Smithsonian Climate Change Fellowship and Smithsonian Environmental Justice Fellowship

Our planet faces unprecedented and interrelated crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and a global pandemic. Nationally, the United States is also confronting our complicated history and legacy of race and racism. As the largest museum, education, and research complex -- with 23 museums, numerous research centers, and the National Zoological Park -- the Smithsonian’s vast collections, exhibits, current and historical data sets, and in-house expertise provide a unique opportunity to inform interdisciplinary approaches and solutions to many of these challenges.

Through a new initiative, Our Shared Future: Life on a Sustainable Planet, the Smithsonian aims to advance solutions that fill us with optimism for our planet and all species that call our planet home. As part of this initiative, the Smithsonian is launching two new fellowship programs: Smithsonian Climate Change Fellowship and Smithsonian Environmental Justice Fellowship. Each program will support a cohort of 2-5 fellows for a period of two years. Fellows will receive a stipend to conduct independent research that utilizes Smithsonian resources (e.g., data, facilities, expertise). Fellows with research projects that have the potential to produce rapid results and impact are especially encouraged to apply.

Deadline: August 31, 2022.

Notification Date: Fall 2022.

Eligibility: Applicants for Postdoctoral Fellowships must have or will have received the Ph.D. by the time the fellowship begins. Applicants must propose to conduct research in-residence for a period of no less than 12 months and no more than 24 months. Preference given to applicants with start dates before March 1, 2023.

No employee or contractor of the Smithsonian Institution may hold a Smithsonian fellowship during the time of his/her employment or contract, nor may an award be offered to any person who has been employed by or under contract to the Institution in the previous year, without the prior approval of the Office of Academic Appointments and Internships.

Term: 24 months.

Stipend: Candidates will receive a stipend of $62,000 per year for Postdoctoral Fellows. Stipends are prorated for periods of less than 24 months. A maximum research allowance up to $5,000 is available.

Criteria for Selection: The application, consisting of the proposal, academic records, and two supporting letters, will be reviewed by members of the Smithsonian’s research staff. Applications are evaluated and fellows are selected, by scholars in appropriate fields, on the basis of the proposal’s merit, the applicant’s ability to carry out the proposed research and study, the likelihood that the research could be completed in the requested time, and the extent to which the Smithsonian, through its research staff members and resources, could contribute to the proposed research.