Doctoral Fellows Program

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Doctoral Fellows Program

The Doctoral Fellows Program is designed to provide the highest research and teaching qualifications to individuals from Georgia and Kyrgyzstan who are positioned to become leading scholars in select fields of the social sciences and humanities.

The awards will support flexible doctoral programs that enable Fellows to study and conduct research both abroad and at home, thereby maintaining professional engagement with their home institutions while completing the degree. 

Eligibility

The program does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, or disability.  The competition is merit-based and open to those meeting the following criteria:

• Citizens of and resident in Georgia or Kyrgyzstan;
• Excellent academic record and an advanced degree (minimum: Master’s) at time of application deadline;
• Excellent spoken and written English;
• Experience as university faculty position member with teaching responsibilities within Georgia or Kyrgyzstan (strong priority given to those currently teaching);
• Proven professional scholarly aptitude and leadership potential in academia;
• Ability to attend the Program’s pre-academic summer school beginning in July;
• Commitment to continuing academic career in home country and sincere motivation to aid ongoing reform processes in higher education.

Given the unique structure of the awards, with limited time for coursework and independent supervision upon returning home, applicants must demonstrate:

• sufficient academic background to complete required PhD coursework within two years;
• research interests directly applicable to the home country/region and a dissertation topic that clearly relies on data collection or field work there;
• a strong ability to continue studies independently while  maintaining substantive long-distance communication with the doctoral advisor after successful coursework completion;
• ability to maintain ties to home university while abroad and the expectation/desire to reintegrate into academia upon return home.

Guidelines

Fellowships for a following a flexible Doctoral structure will be offered in the following fields only: social work, public health, education, and psychology. 

Although the flexibility of the program encourages an individualized approach, a typical trajectory would be:

• Years 1 and 2:  Full-time study at the host university to complete required doctoral coursework. By end of first year, Fellow and advisor agree to detailed work plan, with timeline listing tasks to be completed at host university and in home country.
• Year 3:  Fellow returns home to collect data and begin analysis, resumes academic post (or secures new position) at home institution and receives modest stipend and other allowances from program to encourage focus on research and writing, contingent upon progress toward degree.   Fellow maintains regular contact with doctoral advisor.
• Years 4-5:  Fellow continues at home to follow work plan elaborated with advisor in Year 1.  Fellow able to return to host department for intensive consultation with advisor and committee under following parameters:  program will cover cost of two return trips, with stipend support not exceeding six months for both visits combined.

 Awards will provide:

• Full-time, in-residence support (tuition and stipend) for the initial two academic years for completing PhD coursework;
• Subsequent partial support for up to three years in home country while completing field work/data collection and dissertation;
• Up to 6 months’ stipend support after coursework for return visits to host university;
• Annual allowances for academic materials & professional development for duration of program;
• Air travel to and from host university (up to 3 trips);
• Accident and sickness insurance while at host university;
• Pre-academic training in academic writing & research methods;
• Participation in annual fellows’ conference while at host university.

The Fellowship does NOT provide:

• Funding or support for dependent family members (stipends are designed to support a single person only); 
• Funding for non-fellowship travel expenses;
• Summer stipends for activities unrelated to doctoral completion;

Selection

Competition for the Doctoral Fellows Program is open and merit-based, and relies heavily on host university admissions criteria.  Final placement in a North American doctoral program is not guaranteed, and depends on matching finalists to appropriate departments and universities that will accept their credentials for admission and endorse the flexible design of the program. 

All initial selection is performed at OSI-New York by selection committee, who assess the suitability of the candidate to the aims and eligibility criteria of the program.

Semi-Finalist Selection: A committee (including Open Society Foundations staff and host university officials) reviews eligible applications and recommends which applicants to approve for the next stage of review.  Semi-finalists may be required to take the official TOEFL and GRE, depending on their background and on requirements of host universities.

Interviews & Finalist Selection:  Semi-finalists are interviewed in their home countries by a committee with qualifications as described above.  This committee chooses finalists based on previous assessments of the written application, the candidates’ performance during the interview, and standardized test results, where applicable.  Finalists continue on to the departmental placement stage.

Finalist Placement:  Finalist placement is a collaborative process involving Scholarship Programs’ and host university faculty and staff.  Finalists are normally not permitted to select their own placements. The Open Society Foundations formally notify finalists of awards only after placements have been secured.

Deadline

January 23, 2012

To Apply

Application and Recommendation Forms can be downloaded below, or are available, in hard copy, from your local scholarship coordinators.

Two versions of the forms are below.  The PDF version contains both the Application and Recommendation Forms.  Alternatively, for those wishing to complete the Application and Recommendation Forms electronically, editable application and recommendation forms are also available below as separate Word files.

Completed application forms, along with the supporting materials, essays, and recommendations forms should be submitted to your local scholarship coordinators by the deadline listed above.

Contact 

For questions about the structure of the Program, please contact your local scholarship coordinator or Zoë Brogden, Program Coordinator, at the following address:

Ms. Zoë Brogden
Open Society Scholarship Program
1700 Broadway, 17th Floor
New York, NY 10019
USA
Email: zbrogden@sorosny.org
Tel: +1-212-548-0390