The public scholarship program is a remote fellowship that introduces political science graduate students to the intellectual and practical aspects of presenting academic scholarship to the public.
During the fellowship period, fellows will focus on producing public-facing summaries of articles from The American Political Science Review. This will involve communicating with APSR editors and authors under the supervision of APSA staff. Fellows will also produce previews and recaps of Annual Meeting events such as author-meets-critics panels. Fellows will be invited to prepare a public-facing post on their own research interests. All of this work will be shared via APSA’s newly redesigned blog, politicalsciencenow.com, as well as on APSA social media accounts.
The Public Scholarship Program was created in collaboration with the APSA Presidential Task Force for New Partnerships, and thanks to generous support from the Ivywood Foundation.
The Fellowship:
Timing: Fellows will participate in a 6-month fellowship beginning in the early Spring of 2019 with a two-day public scholarship workshop at APSA headquarters in Washington, DC
Support: Fellows will receive a $1,000 stipend to support their work, as well as complementary travel, food, and lodging for the Spring workshop and 2019 APSA Meeting, and access to the ACES Certificate in Editing Course.
Training: In advance of the workshop, fellows will complete the American Copy Editors Society Certificate in Editing Course (online).
The Spring Public Scholarship workshop will feature training by APSA staff, as well as presentations from experts in political science and public scholarship.
Eligibility
We welcome doctoral students in political science who have completed their first year of graduate work by September 2018 (e.g. second year students and beyond). Among the criteria for selection are applicant’s interests and investment in public scholarship, as well as ability to write for a general audience. Anyone with interest in public scholarship is encouraged to apply, whether or not that interest is explicit in their existing work.
Application
Proposals are due by 11:59PM on Sunday, February 3rd, 2019. Please contact Amanda Grigg at agrigg@apsanet.org with any questions.
Application materials (should all be included in one document):
- CV: 2 pages maximum. Applicants who have published work in popular magazines, newspapers, or blogs are welcome to list those citations in addition to any scholarly publications.
- Statement of Interest: 1 page single-spaced maximum, 12 point font. Very briefly describe your research interests, and focus the majority of your statement on describing your interests, goals, and experience (if applicable) in public scholarship in political science.
- Academic Translation Writing Sample: 1000 word maximum, 12 point font. Select an article from a 2018 issue of the American Political Science Review and write a summary of the article that would be accessible and engaging to a member of the general public (someone without an advanced degree in political science). You may need to leave some details of the article out for space, and you may choose to highlight others in consideration of your public audience.