The Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study awards 8-10 residential Faculty Fellowships annually to researchers whose work addresses the Institute’s yearly Research Theme.
During the 2023-2024 academic year, the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study is sponsoring residential research projects that investigate The Long Run.
Practical decision-making, ethical evaluation, scientific modeling, and cultural meaning-making all increasingly push us to consider causes that extend further and further into the past and consequences that extend further and further into the future. The Long Run Project will bring together humanists, scientists, social scientists, policy scholars, and artists to consider how we understand, manage, and respond to events that lie in the distant future or past, or challenges that unfold over long periods of time.
Applications for Faculty Fellowships on The Long Run must be received by Monday, October 3 at 11:59 p.m. EDT.
Faculty Fellowship Application
Research Topics
Potential research proposal topics on The Long Run may address, but are not limited to:
- Physics and Engineering: Ways of representing uncertainty in predictive models; work on modeling origins of the universe. Study of building materials and the longevity of structures.
- Biology: Evolutionary studies of organisms, microorganisms, viruses, etc.
- Ecology and Resource Management: Approaches to the climate crisis or ecological forecasting that inform our understanding of duration; work that advances indiginous perspectives in resource management and modeling; work that deals with how to conceptualize preservation and understand the longevity of organisms, microorganisms, viruses, species, etc.
- Psychology: Studies on self-control, goal achievement, or perception of long durations; longitudinal research in understanding well-being and flourishing; the interpretation of data from such research.
- Theology: The development of theological and religious doctrines over many generations; “advaita” and other ways change and duration are conceptualized in non-Western religions and cultures; ways that religious narratives reflect or challenge other forms of explanation and storytelling.
- Philosophy: The ethical dimensions of intergenerational tradeoffs; study of discount functions and how to weigh competing moral interests; approaches to understanding the nature and passage of time itself, in both human and natural scales.History and Literature: Longue durée approaches to history and their significance for analyzing the present; study of dynasties; analyses of the concept of a “classic” and what makes a work, movement, or idea stand “the test of time”; work that challenges an accepted periodization.
- Political Science: analysis of reparations and questions of justice that involve long durations; study of electoral politics and the future of democratic systems; study of constitutional originalism and other approaches to constitutional development and interpretation; work that integrates advances in scientific modeling to new forms of policy analysis.
- Arts and Culture: Approaches to restoring material dimensions of culture and the moral arguments for restoring or removing elements of culture; analyses of taste, trends, or fashions.
The NDIAS is also interested in supporting artistic works—fiction writing, visual arts, musical composition, etc.—that challenge our perception or understanding of long durations or time.
The above list is a mere sampling of projects that fit with the theme: the NDIAS welcomes any research project that fits with The Long Run, whether or not it is explicitly specified above. The NDIAS also welcomes projects that fit the theme in creative or surprising ways.
Proposals will be evaluated on the basis of their potential for research impact, fit with the theme, and fit with the Institute’s mission.
Research Support
Faculty Fellows receive half their base salary per academic year (up to $75,000), subsidized housing (for those who currently reside outside of the South Bend area), a research allowance of $500 per semester, and a private office at the NDIAS.
Fellows' home institutions provide the remainder of their salaries as well as all benefits, including health insurance.
The Faculty Fellows will be joined by a cohort of graduate and undergraduate researchers from Notre Dame who are pursuing their own research projects related to The Long Run. The graduate students collaborate with Faculty Fellows during weekly research seminars and other NDIAS events, while the undergraduates serve as research assistants as the need arises.
Throughout the year, the NDIAS will organize robust programming to further explore the theme and cultivate collaboration, such as work-in-progress seminars, guest lectures, book clubs, film viewings, and social events.
Communications Training
In contrast with other faculty fellowship programs that merely provide a space for researchers to work on their projects more or less in isolation, the program at the NDIAS is intentional about providing a space for its researchers to collaborate and mutually enrich each other’s research throughout the year.
However, interdisciplinary research is difficult. Talking to researchers outside of one’s field is a challenge, given the vast differences in methods, idioms, and norms across the disciplines. Further, it’s a challenge that many faculty have not had many opportunities to present their research to scholars outside their field.
The NDIAS meets these challenges head-on by providing communications training to its Faculty Fellows throughout the year to help them better connect with each other and the broader public alike. We also host discussions in our seminar to discern best practices for making our research connect with the other topics represented.
The details of the communications training provided by the NDIAS vary from year to year, but in the past it has included a fall workshop with Duarte–a professional communications consulting group–and a spring workshop with an opinion editor at The New York Times.
The NDIAS has also developed guidelines for effective interdisciplinary presentations and paper discussions during weekly research seminars.
Participation in NDIAS communications retreats is required for Faculty Fellows–it’s a central component to making our year a success and a defining feature of our weekly seminars.
Fellowship Expectations
All Faculty Fellows are expected to reside in the South Bend area and to remain in residence at the University of Notre Dame during the period of their fellowship (except for vacation periods, holidays, and University breaks).
Faculty Fellows are expected to be free of their regular commitments and to have their primary office at the Institute so they may devote themselves full time to the work outlined in their research proposal and participate fully in the engaging and cooperative community of scholars at the Institute.
Faculty Fellows are also expected to attend weekly seminars, present their research twice during these seminars, and attend NDIAS retreats, communications workshops, and other special events.
Eligibility
Faculty Fellowships are open to scholars, scientists, social scientists, and artists in all disciplines who are conducting research related to The Long Run.
Faculty Fellows typically have a faculty appointment at their home institution, but the Fellowships are also open to independent researchers, public practitioners, postdoctoral scholars, those who have recently received their Ph.D. (or equivalent terminal) degree, those who are pursuing the creative arts, and faculty from Notre Dame. Scholars from outside the U.S. are welcome to apply–there are no citizenship requirements for these fellowships.
Current graduate students are eligible to apply only if they will receive their terminal degree by August 1, 2023.
One goal of the fellowship selection process is the creation of a diverse and collaborative community of scholars with a range of disciplines and academic ranks. Applicants who are members of traditionally under-represented groups are encouraged to apply.
Preference is given to those who can join the NDIAS for the entire academic year (August - May), but fellowships for shorter periods of time may be possible.
Application Requirements
Applications for Faculty Fellowships must be submitted through Interfolio and should include the following:
- Completed online application form;
- Cover letter;
- Curriculum vitae (no more than four pages, single-spaced);
- Proposal abstract (no more than 400 words);
- Fellowship research proposal (no more than six pages double-spaced; research proposals may include a works-cited or bibliography page, which does not count toward the 6-page limit.). In the research proposal, applicants should provide an explanation of the project they intend to pursue at the NDIAS, including:
- How the proposed research aligns with the research theme and mission of the Institute (see ndias.nd.edu/about);
- Preliminary objectives for the research to be conducted (i.e., whether the research might result in a book, journal article, art work, etc.);
- The proposed work plan (including what research or work has already been accomplished, what will be done during the fellowship period, the methodology to be employed, and the organization of the scholarly project, book, or other work).
- A Research Letter of Reference that addresses the strength and promise of the applicant’s proposed research project and its fit with the 2023-2024 theme of The Long Run. This letter should come from a colleague, mentor, or other suitable referee for the research area.
- An Interdisciplinary Community Letter of Reference that addresses one or more of the questions below. This letter should come from a colleague that you have worked with in a department, center, institute, or university context.
- Can you describe an experience where the applicant collaborated to help another researcher improve a project?
- What experience does the applicant have engaging with faculty from backgrounds different from their own? What skills do they bring to such collaboration? What skills might they work to grow in?
- Do you recommend this candidate for a highly collaborative, inclusive, interdisciplinary fellowship program like the NDIAS fellowship?
- (Optional) Up to two pages of non-text materials supporting the research proposal.
Note: applicants are responsible for letting their letter writers know which type letter to write and the instructions provided above.
Finalists will be asked to be available for a brief Zoom conversation with committee members during the final stage of the selection process.
Faculty Fellowship Application
Applications for Faculty Fellowships on The Long Run must be received by Monday, October 3 at 11:59 p.m. EDT.
If you have questions about the application process for our Faculty Fellowships, please visit our FAQ page. Additional questions may be directed to Kristian Olsen at kolsen1@nd.edu.