Hunt Postdoctoral Full-time Writing Fellowship in Anthropology

Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowships support the writing-up of already completed research. The fellowship is awarded to scholars in the earlier stages of their careers, when they frequently lack the time and resources to develop their research for publication.  Scholars with a Ph.D. in hand for no more than ten years (from the application deadline) are eligible to apply. A maximum of eight Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowships are awarded annually.

By providing funds for scholars to devote themselves full-time to writing, the Foundation aims to enable a new generation of scholars to publish significant works that will impact the development of anthropology. The program contributes to the Foundation's overall mission to support basic research in anthropology and to ensure that the discipline continues to be a source of vibrant and significant work that furthers our understanding of humanity's cultural and biological origins, development, and variation. The Foundation supports research that demonstrates a clear link to anthropological theory and debates, and promises to make a solid contribution to advancing these ideas. There is no preference for any methodology, research location, or subfield. The Foundation particularly welcomes proposals that employ a comparative perspective, can generate innovative approaches or ideas, and/or integrate two or more subfields.

Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowships are nonrenewable, and provide US $40,000 of financial support for twelve months of continuous full-time writing. Applicants requesting shorter time periods will receive a pro-rated award as appropriate (e.g., a six-month project would be awarded $20,000). It is Foundation policy that Institutional Overhead or Institutional Support is not covered under this fellowship. Applicants can apply regardless of institutional affiliation, country of residence, or nationality. Final decisions are made six months after the application deadline.

Applicants must submit their applications using the Foundation's online application submission procedure as well as send printed copies to the Foundation by regular mail.

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.
• 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.

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. If you have not heard from the Foundation by August 1, please contact the Foundation for information on the progress of your application.
  • Stage Two: Successful applications are sent to an external panel for academic review. All applicants will be notified regarding their applications by the end of October. Again, contact us if you have not received an e-mail notification by these dates.