Supporting Exchange Alumni

Dr. Les Joynes (US)

Mentor and NYU certified Coach working with research professionals coming to the US

Fulbright and Fulbright US Public Diplomacy Awards (Mongolia, India, Sri Lanka, China)

As a former Fulbright Scholar and mentor, my objective is to support future exchange scholars and alumni before, during and after their programs.

Profile: Les Joynes, PhD

Cultural Exchange Scholar | Public Diplomacy Specialist | Mentor

Cultural exchange is our most vital bridge to building mutual understanding, and I am committed to making it accessible, impactful, and transformative for all.

Hi, I’m Les, a New York-based cultural exchange scholar specialized in cross-cultural coaching and mentoring. Originally from Santa Barbara, California and then moving to Brussels to lead projects worldwide, my journey in public diplomacy has been shaped by experiences across the Americas, EMEA, and Asia since 1983. I am committed to building connections and have focused my career on fostering productive international relations through cultural exchange, supported by Fulbright and the U.S. Department of State’s Educational and Cultural Affairs Bureau (ECA).

Most recently, I was recipient of the 2022 Fulbright-Nehru Professional and Academic Excellence Award, serving as a Fulbright Senior Scholar at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in New Delhi. This experience was a pivotal opportunity to explore frameworks that support mutual understanding across cultures, building collaborations with major Indian cultural institutions, universities, and museums. My work extended to Sri Lanka, supported by an SCA-RTP regional grant, where I conducted workshops on multicultural collaboration in the arts, and to Taiwan in 2023, where, through introductions from the American Institute in Taiwan, I lectured on international exchange and the Fulbright Program.

I thrive on education and exchange and bring thirty years of engagement. An American citizen, I decided following my exchange experiences in France and Japan that I would lead an international life and serve others. Since 1983 I have been resident in France, Belgium, Germany, United Kingdom, Japan and India with extended stays in South Korea, Mongolia, China, Taiwan and Brazil. As a graduate student I attended the M.Sc Management program held by Boston University and the Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB) Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences followed by my MBA specialized in multilateral technology transfer. As a management consultant in Brussels and later Frankfurt, I led projects in competitive intelligence, mergers and acquisitions, healthcare, technology and consumer advertising. Advertising became my bridge back to the arts and creativity.

I have always been passionate about art. At fifteen I had the opportunity to learn from Disney Cinematographer, Wolfgang Lauter and exhibited my work at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in 1981. Four years later while living in New York, I had the opportunity to know several artists including Andy Warhol whose approaches to art, media, and aesthetics inspired me to formally study art and create models for multicultural artmaking and performance.

I was awarded an EU Erasmus Scholarship to study at the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris (1995) and completed my BA Fine Art (1996) at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design and MA Fine Art (1997) at Goldsmiths, University of London. In 1997, I received the Japanese Ministry of Education and Culture Monbusho Scholarship and completed my MA (2001) at Musashino Art University in Tokyo.

Building connections: While in London in the 1990s I founded FormLAB, an art series which builds exhibitions based on multilateral collaboration which emerged into US-bilateral performances with the Bauhaus in Germany, LaSalle School of Art in Singapore, Treignac Projet in France, Seoul Foundation for Art & Culture in South Korea, Brazilian Museum of Sculpture, Mongolian National Zanabazar Museum of Art, Beijing Inside-Out Art Museum, Museum of Non-Conformist Art, St Petersburg, and Visva-Bharati University in West Bengal where I created contemporary performances inspired by traditional South Asian dance. Currently, I am preparing upcoming collaborations with the Royal University of Bhutan, the Durbar Center Museum, Kerala, India and the Imperial Academy of Arts, St Petersburg.

Teaching: Building new models for education in the arts I began teaching Japanese students in the Department of Sculpture at Musashino Art University while Monbusho Scholar in Japan (1997-2001). Completing my Ph.D. in 2012, I was invited by Renmin University in Beijing to serve as Professor of Record, teaching courses on American Modern and Contemporary Art History and the American Experience. I also participated in traditional calligraphy performances so round China and my work featured on CCTV and reaching an audience of 20 million viewers. In 2017, I was also welcomed as Visiting Professor at the School of Arts, Peking University, where I lectured on models for cross-cultural collaboration.

Research: While a Research Fellow at the University of the Arts London’s Research Center on Transnational Art, Identity, and Nation (TrAIN) in 2015, I lectured on U.S. bilateral art collaboration. That same year, I launched the American Art Lecture Series at the Mongolian State University for Art and Culture, sponsored by the US Department of State and hosted by the American Center for Mongolian Studies. In 2016, I led the first study on US-Mongolian cooperation in education. Since then, I have lectured on art’s role in fostering international cooperation and mutual understanding at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities at Cambridge University (2015), Beihang University in Beijing (2019), and Columbia University’s Beijing Center, reaching a combined audience of over seventy thousand.

My projects include Fulbright-Hays Public Diplomacy grants in Mongolia and China and leading the first research on US-Mongolian educational and artistic collaboration. I also led the first US-China collaboration on the Great Wall as part of the Fulbright-Hays US Public Diplomacy Mission China Award (2019).

I continue developing bilateral collaborative projects across Asia and Europe, and in 2016 I received the Taiwan Ministry of Education Huayu Scholarship for Chinese language studies at National Cheng Kung University. In 2017, I was awarded the CEC ArtsLink Fellowship for Russia, where I am currently proposing a US-Russian exhibition in St. Petersburg as a future U.S. Public Diplomacy project. As a research scholar on Leadership in Education, I have studied under thought-leaders Dr. Abraham Rami Shani (Organizational Management), Jeffrey Schultz (Future of Work) and Ambassador Joao Vale de Almeida,  EU Ambassador to the US and UN.

The role of Fulbright Exchange Mentor

With a professional background in multinational management and public diplomacy, I seek to serve as a Fulbright Exchange Mentor.

Over the past three decades, I have led strategic collaborations for major U.S. and European clients such as Du Pont, 3M, and General Electric, specializing in international organizational strategy and holding advanced degrees in both management (MSc, International Management, Boston University and Vrije Universiteit Brussels; MBA, California State Polytechnic) and arts PhD, Leeds Metropolitan University, and Post-Doc, University of São Paulo. Fluent in French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Mandarin, I am skilled in navigating cross-cultural environments and have consistently fostered effective global partnerships.

My commitment to public diplomacy is demonstrated through projects in the Americas, EMEA, and Asia, where I founded *Diplomacy Studio*, dedicated to exploring intercultural collaboration in the arts, and *The Inclusive Biennial*, which promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion in creative dialogue. As a Fulbright Senior Scholar at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in New Delhi, I led significant fieldwork in South Asia and developed workshops to support Fulbright grantees’ cultural and professional adaptation.

As a dedicated mentor to exchange scholars, I have observed that 90% of scholars encounter challenges in cultural adjustment, research progress, work-life balance, and re-entry adjustment, which often hinder their full potential. My approach as a Fulbright Exchange Mentor would focus on consistent support through monthly coaching sessions, helping scholars navigate these challenges effectively.

In my current role as a Columbia Research Scholar in Coaching in Education, I develop mentoring frameworks that guide both incoming and outgoing scholars through the complexities of their exchange experience. I bring over two decades of experience in coaching and mentorship, having founded initiatives such as India’s first Youth Mentorship Program in Nagaland and leading coaching programs at Columbia University and the University of Melbourne. Through these roles, I am committed to empowering scholars to maximize their exchange experience, leveraging my experience, insights, and deep understanding of Fulbright’s mission.

Service to Boards and Committees

• Institute for International Education (IIE) Fulbright NSC Reviewer (2024-2027)

• As current Fulbrighter now advising Sir JJ School of Art on Curriculum Design for their transition into a national university.

• In 2022 initiated a Youth Mentorship Program to serve rural communities across Nagaland.

• As Fulbrighter am Fellow at the Highland Institute, Kohima Nagaland on researching Naga culture in India.

• Executive Editorial Committee, ProjectAnywhere, Journal at University of Melbourne, Australia

• Executive Board Member, Seventh District Foundation (Charity for Children's healthcare), New York

• Grant Selection Committee for CEC Artslink Artist Selection (Artists from former USSR bloc countries)

• Grant Selection Committee for CEC Artslink Arts Administrators (Curators and Museum Administrators)

• Grant Selection Committee Harlems Artist Alliance, New York

• Grant Selection Committee for Nordic Artists Center, Dalsasen, Norway

• Chair, Youth Mental Health Committee, Highland Institute, Kohima, Nagaland, India

• Chapter Chair, Society for Competitive Intelligence Professionals, New York

• Art and Anthropology Committee, Royal Anthropological Institute, London

• Anthropology and Environment Committee, Royal Anthropological Institute, London

• Museum Committee, College Arts Association, New York

• International Committee College Arts Association, New York

Selected Papers and Publications and Studies Arts and Culture

2024 Joynes et al Assembled Voices: Representing Taiwan’s Artists Identities (in progress)

2024 Joynes, L et al ). Emerging models for teaching &curriculum development New York: Critical Practices.

2023 Joynes, L The Slipperiness of Memory in the Post Soviet, University of Indiana.

2020 Tohoku: Reflections on Memory and Disaster, Chithravathi (Magazine) Kerala, 2022.

2020 Review of Reclaiming Artists Research, Journal for Artistic Research, London (2020)

2019 Interfacing Technology with Site” ISEA International Symposium of Electronic Art, Gwangju, South Korea

2018 New Institutional Models: China’s Cultural Landscape by Mid-Century, Long Museum, Shanghai, China

2018 Going Beyond: Art as Adventure (2018) O’Neill, R and Werner, J (eds.), Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars.

2015 Anywhere v.1. (2015), Melbourne, Australia: University of Melbourne and Parsons School of Art, Media and Technology, New York.

2015 Inside Out Art Museum, New York: LeRoy Neiman Foundation [catalogue].

2014 Art and Research at the Outermost Limits of Site Specificity, Newcastle, Australia: University of Newcastle

2011 Octopus, Journal for Visual Culture. Irvine: University of California, Irvine, US

2008 Bauhaus-Dessau, Bühnenstudios der Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau [Internet], Germany

1999 “Some Say the Did, Some Say they Didn’t,” Art in America, New York

1997 The New Pathetic: Art in London, Springer, Vienna Austria

Selected Papers and Publications and Sciences and Managment

2007 Global Competitive Strategies in Environmental Systems [Research study] , New York   

2004 “Intelligent interface to genomics and future legislation: US and Iceland

2004 “Legislation of genetic testing in the US and Iceland”

2003 “Bringing Intelligent IT interface to human healthcare” Japan 

2003 “Clinical research development in human aging” Tokyo, Japan

2002 “The Human Genome”: Areas of Light and Shadow (Kon et al, Shokabo, Tokyo)1998 Scientific Journal editor, Tohoku University, Japan

1991 “Emerging materials applications in sound: use of Polycarbonates for Digital Audio” Germany

1991 Resourcing Tetra-butyl hydro-peroxide for radical polymerization initiators, Client Europe

1990 “Managing The Technology Transfer Process: Parallel Learning Mechanism” Dankook University Press, Korea

1990 Competitive Strategies in Fiber-optic technologies, Brussels, Belgium

1990 ”Radiative mineral spectrometry and refraction technologies,” Brussels, Belgium

1989 “Petroleum and derivatives competitive Analysis: Europe,” Fortune 100 Client, US

1989 Introducing eco-recyclables into automobile manufacturing,” Netherlands

1987 “Competitive Assessment of European Management Programs, Boston University, MA

Global Research

2020-2020 Columbia University, New York, NY Visiting Research Scholar. Course training in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion within organizations.

2020-2021 US Department of State and Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs,  Washington DC Citizens Diplomacy Action Fund Project Colombia.

2022-pres Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Award, New Delhi, India Research on collaboration and performance. Hosted by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi. Additional Hosting by Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan West Bengal, US Department of State/Fulbright sponsored field research in the Kingdom of Bhutan (2022).

2020-2020 Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC. Presenter on US-Mongolian cooperation. Fostering intercultural cooperation and research on local diversity and identity in Mongolia.

2020-2020 CEC Artslink, New York, NY. Artist Selection Committee and Jury 2020. Responsible for selection of artists and art managers from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia within US art museums and cultural organizations.

2019-2019 US Department of State, Washington DC and ZERO1, San Francisco, American Arts Incubator/ US DoS workshop training for cross-cultural fieldwork.

2018-2018 Institute for Cultural Industries, Peking University, Beijing, China. Visiting Professor in Cultural Entrepreneurship. Engaged design-thinking and creative skills to teach a master-level entrepreneurship course on cultural entrepreneurship, museums and foundation creation and building cultural organizations.

2017-2017 Fulbright-Hays US Public Diplomacy Award, Beijing, China Recipient of Mission China Award Fulbright-Hays US Public Diplomacy Mission China Award I directed the first US-China collaboration in performance. Supervised filmmaking team creating innovative performances at the Beijing Inside-Out Art Museum featuring first US-Chinese performances on the Great Wall of China.

2016-2016 US Department of State sponsored ACMS Fellowship, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. As Research Fellow initiated, planned and executed the first research on Arts Education in Mongolia. Lead research team in Ulaanbaatar and liaised with US Embassy, three national universities and the Mongolian Minister for Culture. Produced comprehensive research supporting cross-cultural exchange between the United States and Mongolia.

2015-pres University of Melbourne and Parsons School of Design New York, and Melbourne, Australia. Editorial Board, ProjectAnywhere, 2015-present. Executive member of the Board working with Board-members from the US, UK, Australia, UK, Germany supporting exciting global events, a peer-reviewed journal supporting research and advanced scholarship.

2015-2017 University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Post-doctoral research on identity and transcultural collaboration in Brazil. Awarded Post-doctorate Escola de Comunicações e Artes, Universidade de São Paulo

2015-present Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain London, UK. Member of the Art and Anthropology Committee (Fellow 2015-present). Responsible for scholarly journal review, building international cooperation.

2015-2015 Cambridge University Centre for Research in Arts, Social Sciences & Humanities, Cambridge, UK. Presenter on intercultural collaboration. Seminar on intercultural collaboration and performance arts

2015-2016 Young Researchers Conference, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Conference Chair, 2016. Responsible for Conference with participants from eight countries. Building sustained communities of practice and professional development amongst researchers in the social and life sciences.

2014-2014 Fulbright-Hays US Public Diplomacy Award, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Recipient of the Fulbright-Hays and CEC ArtsLink Awards to lead an overland expedition to Northern Mongolia to research the nomadic Tsaatan Reindeer herding communities of Northern Mongolia. Led five - member team from Germany and Mongolia. Liaised with Cultural Affairs Specialists at US Department of State and local organizations to produce the first US-Mongolian collaborative performances which featured at the Zanabazar National Museum of Fine Art.

2013-2013 Research on performance and local Brazilian cultural identities, shamanism, and ritual.Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, Sao Paulo, Brazil. University of Sao Paulo, Brazil Workshop on performing identity. Brazilian Museum of Sculpture, Sao Paulo, Brazil

2011-2011 Eugene Lang Center for Entrepreneurship, Columbia University, New York, NY. Research in Entrepreneurship at Columbia Business School. Teamed with second year MBA team to advise the Mayor’s Office in the City of New York. Liaising with Accenture and MTV,  led creative initiatives for university involvement in NYC television initiatives. Conceived masterplan for NYC-wide television programming involving four universities and the creation of a sponsored chair for faculty.

2008-2009 Bauhaus Foundation, Dessau, Germany and Singapore. Producer and Choreographer. Bauhaus Foundation sponsored research on community. Directed performance series inspired by Southeast Asian rituals.                

2007-2007 Nordisk Kunstnarsenter Dale, Norway. Artist selection team. Artist-in-Residence centre funded by Norwegian Ministry of Culture.

1998-1998 Inaugural Taipei Biennial,  Tokyo, Japan. Curatorial Assistant for Inaugural Taipei Art Biennial.

1997-2001 Japan Ministry of Education and Culture Scholarship (MEXT), Tokyo, Japan. Conducted research on Japanese culture, aesthetics. Led curatorial and exhibition projects in Tokyo. Exploring new models for undergraduate teaching. Awarded university honors.

1988-1989 California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA. Co published research on systemic models for technology transfer (1990) with leading organizational behavior specialists Dr. Abraham Rami Shani Associate Dean of Faculty and Research at California Polytechnic State University. Graduated top of class in International Strategy.

1986-1988 Boston University and the Vrije Universiteit Brussels Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences, Boston and Brussels, Belgium (1986-1988) Advanced training in building cross-cultural cooperation within global organizations (M.Sc. 1988).

Professional Affiliations

College Arts Association Coach and Mentor in Education, New York

Columbia Business School Leadership Lab, Columbia University

Columbia University Visiting Scholar and Scientist Program, New York

Exchange Alumni, Washington DC

Fulbright Alumni Network, Washington DC

GoldAward Mentor, University of London, UK

Graduate School Alliance for Education in Coaching (GSAEC)

International Coaching Federation (New York Chapter)

National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan

New York University School of Professional Studies Coaching Program Alumnus

Renmin University of China, Beijing

Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain, London, UK (Fellow)

Royal Asiatic Society, London (Fellow)

Royal Geographical Society of Great Britain (Fellow)