Fellowship Opportunity, Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian

The Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship will be awarded to a graduate or recent postdoctoral student who has demonstrated a passion for the interpretation of arts and culture in a museum or similar setting. The minimum requirement is the completion of coursework for a master’s degree. Postdoctoral students whose dissertations were accepted within the past two years will also be eligible. Native North American scholars are encouraged to apply.

The selected fellow will be a temporary full-time employee of the Wheelwright Museum with benefits for 18 months starting in June 2018. He or she will have significant responsibilities for the planning and implementation of a major exhibition and will work closely with the museum’s exhibition team. The fellow may have writing responsibilities and will interact closely with a featured artist, author, videographer, interns from regional institutions, volunteers, and other constituents.

The salary range is $38,000 to $42,000 annually, based on level of academic achievement. The fellow will not be provided time to write a thesis or dissertation, but will have some funding to attend conferences and other professional gatherings.

Applicants must provide a statement explaining their qualifications and their background. The statement must be accompanied by a curriculum vitae, a substantial writing sample written and edited entirely by the applicant, and three letters of recommendation.  Applications can be sent by mail, FedEx, or other service, or can be scanned and emailed. Complete mailed applications must be postmarked no later than February 2nd, 2018; emailed applications must be received no later than 11:59 p.m. on February 2nd, 2018. Mailed applications should be addressed to:

The Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship
Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian
P.O. Box 5153
Santa Fe, NM 87502

Emailed applications should be sent to: director@wheelwright.org

Fellowship Opportunity: Auschwitz Jewish Center Fellows Program

The Auschwitz Jewish Center Fellows Program is now accepting applications. Since 2000, the AJC Fellows Program has provided a unique educational opportunity for graduate students and seniors to learn about the Holocaust in situ in the context of Poland’s history and Jewish heritage. Through travel in Poland for three weeks, during which time Fellows visit Krakow, Warsaw, Lódź, Treblinka, and Oświęcim (Auschwitz), Fellows gain not only knowledge of the Holocaust sites they visit, but also an understanding of the legacy of the Holocaust in Poland, its effects on collective memory, and complexities surrounding such categories as victim, bystander, and perpetrator. All program costs, except travel to the program’s start in New York, are covered. Faculty participation is available through the Faculty Fellows Program.   The Auschwitz Jewish Center Fellows Program will run from June 24 - July 16, 2018. Theapplication is due on January 14, 2018. Candidates of all religious, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

CAA 2018 Funding: CAA-GETTY International Program

The CAA-Getty International Program, generously supported by the Getty Foundation, provides funding to between fifteen and twenty art historians, museum curators, and artists who teach art history to attend CAA’s Annual Conferences. The goal of the project is to increase international participation in CAA, to diversify the association’s membership, and to foster collaborations between North American art historians, artists, and curators and their international colleagues.

Since it began in 2012, the program has brought ninety scholars to the conferences, from forty-one countries located in Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and South America. Each year, a preconference colloquium on international topics in art history inaugurates the week, kicking off four days of conference sessions, meetings with new colleagues, and visits to museums and galleries. Subsequent to these events, the program has generated many scholarly collaborations, including publications, conferences, and exhibitions.

In 2017, CAA organized a reunion to celebrate five successful years of the CAA-Getty International Program. Twenty alumni were selected to present papers at the Annual Conference in New York, held February 15-18, 2017. Organized into four sessions about international topics in art history, these Global Conversations were chaired by distinguished scholars from the United States and featured presentations by the CAA-Getty alumni. The papers from these sessions are now archived on the CAA website.

ABOUT THE 2018 GRANT
The 2018 CAA-Getty International Program will support fifteen art historians, museum curators, and artists who teach art history to attend the 106th Annual Conference, taking place in Los Angeles from February 21–24, 2018. The grant covers travel expenses, hotel accommodations for seven nights, per diems, conference registrations, and one-year CAA memberships. The program will include a one-day preconference colloquium on international issues in art history, to be held at the Getty Center on February 20, at which grant recipients will present and discuss their common professional interests and issues. Attendance at the preconference is limited and by invitation only. This year the grant also will fund five alumni from the CAA-Getty International Program to participate in the preconference colloquium and speak at a session during the conference. As they have in previous years, representatives from CAA’s membership will host program participants during the conference week.

ARE YOU ELIGIBLE?
Applicants must be practicing art historians who teach at a university or work as a curator in a museum, or artists who teach art history. They must have a good working knowledge of English and be available to participate in CAA events from February 21–24, 2018. Only professionals who have not attended a CAA conference previously, and who are from countries underrepresented in CAA’s membership are eligible to apply. The grant excludes scholars from North America, Western Europe, and Australia, whose countries are well represented in CAA. It further excludes scholars who have received funds from American foundations or research institutes to participate in conferences or residencies in the United States. Applicants do not need to be CAA members. This grant program is not open to graduate students or to those participating in the 2018 conference as chairs, speakers, or discussants.

HOW TO APPLY
Please review the application specifications and complete the application form. If you have questions about the process or are unsure of your eligibility, please email Janet Landay, project director of the CAA-Getty International Program.
Applications should include:
A completed application form
A two-page version of the applicant’s CV
A letter of recommendation from the chair, dean, or director of the applicant’s school, department, or museum

Please send all application materials as Word or PDF files to Janet Landay no later than Monday, August 21, 2017. CAA will notify applicants by Monday, October 2, 2017.

Fellowship Opportunity: SVA/Robert Lemelson Foundation Fellowship Program 2017-2018

The SVA/Robert Lemelson Foundation Fellowships are designed to provide graduate students working in the field of visual and multimodal anthropology with funding to pursue exploratory research for planning their doctoral dissertation research and/or methods training to prepare for their doctoral dissertation research. Research projects supported by the funding should have the potential of advancing the field of visual anthropology. Normally, fellows receive their awards after their first or second year of graduate training as they begin to develop their dissertation research projects. We expect to award up to six fellowships in 2017 with each fellow up to an amount of $6,000 depending upon need. Of the total amount granted, up to $2,500 may be used for video/film equipment.

Eligibility:
o Fellowships are open to all graduate students without regard to citizenship or place of residence.
o Applicants must be enrolled in a graduate program at the time of application and during the period of the fellowship.
o Applicants’ proposed research must be in the field of visual anthropology, broadly defined, but they do not need to be students in departments of anthropology.
o Applicants cannot have completed more than four years of graduate education, including all institutions that they have attended.
o Applicants must be current members of the Society of Visual Anthropology (SVA), a section of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) as of April 25, 2017.

Details on joining the AAA and the SVA can be found at www.Americananthro.org. (Note: If the applicant is not a current member, we suggest submitting the membership application well in advance to be sure that the membership is current by the deadline.)

The funding cannot be used to collect data for the fellow’s master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation.

Fellows are prohibited from accepting the Robert Lemelson Foundation Fellowship in conjunction with any other summer or research funding for the same projector over the same time frame as the proposed research supported by the Robert Lemelson Foundation Fellowship.

All fellows are required to attend the 2017 AAA Annual Meeting to be held in Washington, D.C. (November 29-December 3, 2017).

Permissible Uses of Robert Lemelson Foundation Fellowship

Funding: Financial support can be requested to support all travel expenses, including airfare, ground transportation, and visa application fees; living expenses and housing; fieldwork expenses such as gifts for participants, translator and field assistant fees; and all other reasonable and justified expenses. Funds may not be used to pay for graduate school tuition. Budgets must include financial support up to a maximum of $600 to attend the 2017 AAA Annual Meeting to be held in Washington, D.C.

Funding cannot be used to support language training in more commonly taught languages, such as Spanish, French, and Arabic. Some funding can be used to support language instruction for languages where formal instruction is limited, but the focus of the project should be on pursuing exploratory research rather than strictly language instruction. Funding can be used for methods training, but the methods in question must be tied directly to the larger research project and it will be this project that is the focus of the selection committee’s review. Proposals for general methods or statistical training, for example, are unlikely to be funded. We expect to fund proposals between $3,000 and $6,000. You may request a larger amount than the stated limit, but it is very unlikely that an award over $6,000 will be made.

Application components:

(1) Application form: Download the fellowship application form from the Robert Lemelson Foundation Fellowship website,or from here. complete the form using Adobe Acrobat or Reader, and save it with your last name in the title.
(2) Project statement: In 750 -1,000 words (excluding references), please describe the specific research activities or training that you will carry out with support from the SVA/Robert Lemelson Foundation Fellowship. Explain in detail how you will use your time, including any preliminary data you will collect and analysis you are considering. Please specify the ways in which this preliminary research and/or methods training has the potential to make your dissertation research more successful. Please indicate whether you have ever spent time in the field site in question. If so, please indicate the length of time and experience you have there, and how this bout of research will be different from previous visits. Finally, your proposal should specifically address how your research program has the potential to advance the field of visual/multimodal anthropology. The statement should be single-spaced, and use a 12-point font and one-inch margins on all sides. Any references included should be narrowly focused, and should not exceed 300 words.
(3) Brief curriculum vitae: In one single-spaced page, provide details on your education with dates of enrollment; any research funding, fellowships, and awards you may have received, including amounts and dates, and any academic publications and presentations you may have completed. Include details on prior employment, volunteer work, and other experience only if it is directly relevant to the proposed research. Other information, such as teaching experience, should not be included.
(4) Budget and budget justification: In one single-spaced page, provide a detailed and specific budget with justification for the items and amounts included. Justification should include mention of how costs were estimated. Your budget must include support up to $600 for attendance at the 2017 AAA meetings, and this amount can be listed as a single item in your budget.
(5) Letter of recommendation: Applicants must obtain a letter written in support of their application from a faculty member familiar with their work and research aspirations. Normally, this will be the chair of the student’s graduate research advisory committee. Please provide the attached information sheet to the individual who is writing the letter. It is the applicant’s responsibility to be sure that the letter is received by the deadline. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. Only one letter of recommendation will be accepted.

Deadline for application submission: 5 pm EST on Tuesday April 25, 2017

Your application should consist of only two files: (1) a PDF of the completed application form (section #1 above), and (2) a single PDF file that includes sections #2 (project statement and references), #3 (curriculum vitae), and #4 (budget and justification). Please include your last name in the name of both files. To submit your application, please email both files as an attachment to the SVA’s President, Stephanie Takaragawa (takaraga@chapman.edu) by the deadline. Applications received after this time and date will not be reviewed. We expect to contact awardees by the end of April, and hope to contact all applicants by May 1, 2017. Please contact Stephanie Takaragawa with any questions or if there are any changes to your application, such a receipt of other funding.

2017-2018 SVA/RLF Fellowship Application Form

NEH Preservation Assistance Grants for Smaller Institutions

NEH Division of Preservation and Access

Receipt Deadline: May 2, 2017 

For Projects Beginning January 2018
Brief Summary
Preservation Assistance Grants help small and mid-sized institutions—such as libraries, museums, historical societies, archival repositories, cultural organizations, town and county records offices, and colleges and universities—improve their ability to preserve and care for their significant humanities collections. These may include special collections of books and journals, archives and manuscripts, prints and photographs, moving images, sound recordings, architectural and cartographic records, decorative and fine art objects, textiles, archaeological and ethnographic artifacts, furniture, historical objects, and digital materials.

Applicants must draw on the knowledge of consultants whose preservation skills and experience are related to the types of collections and the nature of the activities on which their projects focus. Within the conservation field, for example, conservators usually specialize in the care of specific types of collections, such as objects, paper, or paintings. Applicants should therefore choose a conservator whose specialty is appropriate for the nature of their collections. Similarly, when assessing the preservation needs of library, museum, or archival holdings, applicants must seek a consultant specifically knowledgeable about the preservation of these types of collections.

The program encourages applications from small and mid-sized institutions that have never received an NEH grant. The program also encourages applications from presidentially designated institutions (Hispanic-serving institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and Tribal Colleges and Universities), and from Native American tribes and Native Alaskan and Native Hawaiian organizations with significant humanities collections.

Program Statistics
In the last five competitions the Preservation Assistance Grants program received an average of 235 applications per year. The program made an average of 75 awards per year, for a funding ratio of 32 percent.

The number of applications to an NEH grant program can vary widely from year to year, as can the funding ratio. Information about the average number of applications and awards in recent competitions is meant only to provide historical context for the current competition. Information on the number of applications and awards in individual competitions is available from preservation@neh.gov.

More here.

Fellowship Opportunity: Museum and Cultural Heritage Studies, Department of Cultural Studies and Oriental Languages (IKOS), University of Oslo

PhD in relationships between cultural heritage and indigenous identity - University of Oslo
A doctoral research fellowship within the field of Museum and Cultural Heritage studies is available at the Department of Cultural Studies and Oriental Languages (IKOS), University of Oslo.

IKOS seeks to recruit a doctoral candidate with excellent research qualifications who will investigate the relationships between cultural heritage and indigenous identity.

The successful doctoral project will engage critically with the notion of indigenous identity and, taking a contemporary perspective, will explore its connections with aspects of tangible and/or intangible cultural heritage (including but not limited to, museums and museum collections, as well as Nature as cultural heritage).

The project may for instance explore the role of cultural heritage in: definitions of indigeneity; the definition and transmission of indigenous knowledge; the politics of the past and the (re)writing of history from a post-colonial perspective; indigenous environmental activism; and indigenous cultural revitalization in the 21st century. Also relevant are investigations of specific practices of display, preservation, interpretation or knowledge production – relating to indigenous heritage – and their connection with indigenous identities. Other topics may also be relevant.

To read the full announcement and how to apply visit here.

Fellowship Opportunities: The musée du quai Branly

The musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac offers every year doctoral and post-doctoral fellowships to support Ph.D. candidates and early career scholars in pursuing innovative research projects.

The academic fields concerned are: anthropology, ethnomusicology, art history, history, archaeology, sociology, performance studies.

The research topics concerned are: Western and non-Western arts, material and immaterial heritage, museum institutions and their collections, technology, ritual performance and material culture.

The projects most likely to benefit from the environment of the musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac will be examined with particular attention.

During the year of their fellowship, the laureates will present in the museum’s Research and Higher Education Department’s internal seminar a scientific paper intended for later publication. They will be required to deliver a detailed report to the museum’s research department at the end of the fellowship.

Doctoral Fellowships 
Three doctoral fellowships are offered to support PhD candidates in completing their dissertation; candidates must be at least in the third year (post-fieldwork writing stage) of their doctoral program during the academic year 2017-2018 (in a university in France or abroad). This fellowship scheme is not designed to fund fieldwork or archival research. It specifically concerns doctoral studies on non-Western societies.

The doctoral fellowships are limited to a period of 12 months (non-renewable), from October the 1st to September the 30th of each year. They consist in a monthly allowance which in 2017 will be of 1300 €net and will be awarded after assessment and selection of the applications by the Museum’s Scientific Committee. No condition of nationality applies.
Post-doctoral Fellowships 
Five postdoctoral fellowships are offered to early career scholars to collectively develop a one year research program on the theme “value and materialities”. Each of these terms must be understood in its broader sense to account for all their possible relations, the museum collection being one of its modalities. Thus the economic, aesthetic, religious and political dimensions of value will be considered. These will be associated with different forms of materiality, from objects and places to bodies. The different stages of the valorisation process may be taken together or separately, from the creation/production, to the circulation, exchange, authentication, consumption, conservation or disposal. Insights into the institutional forms of valorisation, such as the market, heritage, ritual or performance will be of equal interest. Beyond the disciplines concerned by the museum fellowships, legal and economic approaches may be included.

The postdoctoral fellowships are limited to a period of 12 months (non-renewable), from October the 1st to September the 30th of each year. They consist in a monthly wage of 2 111,09 € gross in 2017.

They are awarded after assessment of the applications and auditions of a shortlist of ten candidates by the Museum’s Scientific Committee. The audition of the shortlisted applicants will take place at the end of June at the musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac or by videoconference.

Applicants may apply for this scheme for up to 5 years after having been awarded their doctoral degree, that is after the 1st of January 2012. In order to apply for the postdoctoral fellowships, the candidate’s Ph.D. thesis must be submitted at the latest by the end of 2017. No condition of nationality applies.

Download the application forms:
Doctoral fellowship application form
Post-doctoral fellowship application form

To be registered, the complete application folder must be sent electronically and by post before Monday, the 3rd of April 2017 at midnight:
- electronically to the following address (bourses@quaibranly.fr): the different application documents will be combined in a single pdf file which will be under 5 Mo. The application file will be named following this model: SURNAME_DOC_2017.pdf or SURNAME_POSTDOC_2017.pdf
- by post to the following address (mentioning ‘Candidature Bourse doctorale/postdoctorale’ on the envelope), the application form being dated and signed:

Département de la recherche et de l’enseignement
musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac
222, rue de l’Université
75343 Paris Cedex 07
France

The list of all the candidates whose application is eligible will be posted on the museum’s website on the 10th of April 2017. The candidates shortlisted for a post-doctoral fellowship will be contacted mid-June and an interview organised at the end of June.

The list of names of the successful candidates will be posted on the museum’s website during the first week of July 2017.

OU receives Mellon Foundation grant for Native American arts initiative

The University of Oklahoma has received an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant for $750,000 to support a four-year initiative to increase cultural diversity while seeking to grow a mutually beneficial relationship between OU's doctoral program in Native American art and the Institute of American Indian Arts. The comprehensive program will increase the representation of Native Americans in curatorial and academic positions through collaboration, creativity and commitment toward the goal.

"The university is extremely pleased to receive this grant from the Mellon Foundation. It is a recognition of OU's strong reputation in the field of Native American art," said President David L. Boren.

The program will include six core projects, including paid internships for the museum's Native American art collection and pre-doctoral fellowships, accompanied by a teaching assistantship to students dedicated to the study of Native American art and culture. A biannual museology course will provide graduate students an opportunity to study museum theories and practices and learn curatorial skills by building an exhibition from concept to installation using the museum's Native American art collections.

The OU School of Visual Arts' nationally competitive doctoral program in the study of Native American art will be expanded in order to broaden students' exposure to leaders in the field and improve their critical analysis of current scholarship. Graduate students will manage a symposium on a current topic in the field of Native American art history, museum studies and pedagogy, and a Mellon Foundation Distinguished Lecture Series will be established. Finally, the OU School of Visual Arts will collaborate with the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe to create a pipeline of institute graduates for OU's graduate program to study Native American art history.

The program will be led by heather ahtone, James T. Bialac Associate Curator of Native American and Non-Western Art at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art; W. Jackson Rushing III, Eugene B. Adkins Presidential Professor of Art History and Mary Lou Milner Carver Chair in Native American Art; and Mark Andrew White, Wylodean and Bill Saxon Director of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art.

Fellowship Opportunity: Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA

PEM offers summer fellowship opportunities for graduate students and cultural professionals of Native American, Native Hawaiian or Alaska Native background. These paid, full-time, 11-week fellowships prepare participants for leadership positions in the museum field and/or the nonprofit cultural sector. The program presents a comprehensive perspective on the theory and practice of museum leadership, in the context of a meaningful, in-depth project within a department of the museum. Weekly intensive workshops, field trips, lodging, travel expenses and a stipend are included. School credit is available upon official request.

Email your application, essay, letters of recommendation, official school transcript and resume to jennifer_himmelreich@pem.org or mail to Jennifer Himmelreich, Native American Fellowship Program Specialist, Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex Street, Salem, MA 01970.Complete application deadline, including transcripts and references, is due Friday, February 10, 2017.

Fellowship Opportunity: The Smithsonian Institution 2017 Fellowship Program

Applications for the 2017 Smithsonian Institution Fellowship Program (SIFP) Are Now OPEN. The application deadline is Thursday December 1, 2016.

Upcoming SIFP Application Deadlines (Tentative and Subject to Change):

2017 Smithsonian Institution Fellowship Program: Thursday December 1, 2016

2018 Smithsonian Institution Fellowship Program: Friday December 1, 2017

2019 Smithsonian Institution Fellowship Program: Monday December 3, 2018

Background:

The Smithsonian Institution Fellowship Program  is the Smithsonian Institution’s centrally-funded flagship fellowship program. SI Fellowships are awarded annually to scholars wishing to conduct independent study or research at one or more of the Smithsonian’s 19 units and research centers. These fellowships are offered through the Smithsonian’s Office of Fellowships and Internships, and are administered under the charter of the Institution, 20 U.S. Code section 41 et seq.

Purpose:

The Smithsonian Institution Fellowship Program supports independent research and study related to Smithsonian facilities, experts, or collection for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.

Program Description:

Smithsonian Institution Fellows conduct independent study and research related to SI collections, experts, or facilities in cooperation with at least one Smithsonian advisor.

The Smithsonian Institution Fellowship Program is administered through the Smithsonian Office of Fellowships and Internships (OFI).

The Smithsonian Institution Fellowship Program is open to:

1. Graduate Students
2. Predoctoral Students
3. Postdoctoral Researchers and
4. Senior Researchers

Graduate Student Fellowships

Graduate Student Fellowships are typically 10 weeks in length. Students must be formally enrolled in a graduate program of study at a degree granting institution. Before the appointment begins fellows must still be enrolled and must have completed at least one full time semester or its equivalent. Graduate Student Fellowships are usually intended for students who have not yet been advanced to candidacy if in a doctoral program. Graduate student fellowships are offered for ten weeks and are not available for periods of less or more than ten weeks.

Predoctoral Student Fellowships**

Predoctoral Student Fellowships are typically (pls see below for exceptions) 3 to 12 months in length. Students must be enrolled in a university as a candidate for the Ph.D. or equivalent. By the time the appointment begins the university must approve the undertaking of dissertation research at the Smithsonian Institution and certify that requirements for the doctorate, other than the dissertation, have been met.

Postdoctoral Researcher Fellowships**

Postdoctoral Student Fellowships are typically (pls see below for exceptions) 3 to 12 months in length. The doctorate degree must be completed by the time the fellowship begins.

Senior Researcher Fellowships

Senior Fellowships are typically 3 to 12 months in length. Applicants must have held a Ph.D. or equivalent for at least 7 years.

*Predoctoral and Postdoctoral Fellows with advisors at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) are eligible for extended tenures beyond the 1 year SIFP through the Peter Buck Fellowship Program. Buck fellowships supplement one-year Smithsonian Institution Fellowship (SIFP) awards by one or two years. Buck awards may also include a research allowance for additional year’s study.

*Postdoctoral Fellows with advisors at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) are eligible for extended tenures beyond the 1 year SIFP through STRI’s Earl S. Tupper Fellowship. Tupper fellowships supplement Smithsonian Institution Fellowship (SIFP) awards by one or two years. See Tupper Fellowship for information on how to apply.

Please note, Tupper postdoctoral applicants can also submit a one-year SIFP fellowship.  However, this needs to be a separate application submitted through SOLAA with a separate description and research schedule.

All applicants for SI Fellowships, regardless of academic area, are eligible and automatically considered for the Secretary’s Distinguished Research Fellowship, which provides the awardee with a second year of support.

Stipend Allowances and Taxes:

The Smithsonian Institution Fellowship award amounts are as follows:

Graduate Student Fellowship**: $7000.00 for 10 weeks

Predoctoral Student Fellowship: $32,700 annually; research allowance up to $4,000 total.

Postdoctoral Researcher Fellowship: $48,000 annually; research allowance up to $4,000 total.

Senior Researcher Fellowship: $48,000 annually; research allowance up to $4,000 total.

Fellows in earth/planetary sciences and conservatory sciences are eligible to receive up to $5,000.00 over the amounts above.

**Graduate student fellowships are offered for ten weeks and are not available for periods of less or more than ten weeks.  Research allowances are not offered for graduate student fellowships.

Stipends for all fellowships other than graduate students are pro-rated for periods of less than twelve months.

Smithsonian fellowship stipends are not salary or compensation. They are meant to support study and research during the tenure of the appointment and cannot be issued retroactively.

All funds provided under Smithsonian Institution fellowships, including stipends and research and travel allowances, are subject to tax. Fellows awarded stipends receive a financial summary at the end of each calendar year and are responsible for meeting their own state and federal tax obligations.

In addition to a base stipend, awardees may receive allowances to assist with the fellow’s research related expenses and for temporary relocation to the Smithsonian. The budget for the research allowance should not include costs for relocation to the Smithsonian, which is awarded separately. A maximum research allowance of $4,000 is available. The amount awarded will be determined based upon the budget and justification presented by the applicant.

The Office of Fellowships and Internships cannot provide funds for the travel or living expenses of dependents.

Determination of the fellowship category for which to apply should be based on the anticipated academic level at the time the fellowship would begin.

Eligibility:

The program is open to US citizens and Non-US citizens. Applicants whose native language is not English are expected to have the ability to write and converse fluently in English. All application materials must be presented in English (foreign transcripts may be translated, see below).

Past or current fellowship recipients are eligible to apply for another award.

Who is Ineligible?

• No employee or contractor of the Smithsonian Institution may hold a Smithsonian fellowship during the time of his/her employment or contract.
• A fellowship may not be awarded to any person who has been employed by or under contract to the Institution in the previous year without the prior approval of the Office of Fellowships (see FAQ below). 

How it Works:

Applicants must propose research that is conducted at the Smithsonian in an area of research outlined in the publication, Smithsonian Opportunities for Research and Study (SORS). Applicants should contact staff members to help identify potential advisors, determine the feasibility of the proposed research being conducted at the Smithsonian Institution, and the availability of relevant resources such as staff, collections, archives and library materials during the proposed tenure dates. Current Smithsonian research staff members can be found here.

Applications are evaluated and fellows are selected, by scholars in appropriate fields, on the basis of the proposal’s merit, the applicant’s ability to carry out the proposed research and study, the likelihood that the research could be completed in the requested time, and the extent to which the Smithsonian, through its research staff members and resources, could contribute to the proposed research. The number of appointments made each year is determined by the availability of funds for the program.

Conditions of Appointment:

• In submitting an application for a fellowship at the Institution, the applicant does not incur any obligation to accept the appointment if selected.
• Smithsonian Institution Fellows must begin their fellowship within 1 year from the date of their award letter.
• The fellowship must be completed within two years of the start date.
• Appointment periods are in accordance with the applicant’s proposal for the research, unless the length of tenure requested is considered by reviewers to be more than required.
• In accepting an appointment, the fellow will be expected to devote full time effort to the research proposed and to be in residence at the Smithsonian except for approved absences.
• Financial support for such purposes as research, travel and equipment may be received from other sources provided that no special demands are made upon the fellow’s time.
• Permission to receive additional stipend support must be requested in writing from the Office of Fellowships and Internships.

Use of Smithsonian Facilities:

Fellows will be assigned to a particular unit or department based upon the proposed primary advisor and research topic.

• Fellows will be provided with space to conduct their research within the department in which they are working.
• Applicants should consult in advance with their proposed advisor(s) regarding the availability of facilities and necessary equipment.
• The amount of support services available to the fellow will be determined by the workload of the department and the policy of the department chairperson and/or unit director.
• Fellows have access to the Smithsonian Institution Libraries with privileges which include borrowing library materials, interlibrary loans, intralibrary loans, document delivery, database searching, and reference assistance.

How to Apply:

Apply Through: SOLAA

Applications for centrally funded Smithsonian Institution Fellowships are not listed under the museum, research facility or office in which the applicant proposes to conduct research. Applicants for centrally funded Smithsonian Institution Fellowships need to select one of the applications found under the Office of Fellowships in SOLAA.

Applicants who wish to conduct research at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) should go here as SAO application requirements and deadlines may be different.

Applicants who wish to pursue opportunities in art and archaeological conservation, or conduct research and gain further training in Smithsonian conservation laboratories for conservation of objects in museum collections should consider applying for the Smithsonian Postgraduate Fellowship in Conservation of Museum Collections.

Applicants interested in pursuing collaborative resarch in vields involving comparative genomic approaches such as phylogenomics, populations genomics, metagenomics, or transcriptomics with a component that involves significant bioinformatics analysis should consider applying for the Smithsonian Institution Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biodiversity Genomics.

Applicants interested in opportunities to conduct research into visual art that inspireds new artwork should consider applying to the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship.

• Applications must be received no later than 11:59 pm EST on December 1, 2016 via SOLAA
• You should correspond with your proposed Smithsonian advisor(s) as you prepare your proposal (being sure to discuss potential research costs) with your proposed advisor(s) before submitting your application
• All application materials must be presented in English (foreign transcripts may be translated)

Once you have created an account and logged into SOLAA you will need to complete all the required information including:

• Mailing address
• Academic history
• Current university or college
• Identifying the committee you feel is most appropriate to review your proposal. Descriptions of different review committees are offered below.

Please be sure to apply for the correct year program cycle.

The following must be uploaded with your application:

Abstract

• No more than one page

Research Proposal

• The full statement of your research you plan to undertake at the Smithsonian
• Maximum six pages double spaced (not including references)
• Paper size should be 8.5 by 11 inches (210 mm x 297 mm)
• 12 point type

In preparing your proposal, be sure to provide and address the following:

• Methodology
• The importance of the work both in relation to the broader discipline and to your own scholarly goals
• Justification for conducting your research at the Smithsonian and utilization of research facilities and resources
• Identification of the member of the Smithsonian’s research staff who might serve as your principal advisor/host
• Identification of potential co-advisor(s) and/or consultant(s) if applicable

Time Table

• Estimate of time period for each phase of the research proposed
• This needs to be uploaded for the application material name “Other” in SOLAA
• Applicants should consider the following factors carefully when choosing the dates for the proposed fellowship: academic schedule, completion dates of their preliminary exams, course work, dissertation (if applicable), the schedule of their proposed advisor/host and the availability of required resources
• The dates of tenure proposed in the application (and any change of dates if the fellowship is awarded) should be selected in agreement with the proposed principal advisor

Budget and Justification

• Budget and justification for equipment, supplies, research-related travel costs, and other support required to conduct the research itself
• Do not include stipend and/or relocation costs
• If the funds exceed the maximum research allowance, please explain the source of additional funds
• Applicants for graduate student fellowships are not eligible for research and travel allowances and should not submit budget justifications

Bibliography

• Bibliography of literature relevant to the applicant’s proposed research

Curriculum Vitae

• Including previous and current fellowships, grants, and/or awards, and a description of your research interests.
• If English is not your native language, describe the level of your proficiency in reading, conversing, and writing in English

Transcripts (unofficial are acceptable)

• Transcripts (or other materials when transcripts are not issued) from all appropriate institutions are required except for senior fellowship applications
• Applicants for graduate student fellowships must submit undergraduate and graduate transcripts
• Applicants for predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships need only submit graduate transcripts
• Senior researchers may provide transcripts, but are not required to do so
• If transcripts or other materials are not in English the applicant should provide translations

References

• Names and email addresses of two persons familiar with your work. Ideally, don’t make your proposed SI advisor one of your referees because they already will have an opportunity to offer feedback about your proposal as part of the application review process
• All reference letters are considered confidential unless confidentiality has been waived by the reference
• Provide a copy of your proposal and a copy of Letter to Reference (downloadable pdf) to your references
• Through SOLAA you will send an email to these referees so they can provide references through the web

In order to have the greatest impact on a candidate’s application, referees are asked to submit references no later than the application due date. However, references can be included with a candidate’s application packet up to one month after the application due date. Please note that while not having references included with an application does not automatically disqualify an application, the absence of references may weaken a proposal in the eyes of reviewers. 

Selection Criteria:

The complete application will be reviewed by Smithsonian scholars in appropriate fields.  Applications will be evaluated on the following:

• The proposal’s merit
• The ability of the applicant to carry out the proposed research and study
• The extent to which the Smithsonian, through its staff members and resources, can contribute to the proposed research

Notification of decisions will be made no later than Friday 4/7/17. 

The Smithsonian does not discriminate on grounds of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, parental status, marital status, sexual orientation, or participation in protected activity (find out more here).

Fellowship Announcement: Three-Year Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Smithsonian's National Anthropological Archives

The National Anthropological Archives (NAA) at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), Department of Anthropology is offering a 3‐year postdoctoral fellowship that focuses on research within the NAA to establish methods, standards, and criteria for enhancing the discoverability of cultural anthropology data and materials within its holdings.

The NAA is the nation’s largest archival repository dedicated exclusively to collecting and preserving records documenting the history of anthropology and cultures of the world. These collections represent a major investment of private and public scholarship relevant to ongoing scientific interests in anthropology and related fields. NAA materials are used by a wide variety of academic, citizen, and source community researchers to help answer questions that range from the communal (i.e., humanenvironmental relations) to the global (i.e., language endangerment). Despite their cultural and historical importance, these materials are not being used to their fullest potential. Discoverability and optimal use of the collections is hindered by archival descriptive practices that do not align well with current interests of anthropological scholars and other researchers. Recognizing this problem, the research carried out during this postdoctoral fellowship will help establish a better understanding of anthropological user needs and data‐gathering practices that will inform improvements in the representation of archival materials. The postdoctoral fellow will help identify the needs and requirements of both archival custodians and researchers in an effort to improve archival descriptive practice and researcher success in discovery. Through user surveys and other means, research will consider the nature of contemporary anthropological inquiry and its archival legacy, the historical and current use of anthropological archives, and the analysis of how established archival practice may impede or enable discovery of these resources.

Roles and Responsibilities: This postdoctoral fellowship will be treated as a research position, with an expectation of productive research activity that will result in publications, conference and symposium presentations, and intellectual exchange with Smithsonian staff. During this three year project, the Fellow will initiate and develop research involving (1) past and present use and methods of discovery by researchers in the NAA; (2) past and present archival descriptive practice in the NAA and its impacts on discovery and use; and (3) current trends in the management of and access to digital anthropological research data. Results from these inquiries will inform revised and improved archival best practices for the description of anthropological archival material as well as create a forum for sustained conversation between archival researchers and custodians. As part of NMNH’s Anthropology Department, the postdoctoral fellow will work with anthropologists and archivists to conduct research and develop policies that will improve discovery and use of anthropological archives. An interdisciplinary advisory team is being formed to help further guide this project. The postdoctoral fellow will have ample opportunity to interact with archivists and archival collections, anthropologists in all four fields, and hundreds of researchers from around the world in numerous disciplines, as well as for active collaboration appropriate to the fellow’s individual research interests. 

Research conducted by the fellow should engage the following questions:

 What are the roadblocks experienced by anthropological researchers in searching for information in the archives?

 How can archival descriptive practices better represent elements of the collection to increase

discoverability by anthropological researchers?

 How can archivists more effectively involve anthropologists and source communities in the archival processes of collection representation?

 How can “traditional” archives such as the NAA better engage with emerging digital data

repositories such as tDAR, AILLA, OLAC, and DELAMAN, and how can we best develop shared

understandings of “archives,” and “digital data”?

Location and supervision: 

The individual selected for this postdoctoral fellowship will be based at the National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Museum Support Center, Suitland, Maryland. The fellow will conduct his/her work under the guidance of Dr. Gabriela Pérez Báez, NMNH Curator of Linguistics, Dr. Joshua A. Bell, Curator of Globalization, and Gina Rappaport, NAA’s Head Archivist.

Qualifications: 

Candidates should hold (or have plans to defend) a Ph.D. in anthropology, information or archival studies, or other relevant field. Candidate must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. The successful candidate will have a strong research background, proven information and project management skills, demonstrated excellence in communication skills, a record of publication and public presentation, and a strong interest in advancing archival practice and research through education, engagement, and collaboration. The successful candidate will have an understanding and demonstrated competency in any of the following areas of research in anthropological archives: ethnographic research methods, the history of anthropology, visual anthropology, archival theory and practice, historical and ethno‐historical research methods. The candidate must also have prior experience in conducting research using qualitative and quantitative social science methods. Demonstrated record of the ability to work in a multidisciplinary and collaborative environment is also desirable.

To Apply: 

Interested candidates should send a CV, a statement (2 pages maximum) of interest in this

position and how it relates to their personal goals, and a list of 3 references and their contact information to the project PI, Gabriela Pérez Báez at perezbaezg@si.edu, and CC Joshua A Bell bellja@sil.edu and Gina Rappaport rappaportg@si.edu. Review of applications will begin on October 17, 2016. Selected applicant will be notified no later than November 7, 2017.