The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Inc. is a private operating foundation dedicated to the advancement of anthropology throughout the world. Located in New York City, it is one of the major funding sources for international anthropological research and is actively engaged with the anthropological community through its varied grant, fellowship, networking, conference and symposia programs. It founded and continues to publish the international journal Current Anthropology, and disseminates the results of its symposia through open-access supplementary issues of this journal. The Foundation works to support all branches of anthropology and closely related disciplines concerned with human biological and cultural origins, development, and variation.
Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowships
Eligibility
- Applicants must have a Ph.D. or equivalent at the time of application.
- Applicants must have received a Ph.D. or equivalent within ten years of the application deadline.
- Qualified scholars are eligible without regard to nationality, institutional, or departmental affiliation although preference is given to applicants who are untenured or do not yet have a permanent academic position.
- The Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowship is to support a continuous period of full-time academic writing. The research that forms the basis of the writing project is expected to be completed at the time of application. In special circumstances and with prior approval of the Foundation, recipients may use part of their stipend for a minor research component if necessary to complete their proposed publication/s. No research funds in addition to the basic stipend are available as part of the Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowship.
- The fellowship may be used to support the preparation of a book or monograph manuscript, journal articles, book chapters, or a combination of these forms of publication.
- The Foundation cannot accept an application from a prior grantee unless all requirements of a previous grant have been completed. Please contact the Foundation for more information if this situation applies.
- Prior recipients of Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowships are not eligible to apply for a second fellowship for a different writing project.
- Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowship applications that were unsuccessful in a prior funding cycle may be resubmitted only twice. A resubmission statement explaining how the application is different from the prior application and how the referees' comments have been addressed must accompany resubmitted applications.
- If a fellowship is awarded, the applicant must agree to comply with the Requirements and Conditions of the Hunt Postdoctoral FellowshipGeneral Criteria of Evaluation
- As with all Wenner-Gren awards, the main criteria of evaluation are the quality of the research and its potential contribution to anthropological knowledge, theory, and debate.
- There is no preference for particular geographic areas or topics.
- The writing project or projects that form the basis of a Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowship application should be based on well-defined research questions. It is important to demonstrate that the research that forms the basis of the writing project/s is appropriate to answer the research questions that are posed. It is also important to demonstrate the significance of the research to important theoretical and methodological issues in anthropology.
- The Foundation pays particular attention to the feasibility of the writing project. It is important to have realistic goals in relation to the amount of writing that you will be able to achieve within the time period of the fellowship.
- Priority is given to those applicants that at the time of application have a book contract in hand, have been in contact with publishers or have detailed writing plans (e.g., developed book, monograph, or article outlines), and show evidence of these in their application.
- The Foundation is interested in funding proposals where there is a reasonable probability that the published outcome will have a significant and broad-ranging effect on the field of anthropology. It is important to make such a case for your work. Proposals with a narrow regional or topical focus are normally not competitive.
- Writing projects whose primary objective is to “fill in” knowledge about a culture, a region, a language, a site, or a primate species will not be competitive unless a further case can be made for the importance of their data to broader issues in anthropology.
- Those applicants with applied anthropological objectives should emphasize the theoretical and methodological impact of their research for the discipline as opposed to its applied value only.
- Applicants whose research focuses on primatology should ensure that their application emphasizes the specific ways in which their research relates to humanity's cultural and/or biological origins, development, and/or modern variation. The Foundation does not fund basic research in primatology or research that is primarily oriented towards primate conservation.
- Linguistic anthropologists should also be aware that the Foundation does not fund salvage work on endangered languages (e.g., preparation of dictionaries and/or grammars). It also does not fund other descriptive research on languages or work on language structure that is not grounded in anthropological concerns.
General Criteria of Evaluation
- As with all Wenner-Gren awards, the main criteria of evaluation are the quality of the research and its potential contribution to anthropological knowledge, theory, and debate.
- There is no preference for particular geographic areas or topics.
- The writing project or projects that form the basis of a Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowship application should be based on well-defined research questions. It is important to demonstrate that the research that forms the basis of the writing project/s is appropriate to answer the research questions that are posed. It is also important to demonstrate the significance of the research to important theoretical and methodological issues in anthropology.
- The Foundation pays particular attention to the feasibility of the writing project. It is important to have realistic goals in relation to the amount of writing that you will be able to achieve within the time period of the fellowship.
- Priority is given to those applicants that at the time of application have a book contract in hand, have been in contact with publishers or have detailed writing plans (e.g., developed book, monograph, or article outlines), and show evidence of these in their application.
- The Foundation is interested in funding proposals where there is a reasonable probability that the published outcome will have a significant and broad-ranging effect on the field of anthropology. It is important to make such a case for your work. Proposals with a narrow regional or topical focus are normally not competitive.
- Writing projects whose primary objective is to “fill in” knowledge about a culture, a region, a language, a site, or a primate species will not be competitive unless a further case can be made for the importance of their data to broader issues in anthropology.
- Those applicants with applied anthropological objectives should emphasize the theoretical and methodological impact of their research for the discipline as opposed to its applied value only.
- Applicants whose research focuses on primatology should ensure that their application emphasizes the specific ways in which their research relates to humanity's cultural and/or biological origins, development, and/or modern variation. The Foundation does not fund basic research in primatology or research that is primarily oriented towards primate conservation.
- Linguistic anthropologists should also be aware that the Foundation does not fund salvage work on endangered languages (e.g., preparation of dictionaries and/or grammars). It also does not fund other descriptive research on languages or work on language structure that is not grounded in anthropological concerns.
Application Deadlines and Decision Notification
- The deadline for the Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowship is May 1. and final decisions are made six months later. Funding will be available starting in January of the following year, and the start date of the Fellowship can be any time during that year.
- Applications must be submitted using the Foundation's online application submission procedure by midnight (Eastern Standard Time) on the day of the deadline. In addition, five printed copies of the complete application must be postmarked by the application deadline and received by the Foundation no later than two weeks after the deadline or your application will not be reviewed. If it is not possible to submit your application online because of inadequate internet access in your country of origin, you must notify the Foundation at least one week before the deadline (applications@wennergren.org) to arrange to submit an application by conventional mail. Please note: application materials e-mailed or faxed to the Foundation will not be accepted.
- The Foundation operates a two-stage decision making process:
- Stage One: Applications are screened against the General Criteria for Evaluation. All applicants will be notified as to whether or not they are successful at this stage, generally 3 months after the deadline. Approximately 50% of all applications are successful at this stage
- Stage Two: Successful applications are sent to an external panel for academic review. Applicants will be notified within 6-8 months of the original application deadline. Approximately 33% of Stage Two applications are successful
- The Foundation requests that applicants not call or e-mail to inquire about the status of their application. The applicant will be contacted by the Foundation if any additional information is needed to process their application.
This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:
http://www.wennergren.org/programs/hunt-postdoctoral-fellowships