Ray has been selected as 2018-19 Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at The Australian National University. After a rigorous process involving statesmen and scholars attached to both the US and Australian Fulbright Commissions, this research award was given to Ray to examine the degree of Australia’s social cohesion - a measurement that tells how immigration-based societies are becoming more integrated or not. He will travel across Australia as a speaker debating this topic and will carry out research at various universities. His home institution in Canberra will also allow him to interview political leaders and public officials in the Parliament of Australia. As a Fulbrighter he will also serve as US cultural ambassador.
It is the second distinguished chair in five years that was awarded to Ray. His first was Fulbright Distinguished Chair in European Studies at the University of Warsaw in 2013-14 when he was eyewitness to events occurring in Ukraine's EuroMaidan. In 2014-15 he also was the recipient of the highly competitive Leverhulme Visiting Professorship at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England.