The Fulbright U.S. Student Study/Research Award is a prestigious international exchange program. It provides opportunities for scholars to conduct research, teach, and engage in cultural exchange across the globe. The program aims to foster mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries, promoting peace and cooperation through academic and cultural pursuits.
David Mathisson, a Fulbright grantee currently researching the Hungarian-Israeli diplomatic relationship in Budapest, Hungary, brings a wealth of experience from his extensive background in community organizing, higher education policy, and strategic communications. In this interview, David shares his journey to the fellowship, his innovative research project, and his insights on navigating the complexities of international relations, offering a compelling glimpse into the life of a dedicated and ambitious scholar.
Tell us about your background. What led you to pursue a Fulbright?
I earned my BA from Washington University in St. Louis, where I studied contemporary American politics and conducted research on decentralized economic activism, but most of my background is professional, not academic. I’ve been heavily involved in community organizing since 2015, and while I was in college, I worked mainly on higher education administrative policy. I had the opportunity to work in two university administrative jobs, run a proofreading business with six proofreaders working for me, and research how to optimize organizational operations. Many people want to work in politics, but very few are willing to get into the details of policy to the extent that I do. I’ve been able to get a lot done, such as negotiating a deal to reduce community over-policing, reallocating housing subsidies, and managing numerous emergency academic policies during the pandemic.
I had made plans to apply to competitive fellowships and graduate schools in the fall of my senior year, but I didn’t believe I would be accepted. Then, in my senior spring, I had a string of policy achievements, most notably securing an annual compensation agreement for 115 student workers, which changed my mind. I worked as a professional writer, business pitch coach, and strategic communications advisor during the year while applying. I considered around 200 opportunities, made a shortlist of around 20, and wrote applications for 7. Last spring, I was quite fortunate to be accepted to both the Fulbright Scholarship, to research diplomacy, and the University of Oxford, for an MSc in Higher Education, which were my top two choices. At first, I was sure I would attend Oxford, because I had dreamed of studying there for many years. It was the opportunity of a lifetime – but so was Fulbright, which I ended up choosing instead.
Turning down Oxford was one of the hardest choices I’ve ever made. I put together a set of metrics: career benefits, learning opportunities, quality of life, and finances, then researched each opportunity on the four metrics until I had all the information I could possibly get. After all that, the gap in my metrics was pretty small, except for finances. Finances were relevant, but it ultimately came down to my values: I believe living a good life means getting as far outside my comfort zone as possible. I’d earned my Oxford admission letter by playing into my strengths: I had spent years learning about higher education policy and making it myself. Researching diplomacy with Fulbright, in a country I had never been to, with a language widely known as the least learnable in Europe, felt way more uncomfortable, which meant there was more I could learn. I need to challenge myself as much as possible to prepare for public service. While I would have loved to go to Oxford, I knew Fulbright would be the most challenging, both professionally and personally.
Tell us about your research project. What will you be researching while in Hungary?
I research Hungarian-Israeli diplomatic relations for my project. My goal is to assess trends in an unusually friendly relationship that could facilitate new relationship growth for America and our allies, including facilitating other alliances between America’s allies. Hungary is Israel’s closest European ally, and Israel is Hungary’s closest Middle Eastern ally. One of the main components of my research looks into four factors that supported this relationship to evaluate how relevant each one is to the Hungarian-Israeli alliance.
My most-discussed factor is the political compatibility between the two states. Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian Prime Minister, and Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, came to power in the late nineties, then were out of power for most of the 2000s (a period where Netanyahu advised Orbán), and except for one brief Israeli opposition coalition, both of them have been in power uninterrupted since shortly after the Great Recession. Fidesz and Likud, Orbán’s and Netanyahu’s respective political parties, have very similar ideologies, positions, and long-term goals. Those similarities hold up along a really wide range of issues – everything from economic policy to the role of government in society to geostrategic issues like Russia’s war against Ukraine to many other areas. Both Orbán and Netanyahu have been compared to Donald Trump, and both experience a widely varying relationship with America depending on whether Democrats or Republicans hold the presidency. I also look at cultural compatibility through historical connections, modern cultural rhetoric, and economic incentives like trade, investment, and tourism. My final factor is security incentives, such as Hungary’s purchase of Israel’s world-leading radar systems, Hungarian-Israeli satellite cooperation, and Hungary’s acquisition of Israel’s Pegasus software.
It’s extremely difficult to research the Hungarian-Israeli relationship right now because of Israel’s highly volatile political, security, and humanitarian dynamics. I started research for my application in May of 2021, and since then, Israel has experienced four major political shifts impacting the research: Netanyahu’s removal from power, his return to power, the mass protests against Netanyahu’s judicial reform, and the current conflict. I wouldn’t be surprised to see another major political shift while I’m working on this research, so I have to be proactive and incredibly adaptable. That mindset gave me the opportunity to add a valuable new component to my research: post-October 7th tests to the Hungarian-Israeli relationship. I’m currently focusing that research on an October 9th announcement by a Hungarian EU Commissioner declaring a freeze on EU development aid to Palestine due to terrorism concerns, which, along with the aid’s subsequent review process, appears to have impacted the EU’s near-term viability as a collective geopolitical body.
One of the things that made Fulbright so exciting to me was how, coming from a background researching higher education policy, contemporary American politics, and organizational incentive structures, I could just go research one of the most challenging, intractable international relations issues on the planet. Because I didn’t have as much of an international relations-specific background, I made the case to Fulbright that I could rapidly learn enough to reach the advanced understanding required to conduct my research. I chose to throw myself into the deep end, which has forced me to take initiative and challenge myself in ways that will make me a better researcher for the rest of my life.
What has your Fulbright experience been like so far? Describe a typical day.
While conducting full-time research for Fulbright, I decided to also take full-time classes at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) towards an MA in International Relations. ELTE also hosts my research, which made integrating full-time work and full-time study more convenient. Tuition in Hungary is roughly a tenth of the American cost for a comparable program, and all-in costs will be roughly a fifth of American prices, which made it possible to fund using my Fulbright grant. On a typical day, I walk to the university for lectures mostly related to my Security Studies concentration for 1.5-6.5 hours. I take six classes each semester, and the volume of work per class is comparable to an American class, so it’s a significant time commitment. The classes have provided important insights which have improved my research.
I’m a Teaching Assistant at the university, so I’ll sometimes help professors with grading, research, or event management. I got to teach classes as a TA as an undergrad at WashU, and I enjoyed that, so I was hoping for teaching responsibilities. The Hungarian system is more hands-off, and the TA position is more focused on research and administrative support as a result. Later in the afternoon, I walk back from the university to my apartment. The public transit is good, but walking across the Danube and enjoying the view is often the best part of my day, especially when I catch the sunset on the way back. At dusk, the city lights up all along the river.
When I return to my apartment, I cook dinner and then work on my research until late at night. Once a week, usually on Saturday, I set aside a few hours to spend time with friends here, keep in touch with family and friends back home, and work on policy side projects unrelated to my Fulbright work.
What are your plans following your Fulbright in Hungary?
In the short term, I plan to apply to other highly competitive fellowships, law school, or both simultaneously. I intend to become a thought leader on policy by expanding the breadth and depth of my policy skills. The Fulbright has been exceptional both there and in terms of personal growth. I see law school as another mechanism to understand the legislative systems I intend to use to improve society. I don’t want to characterize anything as definitive, or even moderately likely, when most of my planned application targets have acceptance rates of two to five percent.
Since 2017, I’ve kept a list of every opportunity I’ve ever been rejected from, to remind myself what it takes to succeed. I expect that list (currently at 407 rejections and constantly growing) to grow considerably as I continue to aim high. When I commit to a goal, I don’t give up, so I’ll work harder and harder until I’ve found an opportunity I’m truly excited about.
My long-term goal is public service. Now, more than ever, everyday Americans need help, and we need leaders willing to step up to the plate. It may seem like the two parties fight over everything, but there are all kinds of issues we can solve in unifying ways. We can redirect a portion of profits from tech companies that displace jobs, especially as AI and automation exacerbate displacement, to modernize our public infrastructure and social support systems. We can implement higher education disclosures, incentives, and variable price caps, so students pay a fair, transparent price for college, and learn high-value content.
I’m currently working on a side project that examines empirical support for federal government efficiency mandates on the job search process—basically, policies to help unemployed people find work faster. These could make a huge difference in economic equity at a fraction of the cost of expanding unemployment benefits. I intend to take on challenges like these with innovative, meaningful policy solutions.
And finally, what advice would you give to aspiring Scholars?
I’m fortunate to be comparably well situated in the world of competitive applications because I’ve worked as a professional writer and strategic communications advisor. It turns out that preparing people and businesses for media coverage and editing other people’s PhD work are all good preparations for pitching your research’s importance. A typical applicant might make the application all about them, because, well, they’re applying. The main thing I pitched for Fulbright wasn’t actually myself. I established the basis for my research, argued for its feasibility, and presented it in terms of potential benefit to the United States and Hungary. I also discussed my unusual path of intellectual development and my preparation for culture shock – two major assets for a Fulbright Scholar.
My Oxford essay was structured in a somewhat similar way. Instead of focusing on myself, I made it about my policy record and research plans. I opened with an example of an academic modernization policy I’d designed, which WashU had agreed to test after I graduated. That example worked for me in three ways: it demonstrated my record of innovative policy development, established my familiarity with research methodology, and presented my experience with leadership, since I managed a team of student researchers, presented the policy, and guided it through multiple rounds of negotiations. Then, I discussed my research plan: interviewing American university policymakers about how they might respond to different regulatory interventions. I’d be incredibly excited to work on that research project in the future (despite having chosen Fulbright), and I believe that genuine excitement was critical to both the essay and the interview.
I spent about 100 hours doing preparatory research for my Fulbright project, targeting my application, and writing it. If you’re enthusiastic enough about a project to spend 100 hours working on it, while, from a quantitative perspective, expecting you will not win the grant, that’s indicative of the level of motivation every Fulbright Scholar has to do the work that we do. If you wrote a good application, in the process of writing it, you’ll have gained enough knowledge on the topic to apply for other grants quickly, and can use that towards an alternative source or a future project if you don’t win the Fulbright. Oh, and if you apply and don’t get selected, apply again. Most Fulbright Commissions view persistence favorably.
Probably the most important thing I would say is that you’re going to work hard, and presumably very long hours, so if you apply for the Fulbright, apply with a project that you’re really going to love working on.
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David Mathisson is a Fulbright Scholar currently conducting research on the Hungarian-Israeli diplomatic relationship in Budapest, Hungary. Prior to the Fulbright, David worked as a strategic communications advisor, ran a professional proofreading business in which six proofreaders worked under him, and served in multiple higher education administrative roles. Since 2015, David has been extensively involved in community organizing. David’s research prior to Fulbright has discussed strategies to optimize organizational operations and evaluated the effectiveness of decentralized economic activism. David earned his undergraduate degree from Washington University in St. Louis. He has been published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
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