Kellogg Institute for International Studies Visiting Fellowships

Kellogg’s world-renowned Faculty Visiting Fellowships are awarded through a highly selective competition, offering junior and senior scholars time to pursue scholarly inquiry wherever it leads, advance personal research, and collaborate with leading scholars and practitioners from across the US and around the globe. Faculty visiting fellows pursue research related to Kellogg Institute theme of global democracy and share their research with the Notre Dame scholarly community.

Faculty Visiting Fellowships Include:

• A competitive stipend (commensurate with academic rank)
• Semester or academic year–long fellowships available
• Round trip travel expenses
• Medical insurance benefits

Who is Eligible?

We invite applications from assistant, associate, or full professors who conduct international research on themes related to global democracy. Applicants may come from any country. The most competitive applicants will hold a PhD or equivalent degree in a social science discipline. In exceptional cases, the Institute will consider applicants with a PhD in other disciplines.

Eligibility Considerations (for non-US citizens/residents)

The following should be considered when applying for a Kellogg Institute fellowship: 

• Advanced English language proficiency is required.
• Foreign nationals must have a valid passport and obtain a J-1 Visa.

Other Considerations

According to US immigration regulations, an individual who completes a period of stay of less than five years as a J-1 professor or research scholar and does not have another appointment immediately following the completion of said stay, cannot return to the US in the J-1 Professor or J-1 Research Scholar category until the individual has been outside the US for a minimum period of 24-months. This 24-month bar is different from the two-year home residency requirement some scholars are subject to.

For program information, please contact Lupe Ramírez, Senior Program Manager of Visiting Fellowships and Graduate Student Affairs at gramirez@nd.edu.

Expectations

Residency

Faculty visiting fellows are expected to be in residence during their tenure at Kellogg. Absences of more than a few days are discouraged and require the Director’s permission.

Presentation

Faculty visiting fellows are expected to give at least one presentation of their current research.

Participation

Our visitors are an important part of the scholarly community at the Institute. We expect fellows to attend and participate in the weekly seminar and lecture series and most Kellogg events.

Publication

We expect faculty visiting fellows to publish the results of research undertaken and/or completed during their stay. We ask that such publications contain an acknowledgment of Kellogg Institute support.

Fellowship Duration

Fellowships are offered for the academic year (August to May) or the fall (August to December) or spring semester (January to May).

Annual Visiting Fellow Competition

The application for the academic year opens on August 1, with the deadline of October 1.

Application Process

Kellogg Institute faculty visiting fellowship applications are submitted through our online system in Interfolio.

You will be asked to create an account and you will need to remember your login and password in order to save and return to your application until you are ready to submit.

A complete application will consist of the following documents uploaded through the online application system:

• Cover letter addressing your interest in the fellowship and specifying your preferred term of stay
• Curriculum vitae
• A research project statement (6–10 double-spaced pages)
• Project Abstract (150 words max)
• Short Bio (200-300 words)
• Three Confidential Letters of Recommendation - Letters must be received into the Interfolio system no later than October 7.
• Visiting Fellowship Application Form and Institutional Required Information Form (IRIF)

Competition for A/Y 2026-27: Application opens August 1, 2025  thru October 1, 2025

How Are Faculty Visiting Fellows Selected?

Fellowships are awarded on a competitive basis. A committee composed of Kellogg Institute Faculty Fellows evaluates the applications based on the following selection criteria:

• The individual's scholarly record and potential
• The problem being addressed and the interest and importance within and beyond the researcher’s field
• The study's relationship to the Global Democracy research theme of the Kellogg Institute
• The quality of the research design, including basic hypotheses, research methodology, and the kinds of data or evidence the researcher is considering
• The importance and originality of this project and its clarity to someone outside the applicant’s discipline
• The quantity and quality of work the researcher would be able to complete during his/her time at the Institute