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Bosnian-born poet, researcher, and quadruple HIA Fellow Nikola Lero has been awarded the prestigious Fulbright scholarship to conduct research at St. Louis University in 2023/2024. The Fulbright scholarship is one of the most competitive and prestigious academic awards in the world, offering opportunities for scholars to conduct research and teach abroad.
Nikola graduated with a joint Master’s degree in migration studies and intercultural relations as a European Commission scholarship holder at seven Euro-African universities. His dedication to promoting social change has earned him recognition and accolades, including the Erasmus+ Young Journalist Award in 2017 and the Best Blogger nomination for promoting responsible use of social media in 2018. He also serves as a UNESCO Youth Champion for Peace in the global UN initiative called “Social Media 4 Peace,” which seeks to enhance society’s resilience to potentially harmful content spread online. Additionally, he has worked with UNICEF on campaigns to support children’s rights and promote education.
By engraving letters, I search for the truth.
Nikola’s motto, “by engraving letters, I search for the truth,” has resonated with a broad community of followers on Facebook and Instagram. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Nikola co-founded “Blank Pages,” an online, cosmopolitan art collective promoting the creative expression of migrant communities across borders. In 2022, Nikola published his first book, “47 Poems about Love, Pain, and Bosnia,” in collaboration with the independent, youth, queer, transnational literary collective from former Yugoslavia named ‘Književna Zadruga‘.
As a visiting researcher at St. Louis University, Nikola will be studying second-generation Bosnian Americans under the supervision of Professor Hisako Matsuo, a leading expert in ethnic and racial studies. Nikola Lero’s Fulbright scholarship is a testament to his impressive accomplishments and unwavering commitment to promoting social change and understanding marginalized communities.
Nikola, congratulations on this well-deserved achievement! We look forward to seeing the impact of your research.
Nikola is one of thirty 2022-2023 Landecker Democracy Fellows. This fellowship, a collaboration between the Alfred Landecker Foundation and Humanity in Action, was created to strengthen a new generation of leaders whose approaches to political and social challenges can become catalysts for democratic placemaking and community building. Read more about the fellowship here.