Fellowships
Fellowship opportunities for the 2009-2010 academic year, similar to those described below for 2008-2009, will be announced in January of 2009.
The Philadelphia Area Center for History of Science (PACHS) offers one- or two- month Dissertation Research Fellowships and nine-month Dissertation Writing Fellowships for students in the history of science, technology and medicine. Fellows will use offices in the PACHS facility in Center City Philadelphia and will have ready access to events and activities at PACHS member institutions and throughout Philadelphia’s vibrant academic and cultural communities. PACHS will facilitate fellows’ access to libraries and archives in the Philadelphia area. Additional support for research at the Niels Bohr Library and Archives at the American Institute of Physics is also available.
Dissertation Writing Fellowships
The fellowship stipend is $20,000 for nine months’ residence at PACHS. Fellows are expected to spend the academic year at PACHS, to participate in PACHS events, and to present a paper or dissertation chapter as part of the PACHS colloquium series.
Dissertation Research Fellowships
These fellowships are intended for students who wish to use the collections of two or more institutions in the PACHS consortium. The fellowship stipend is $2,000 per month for students who reside more than 75 miles from Philadelphia or $1,000 per month for students who reside closer. Applicants are strongly encouraged to determine relevance of collections to their projects by making inquiries directly to PACHS member institutions before applying. Candidates must list in their applications the specific collections they wish to use. Fellows are expected to conduct research at all listed collections for one or two months continuously between September 1 and May 31. Toward the end of their residence, fellows will be asked to present an informal discussion of their work to an audience of local scholars and other PACHS fellows. Candidates who will use collections at multiple PACHS institutions will receive strong preference. Candidates who live 75 or more miles from Philadelphia will receive some preference.
Eligibility
PACHS is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and fellowships are available to Ph.D. candidates who are U.S. nationals or students at U.S. institutions. PACHS fellowships may be held sequentially with fellowships offered separately by PACHS member institutions but may not be held concurrently.
Application
Applications must be submitted online; the application form for 2009 - 2010 will be available here in January 2009. Applicants must submit a Curriculum Vitae and a project proposal, limited to 1500 words, describing the research project and how it will advance scholarship in the history of science, technology or medicine. In addition, each applicant must ask two recognized scholars to submit letters of support through the same web site by the same deadline.
Applications for Dissertation Research Fellowships must list the specific PACHS members’ collections that will be used and describe the relevance of these collections to their projects.
A panel of independent distinguished scholars will evaluate proposals.
