Deadline for submissions: July 2, 2022
1. Fellowship Program for Emerging Displaced Scholars
Thanks to the generosity of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Columbia Global Centers | Amman (Amman Center) has established the Mellon Fellowship Program. A 12-month fellowship to support emerging displaced scholars working in the humanities and humanistic social sciences.
Eligible candidates are scholars in the humanities and humanistic social sciences who have been forcibly uprooted from their home countries and respective academic institutions. They could be graduate students who have had their education disrupted or post-doctoral scholars in the early stages of their careers. Creative writers, artists, curators, and scholars working on interdisciplinary projects are encouraged to apply.
Fellows are expected to make a public presentation at the end of their fellowship of the work they have produced during the fellowship year. The goal of the program is to create opportunities for scholars to reintegrate into academia and resume their academic pursuits.
Support mechanisms for Fellows will include the following:
• Linking Fellows to academics, practitioners, and experts across the Columbia Global Centers’ network.
• Matching each Fellow with a faculty member to provide mentorship, advice, and support.
• Providing access to online courses at Columbia University and customized training workshops at the Amman Center so as to build the academic capacity of incoming fellows.
• Facilitating hands-on learning opportunities in program administration and implementation.
• Assisting Fellows in convening roundtable discussions, conferences, and talks in their respective subject areas.
• Enabling Fellows to embark on their academic pursuits in a safe environment; and,
• Highlighting Fellows’ publications and other intellectual endeavors by disseminating their work and facilitating exchange through the Global Center network and Columbia University at large.
2. Eligibility requirements
This Fellowship program is intended primarily for displaced scholars. Applications from individuals who have been in exile will also be considered. Applicants must demonstrate an intermediate degree of English language proficiency, as a minimum, to be considered for the Fellowship program.
Candidates whose work is based in the humanities, broadly construed, are eligible to apply for the fellowship program. This generally includes any discipline that studies the human experience, such as literature, linguistics, philosophy, archaeology, cultural heritage and historical preservation, museum studies, religious studies, musicology, history, and criticism and theory of the arts. Social sciences that have humanistic content and employ humanistic methods—such as anthropology, sociology, gender and ethnic studies—will also be considered. Researchers working on interdisciplinary research projects are welcome to apply.
Applicants for the fellowship starting January 2023 must submit a dossier that includes the following materials by July 2nd, 2022:
• A curriculum vitae that includes academic credentials and professional experience.
• A personal statement (two pages) which includes motivation for applying to this program, as well as a description of and reason for displacement. The statement should describe the applicant’s intellectual trajectory, career goals and teaching philosophy.
• A proposal describing the field of interest, academic work that will be undertaken during the 12- month fellowship and beyond, and broader potential significance of the applicant’s work.
• One to two writing samples/publications.
• Letter of recommendation from an academic colleague who is familiar with applicant’s previous work.
• Copies of academic transcripts.
Scholars who are unable to complete their applications for reasons beyond their control, such as lack of access to computers, are welcome to contact the Columbia Global Centers | Amman for assistance. Please direct any inquiries regarding eligibility to Abdelazim Sultan at as6660@columbia.edu
3. Selection process
The principal criteria for selection are: (1) the overall substance and feasibility of the proposed academic work, (2) a well-considered plan for accomplishing the proposed work in a one-year time frame, (3) the candidate’s trajectory prior to their displacement, and (4) the quality and depth of the applicant’s previous work.
Applicant materials will be reviewed by a selection committee comprising Columbia University faculty, the Amman Center’s Program Manager, and local/regional academics. Shortlisted applicants will be interviewed by the selection committee.
4. Terms and conditions
Fellows will receive a stipend of $25,000 USD that includes individual health insurance for the duration of the 12-month fellowship. They will be based at Columbia’s Global Center in Amman and will be provided with office space, access to meeting rooms and conference facilities, as well as IT equipment (including a computer device, internet connection, printer, scanner, phone line, and IT technical support). Fellows will have access to Columbia University online library resources as well as online courses at Columbia University and other platforms. As part of the program, Fellows will be matched with a relevant faculty member at Columbia University who will guide them throughout the year.
Fellows are expected to be free of their regular commitments so that they may devote themselves to the work outlined in their proposal. Please note that Fellows are responsible for their housing costs. We will offer travel and visa assistance where possible.
5. How to apply?
Please send all the materials listed in section 2 (eligibility requirements) in a combined pdf file to: Abdelazim Sultan, Fellowship Program Coordinator, at as6660@columbia.edu with the subject line: Application - Fellowship Program for Emerging Displaced Scholars.
6. About Columbia University and Columbia Global Centers | Amman
Columbia University is one of the world’s most important centers of research and teaching, providing a distinguished learning environment for undergraduates and graduate students in many scholarly and professional fields. The University recognizes the importance of its location in New York City and seeks to link its research and teaching to the vast resources of a great metropolis. It also seeks to attract a diverse and international faculty and student body, to support research and teaching on global issues, and to create academic relationships with many countries and regions. It expects all areas of the University to advance knowledge and learning at the highest level and to convey the products of its efforts to the world.
The Columbia Global Centers are a vibrant network of nine centers around the world that connect cities and regions with each other and with Columbia University in New York City. The centers are located in Amman, Beijing, Istanbul, Mumbai, Nairobi, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago and Tunis. This network forms the core element of Columbia’s global strategy, which is to expand the University’s ability to contribute positively to the world by advancing research, learning, discussion, and discovery around the most important global issues through a truly global perspective. The Global Centers serve as an extension of the University’s core belief that a global presence is essential to the highest levels of excellence in addressing global challenges with complex dimensions, formulating innovation interventions, advancing new knowledge, and educating future leaders.
Columbia Global Centers | Amman was established in March 2009 as one of the first in the network of Columbia Global Centers. It has established itself as a hub for education, outreach and programming throughout the region, as well as serving as a link to other regions of the world through its global centers. The hallmark of the Columbia Global Centers is that they represent multi-directional learning: Columbia is not thrusting education onto a new environment: instead, through the network of the global centers, faculty and students increasingly become part of an international dialogue with partners around the world. The Global Centers offer members of the Columbia community the opportunity not only to impart and produce knowledge and expertise, but to absorb and learn as well.