The Nippon Foundation established the Fellowships for Asian Public Intellectuals (API Fellowships) in cooperation with Asian intellectuals and organizations in 2000.The participating countries include Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and Japan. CSEAS is the partner institution in Japan, and the Japanese secretariat operates within the Center. The API Fellowship aims to promote mutual learning and contributing to the growth of public spaces in which effective responses to regional needs can be generated. It has enabled public intellectuals in Asia to pursue academic, cultural, and professional projects in the participating countries. CSEAS has organized API seminars in which visiting API fellows give presentations and share their insights with staff and students from CSEAS and other institutions.

The exchange of API fellows that has taken place among the participating countries since 2000 will come to a tentative close after the final batch of year 2013. API program is currently in the phase of re-structuring towards future developments.

 The Nippon Foundation Fellowships for Asian Public Intellectuals: Website