The U.S. Scholar Program to Russia has been suspended through the 2025-2026 academic year. Potential applicants for 2026-2027 need to discuss the status of the U.S. Scholar Fulbright Program to Russia with IIE (202-686-4000) before applying.
The Fulbright Program in Russia has existed for nearly half a century and has established a strong and positive reputation among institutions of higher education, government agencies, and the Russian public in the Program’s pursuit of mutual understanding between United States and Russian citizens and institutions. Today, there are more than 2,300 Russian Program Alumni and over 1,200 U.S. Alumni many of whom remain active supporters of the program and maintain ties with their host institutions and the many friends that they have made while on the program.
The International Fulbright Program Team is staffed by highly experienced academic exchange specialists, welcomes applications to the Fulbright Scholar Program from scholars of diverse social, academic, and vocational backgrounds and does not insist that participants speak Russian, have prior experience in the Russian Federation, or have Ph.D.’s. While there are academic research projects that require near fluency in Russian and a high level of experience in Russian academic research settings, many US scholars who have successfully participated in the program have taught a variety of courses in English in a range of Russian academic departments (English-taught courses are in high demand in Russia as it globalizes its higher educational system).
Good general information about Russia can also be found via the links below:
Core Program
The core program is open to both academics and professionals. The academic year in Russia consists of two semesters, generally beginning the first week of September and the first week of February. Affiliations are available at a wide range of Russian academic institutions, and recent successful affiliations have been at institutions in Belgorod, Irkutsk, Izhevsk, Kaliningrad, Kazan, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Perm, Petrozavodsk, Pskov, Rostov-on-Don, Tomsk, Tula, Tyumen, Vladivostok, Vologda, Volgograd, Voronezh, Ulan-Ude, Yekaterinburg and Yoshkar-Ola, among others.
The International Fulbright Program Team will consider placement requests based on prior academic contacts, if available, between scholars and proposed host institutions. However, final placements will be determined by the Program Team. Only a limited number of research awards will be awarded for Moscow and St. Petersburg. Scholars should expect to remain primarily in a single host city/institution, and they should not expect split affiliations or significant travel to secondary cities for research or lecturing purposes. Scholars traveling with children have successfully enrolled their children at a variety of English and Russian language schools, depending upon their needs.
All scholars are required to enter Russia on a U.S. passport with a Russian visa.