The Asia Foundation Announces 2025 Class of William P. Fuller Fellows in Peacebuilding 

SAN FRANCISCO, September 10, 2025—The Asia Foundation is pleased to announce the 2025 class of William P. Fuller Fellows in Peacebuilding. The three fellows are emerging peacebuilding leaders from Bangladesh, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. The fellowship recognizes early or mid-career professionals with demonstrated leadership in peacebuilding and the potential to make significant contributions to the field.  

Fuller Fellows are actively promoting peace through research, advocacy, policymaking, and community-engaged work. Meet the 2025 Fellows:  

Patricia Flores | The Philippines 

Patricia is dedicated to advancing transitional justice, indigenous rights, and grassroots-led frameworks that bridge law, public policy, and trauma-informed community healing. She served as a development officer under the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace and played a pivotal role in the Indigenous People Healing and Reconciliation Framework, now a developing state model for tribes affected by violent extremism. She is executive director of iPEACE where she works to advance tribal legal and peacebuilding for the integration of indigenous peace models into national frameworks. She has led indigenous rights campaigns for the Dumagat-Remontado Indigenous group, and her work includes reintegration of militant-affiliated returnees, support for children in conflict zones, and transitional justice and reconciliation for victims of terrorism and former violent extremists. She founded Hilom Pilipinas, a national movement for psychosocial peace education, and authored the book Curiosity Does Not Kill the Cat, Poverty Does. She is a juris doctor student at Ateneo School of Law on a full scholarship and graduated magna cum laude from National University–Laguna.  

Nabeela Iqbal | Sri Lanka  

Nabeela advances peacebuilding and family law reforms in Sri Lanka with engagements both nationally and globally. Her work is recognised by Amnesty International and the UN Youth Envoy as a young human rights defender during the pandemic, and she is a Kofi Annan Changemaker. In 2020, she founded the civil society organisation Sisterhood Initiative, to mobilise young Muslim women in community decision-making and to protect and advocate for their rights against discriminatory laws. She serves as the organization’s co-director. A Chevening Scholar, Nabeela completed her master’s in human rights at University College London. 

Tasnia Prova | Bangladesh 

Tasnia is an academic researcher and development practitioner from Bangladesh, with notable experience in implementing multi-stakeholder projects and exploring fragile contexts through participatory research. As a former research lead at the Centre for Peace and Justice, BRAC University, she led an exploration of the intersection of environmental resilience, security and peace as it manifests in the southwest borderlands of Bangladesh. Tasnia has authored numerous research reports, policy papers, journal articles and book chapters, notably including multiple XCEPT reports on compounded precarity facing Bangladeshi borderlands and an article on adopting community-based methods to work alongside Rohingya refugees in the Journal of Migration and Human Security. She is currently based in Toronto, pursuing a PhD in planning at the University of Toronto. 

About the Fuller Fellowship

The evolving complexity of subnational conflicts in the 21st century requires investment in an emerging generation of leaders to innovate and drive solutions for peace. The William P. Fuller Fellowship in Peacebuilding is dedicated to the professional development of the next generation of leaders committed to addressing conflict and peacebuilding in Asia and the Pacific. The program fosters collaboration through a small cohort model, connecting fellows with the global peacebuilding community and elevating their professional growth and work in the field.  

The 2025 program will bring the cohort to New York, Washington D.C., and the San Francisco Bay Area for a 12-day peacebuilding exchange to include professional development training and meetings with key institutions and leaders. Each fellow also receives a $2,500 grant to support their individually tailored projects or advance their professional goals.  

The Asia Foundation’s board of trustees first established the program in 2004 to honor William P. Fuller’s 15-year tenure as president of The Asia Foundation. This tribute reflects the organization’s long-standing commitment to the field and Fuller’s particular concern for furthering the professional development of young Asians with the leadership potential and professional commitment to advance knowledge and practice regarding the management of subnational conflicts.  

The Asia Foundation is an international nonprofit organization working to solve the toughest social and economic challenges in Asia and the Pacific. Informed by more than 70 years of experience and deep local knowledge, we work with partners across more than 20 countries to improve lives and expand opportunities. Learn more about us.