Applications Now Open for 2015 Pardee Graduate Summer Fellowships

Application deadline: Monday, March 16, 2015
Download application instructions

Applications are now being accepted for the 2015 Pardee Graduate Summer Fellows Program, which offers graduate students from across Boston University an opportunity for intensive interdisciplinary research and writing on topics aligned with the broad research interests of BU’s Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future.

The Pardee Center conducts interdisciplinary, policy relevant and future-oriented research that can contribute to long-term improvements in the human condition. The Center is especially interested in rigorous analysis relating to longer-range human development, using global and regional (multi-national) analysis. We facilitate interdisciplinary studies that are development oriented, future focused, and policy relevant, and that identify actions that can be taken today to make our collective global tomorrow better. More details are available in the research section of this site.

The 10-week fellowship (June 1 – August 7, 2015) will include a financial stipend of $5,000, structured interaction with Pardee Center faculty and research fellows, and a collegial atmosphere that fosters peer support and intellectual growth. Summer Fellows will occupy workspace provided at the Pardee House while they conduct independent research, and produce a substantive research paper that may be considered for publication by the Pardee Center.

The Graduate Summer Fellowships are open to all Boston University graduate students. Master’s and early to mid-stage doctoral students, including ABDs, are encouraged to apply. (Students completing degrees in May 2015 are not eligible). Research proposals that link positively to the student’s own and/or BU faculty’s ongoing research are especially desirable.

Proposals for any research topic related to the Pardee Center’s longer-range global human development mandate will be considered, especially including (but not limited to) those relating to (a) sustainability issues related to rapid urbanization, especially in developing countries, (b) issues related to large-scale global environmental change, (c) a “systems perspective” of development programs, incorporating issues related to sociology, ecology, and economics, and (d) improved understanding of how academic knowledge connects to policy decision-making at various scales (i.e., local to global). Successful proposals will clearly convey how the research is related to improving quality of life; focus on or demonstrate relevance to the developing world; clearly articulate how the research is relevant to the longer-range future (two or three generations out); and explain why and how it can be completed in a 10-week period.

Applications are especially encouraged from fields such as global public health, engineering, the humanities, and natural sciences. Deadline for applications is close of business on Monday, March 16, and candidates will be notified of the outcomes in mid-April. Detailed application instructions are available here.

Questions regarding the Summer Fellowship Program may be directed to gsfellow@bu.edu.