Benjamin B. Stokes Fellowship
The Benjamin B. Stokes Fellowship program provides opportunities for young to senior scientists and engineers to gain or share knowledge and experience from technical and personal interactions within the MSIAC network.
If you are interested in this Fellowship, please forward your candidacy to info@msiac.nato.int or to d.vanoverstraeten@msiac.nato.int.
Pre-requisites for Stokes fellows
A Stokes Fellow must possess a university degree in science or engineering, or equivalent knowledge through study and practical experience related to munitions. In addition, they should have an enthusiastic approach to munitions safety and insensitive munitions issues, and be capable of drafting clear, concise, and accurate technical reports. A Stokes Fellow must also be willing to provide and accept technical assistance from other technical specialists on the MSIAC staff.
Fellowship Categories
The program offers three categories of Fellowships:
Classical Stokes Fellowships
The Classical Stokes Fellowship program is for junior to mid-level Insensitive Munitions or Munitions Safety Technologists to participate in the activities of MSIAC and gain first-hand information and technical enhancing experiences. Whilst undertaking a personal project with benefit to MSIAC nations which is applicable to their expertise and the time allocated
Enhanced Stokes Fellowships
The Enhanced Stokes Fellowship program provides an opportunity for the MSIAC Program Manager or Steering Committee (SC) to use the skills or experience of a talented scientist or engineer from one of the member nations to cover a specific short-term activity critically needed at MSIAC.
Senior Stokes Fellowships
A MSIAC Member Nation or Nations may desire to post a senior scientist or engineer at MSIAC for the purpose of collaborating with the MSIAC staff and/or other senior-level Subject Matter Experts within the greater European/NATO ammunition safety community to further develop specific munitions safety related (best) practice that will benefit the greater community. The senior fellowship program at MSIAC has the potential to help the specific sponsoring Nation or Nations in influencing and/or harmonizing discrete areas of ammunition safety interest not currently addressed by MSIAC or supported by the budget provided by the MSIAC Member Nations.
An Enhanced Stokes Fellow must have the skills required to deal with the specific need identified at MSIAC. A Senior Stokes Fellow must not only be able to address the specific needs desired by the proposing Nation or Nations but also be able to contribute to the overall MSIAC needs via teamwork and interaction with MSIAC staff.
Duration and funding of a fellow
A Stokes Fellowship would be for a period of 6 to 12 months. An extension of 6 to 12 months up to a maximum of 2 years could be considered based on individual circumstances, sponsoring Nation desires, and/or MSIAC needs. There is an allowance for living while a fellow which will be at least €1800 per month and could be higher, depending on the specific need of each Stokes Fellow (e.g. family situation).
Testimonials
Rebecca Stonhill – Fellow 2014/15
“I was a classic Stokes Fellow working on the environmental issues associated with new explosive compounds. Before arriving I had just completed the Explosive Ordnance Engineering Masters at Cranfield UK. I work for the UK Ministry of Defence as part of the Defence Engineering Science Group (DESG) Graduate scheme and was on secondment to MSIAC to develop my technical knowledge to make me a more SQEP(suitably qualified and experienced person) MOD personnel.
6 Months at MSIAC helped develop my understanding of the munitions subject area, new and draft legislation, and new state of the art IM compounds and future munitions systems being developed. I then took this knowledge back to the UK government to benefit my career and also their knowledge base.
I had opportunities to experience meetings involving AC 326 members and subgroups, and could gain relevant knowledge from the technical specialist officers (TSO) working for MSIAC. The output from my project while a fellow reviewed the through life environmental impact of a munition fill and together with work from other TSO’s would benefit the wider munitions community, with the aim to possibly be able to quantify the damage to the environment from a munition fill over its lifecycle, recommending tests and identifying knowledge gaps in the subject. “
Prospective projects
Munition Systems
To research techniques used by different nations regarding identification, classification, and evaluation of a munition within a specific area of its life cycle.
To develop a compendium of different tools and training available for evaluating munitions at different times of the life cycle.
This project can be adapted depending on the participants existing knowledge, starting with a certain area and if time is granted to extend into different life cycle regions. The project will carry out a gaps analysis and determine what information, databases and tools exist to aid analysis.
- Exposure to a wide range of munition tools from various countries
- Increased understanding of the munition life cycle
- Establish network of contacts with experts from the nations
This project would best suit a fellow over a 6-12 month period. Shorter projects could be generated for an intern or student with a specific system/time frame
Munition Systems
A review of munition design and testing standardization documentation from AC/326 group and its predecessor.
This project will develop a design matrix which simplifies and pulls out the main objectives from detailed standardization documentation to help users identify key criteria when designing munitions and their systems.
- Exposure to a wide range of MSIAC countries safety standards
- Increased understanding of NATO standardization documents
- Establish network of contacts with experts from the nations
- Increased understanding of munition safety
- Exposure to AC/326 process
This project would best suit a fellow over a 6-12 month period but could be adapted for an intern or student with a background in ordnance/munition
This project requires a high level of English (ideally, English-as a first language)
