By COMM Staff
COMM Lecturer Lamia Zia has been awarded one of the honorable and prestigious International Affairs Fellowships from the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) for 2026–2027!
Zia's fellowship will take her to Indonesia. Reflecting on the importance of this opportunity, Zia states, "I am truly honored to receive this CFR fellowship and deeply grateful for the opportunity to spend time in Indonesia—an incredibly important country that many Americans, even foreign policy experts, rarely have the chance to truly understand. This experience means so much to me, not only as a scholar but as an educator. I look forward to bringing the cultural knowledge I gain back to my classrooms at the University of Maryland, where it will enrich my teaching and inspire my students to engage more thoughtfully with the global world."
The International Affairs Fellowship in Indonesia is sponsored by the Yayasan Persahabatan Indonesia Amerika Serikat (Indonesia-USA Friendship Foundation). This program allows U.S. professionals to spend three to twelve months conducting research in Indonesia, developing a new professional network, and gaining deeper insights into the opportunities and challenges the country faces. It helps foster positive relationships between generations of thinkers and leaders in Indonesia and the United States.
For her research plan, Zia is "excited to explore how Indonesian government institutions are adopting Artificial Intelligence from digital public services to smart city initiatives, and how these technologies are reshaping public policy processes and government communication systems. My work will examine institutional adoption pathways through the lens of diffusion of innovation, including concepts such as leapfrogging, to better understand how developing countries integrate AI and other emerging technologies in ways that may differ from more mature economies. By doing so, I aim to contribute to academic scholarship on digital governance, policy innovation, and the distinctive trajectories of technological transformation in the Global South."
We are very proud of you and excited to watch you excel in this opportunity, Lamia!
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This story was originally published on the Department of Communications, ARHU website.