exceed $5,000 per awardee and will be made at the discretion of the Chair. Each applicant must show evidence of good health and medical insurance that is valid in the area to which the student is expected to travel. Each student must register his or her emergency contact information with the Study Abroad Programs Office. This program is open for both undergraduate and graduate students. Undergraduate students may not travel to a country where there is a US Department of State travel warning in place. A second round may be required that will consist of individual interviews. Decisions on the Fellowship will be made by the end of June. All work produced by Fellows will be used by the Chair and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation to advance advocacy and public awareness of critical issues facing international development. Information about the Fellows and their associated projects will be presented annually to the Board of Advisors of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation Chair on Conflict & Development and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. There will be unrestricted access and use of published materials by these entities to advance mutual goals. Fellows will sign a release granting these permissions.

This program is made possible by the Howard G. Buffett Foundation through the H.G. Buffett Foundation Chair on Conflict & Development.