Fellowships
The Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy is delighted to invite applications for the Fall 2023 Clough Visiting Fellowship. The AY 2023-24 application cycle for Boston College students is now closed.
The Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy is delighted to invite applications for the 2023-2024 Fellowship year. Applications are open to Boston College students for two Fellowship programs: 1) Clough Doctoral Fellowships and 2) Clough Research and Public Service Fellowships. Applications are also open to undergraduate and graduate students for 3) Clough Correspondent positions, which are available for Summer 2023, Fall 2023, and/or both.
Please note: All applicants, especially those pursuing Fellowship programs, are strongly encouraged to address the Clough Center’s annual theme in their application materials. The Center’s annual theme for 2023-24 is “Attachment to Place in a World of Nation States.” For more information on the annual theme, click here.
The Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy invites applications from scholars whose research and writing relate to the theme of “Attachment to Place in a World of Nation States,” for appointment as a Clough Visiting Fellow. During a semester-long appointment in Fall 2023, the Visiting Fellow will support the center’s programming while advancing their own research agenda.
Fellowship Description
The Clough Visiting Fellow program brings an early or mid-career scholar whose research interests align with the Center’s annual theme to Boston College. The Visiting Fellow will be a regular participant in the Center’s own vibrant intellectual community, working alongside our undergraduate and graduate Fellows and faculty affiliates. In particular, the Fellow will contribute to the planning and facilitation of the Center’s major event of the year, a spring symposium (March 14-15, 2024) related to our annual theme.
The Fellowship appointment is for the fall semester, roughly August 15, 2023 - January 15, 2024 and returning to Boston College for the March symposium. The Fellow is expected to be in residence at Boston College. The Fellowship grants a stipend of $5,000 per month for five months, intended to cover the cost of living, including housing and medical insurance; a small additional fund is set aside to support roundtrip travel to BC. The Fellow will have access to all of the facilities and resources of Boston College. They will also be provided with a shared office space at the Clough Center, to conduct their research and meet with students.
During their appointment, the Visiting Fellow will be expected to attend and contribute to the Center’s seminars and events. In addition to their role in planning the annual Symposium, they may also assist with the Center’s annual journal, which publishes original student and faculty research related to the annual theme (see our inaugural 2023 issue here).
Eligibility & Qualifications:
The Fellowship is open to US and international applicants with a PhD in the humanities or social sciences. These include, but are not limited to, anthropology, area studies, art, cultural studies, economics, geography and cartography, history, international relations, language and literature, law, philosophy, political science, religious studies, sociology, and theology. English proficiency is required.
Application Process:
Interested candidates for the Clough Visiting Fellowship may submit their application to clough.center@bc.edu, addressed to Prof. Jonathan Laurence, Director of the Clough Center. Applications should be organized in a single PDF and must include:
- A cover letter indicating interest and qualifications the position, and specifying how the candidate’s work relates to the Center’s annual theme
- A brief statement of research plans (3-5pp)
- A current curriculum vitae
- Names and email addresses of two persons who can provide confidentialletters of recommendation; and
- One writing sample (article- or chapter-length).
Inquiries concerning the position may be directed to Nicholas Hayes-Mota (hayesnd@bc.edu), the Center’s Assistant Director. To receive full consideration, all applications must be received by June 1, 2023.
The Clough Center will provide grants ranging from $1,500–$4,000 to Boston College undergraduate, graduate, and Law students engaged in research or public service that aligns with the Center’s mission to study and advance constitutional democracy. For Academic Year 2023-24, the Center is also specifically interested in applicants whose work touches on issues related to attachment to place, space, or territory, described further on the annual theme page. Grants may be sought to support both summer research and internships, and/or research or public service projects undertaken during the academic year.
All Clough Research and Public Service Fellows will be required to attend monthly Clough meetings and events. Interested students may apply to be either Research Fellows or Public Service Fellows, but not both. Students applying to this Fellowship may not apply to the Doctoral Fellowship. Students unsure of whether their proposed research or public service falls within the Center’s field of interest are encouraged to inquire.
The Clough Center invites applications from Boston College doctoral students with research interests pertaining to the past, present or future of constitutional democracies worldwide to participate in the Clough Center Doctoral Fellowship Program for the 2023-24 academic year.
The Center seeks to appoint Fellows from among graduate students in the Social Sciences (Economics, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology) and the Humanities (Classical Studies, English, History, Philosophy, Theology), as well as the other professional schools at Boston College. Fellows’ areas of research may include, but are not limited to, state/society relations; the relationship between political economy and democracy; practices and institutions of self-government; democratic norms and values; and the role of the media, arts, humanities, and/or religious traditions in democratic societies. For Academic Year 2023-24, the Center is also specifically interested in applicants whose work touches on issues related to attachment to place, space, or territory, described further on the annual theme page. Graduate students engaged in all stages of research are welcome to apply.
For the 2023-2024 academic year, the Doctoral Fellowship will include both incoming doctoral students and current Boston College graduate students. Clough Doctoral Fellows will attend a weekly seminar and contribute to the annual journal and spring symposium. Like all Fellows, they will be required to attend official Clough events, which is a condition of the Fellowship. Clough Doctoral Fellows will receive a stipend of $6,000 in three installments, beginning September 2023.
$6000
Deadline: Friday, March 3, 2023
Required Documents for Clough Doctoral Fellows:
- A cover letter briefly laying out your research interests and how they align with the Clough Center's mission and/or annual theme. Previously serving Fellows should indicate how their participation has benefitted their scholarship (no more than 1 single-spaced page, or 2 double-spaced pages).
- An updated CV or resume
- Graduate and undergraduate university transcripts (unofficial transcripts are acceptable)
- A more detailed description of your research agenda and interests (i.e. a research statement), including as much as is known about the dissertation project (no more than 5 double-spaced pages).
- One letter of recommendation, preferably from your principal academic advisor. Send to clough.center@bc.edu.
- Writing sample of academic work (no more than 30 pages)
- A short statement describing how your current research interests relate to the annual theme or proposing a new research question, related to the annual theme, that you would like to pursue during the fellowship
All documents must be submitted in PDF format and include name & document description in their title (ex: Noel Gilmour Personal Statement)
Clough Correspondents are paid research fellows who report on events and publications about democratic politics and societies for the Center’s website and newsletter. They will also conduct research, and provide administrative support, for the center’s projects and programming. Fellows are paid $15/hour and may apply for either Summer 2023 (up to 40 hours/week) or Fall 2023 (up to 20 hours/week). Summer Correspondents may be renewed for the Fall semester, and Fall Correspondents may be renewed for the Spring.
$15/hr to $20/hr
Deadline: Friday, March 3, 2023
Required Documents for Clough Correspondents:
- A cover letter describing the reasons for your interest in the position and how your interests align with the Clough Center's mission and/or annual theme.
- Please also discuss any relevant experience with writing, graphics, layout or web design and indicate whether you are available for 10, 20, 30 or 40 hours/week (summer only) (no more than 1 single-spaced page, or 2 double-spaced pages).
- An updated CV or resume
- University transcript (unofficial transcripts are acceptable)
- One academic letter of recommendation and the name and contact details of another faculty member familiar with your academic work and goals. Send to clough.center@bc.edu.
- Writing sample of academic work (no more than 20 pages)
Annual Theme: Attachment to Place in a World of Nation-States
The Clough Center will be dedicating its 2023-24 program year to the theme of “Attachment to Place in a World of Nation States.”
Though some have claimed globalization spells the death of the nation-state system, today’s political geography is still overwhelmingly structured by the nation-state as a basic unit of governance, law, economy, and culture. Nevertheless, both our increasingly interconnected global society, and the nation-state system itself, are also crisscrossed by other ways of organizing space, other logics of “place.” In fact, this has always been the case. Since the advent of modernity, people have persistently defined their personal and collective identities in relation to particular sites, territories, and “social imaginaries” that resist incorporation into the dominant world order of nation-states. These places may be sites of particular cultural, political, psychological, and/or religious significance, such as shrines, sacred civic spaces, and holy cities. Equally, they may be sites of alternative authority, whose claims to allegiance compete with those of “the state” and “global society” Often enough, they are both.
What role do such places play within a world of nation-states? What role should they play? How do the logics of globalization, on the one hand, and the nation-state system, on the other, interact with the various forms of attachment to place that persists in our world? And which kinds of attachment to place are most significant, most valuable, and/or most destabilizing to democratic societies? ” For the 2023-24 academic year, the Clough Center will be exploring these and other questions by dedicating our annual programming to the theme of “Attachment to Place in a World of Nation States.” We hope you will join us for what promises to be a rich, vivacious, and contentious public conversation.