Research Associates Program
Each year, the Center hosts a cohort of local and international scholars and activists for three to eight months, providing office space, access to Five College resources, and cultivating a community in which feminist work can flourish.
The application deadline for the 2023-24 Research Associates program has now passed. For those considering applying in the future, we encourage you to review the sections below, as well as our latest call for applications and information session slides.
The Center supports feminist scholars who are submitting applications for funding to support short- and longer-term residencies, the deadlines for which may not always align well with our priority deadline. Out-of-cycle applications and requests for letters of institutional support are reviewed on an ongoing basis during the academic year. Unfortunately, we cannot review materials from May to September. The same materials as listed below will be required. We advise contacting the Center for further information.
2023-24 Call for Applications
Founded in 1991, the Five College Women’s Studies Research Center (FCWSRC) is a vibrant site of local, national, and international engaged, intersectional feminist scholarship, cultural production, and activism from diverse perspectives. The Center has a rich history of supporting transnational work and recognizing the diverse pathways and plurality of forms that feminist creative and academic scholarship can take. Located on the campus of Hampshire College, the Center is supported by the Five College Consortium, which includes Hampshire College as well as Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Since 1966, the five institutions have been recognized for their cooperation and innovation in higher education. The Consortium boasts one of the largest concentrations of feminist scholars anywhere in the world. The Center has hosted over 450 semester and year-long visiting scholars as part of its Research Associates Program and welcomed many other guest speakers to the Five Colleges.
The Center is committed to supporting engaged, intersectional feminist scholarship and values diversity in terms of background, experience, geography, discipline, perspective, and practice. To that end, activists, practitioners, artists, and independent and affiliated scholars (including graduate students in the later stages of their degree) are encouraged to apply. Applicants’ work should be situated within and informed by the expansive fields of women’s and gender studies, feminist studies, or queer and trans studies. We welcome projects engaging with specialist and emerging areas of inquiry, as well as community-based or creative forms of knowledge production and circulation. Associateships are best suited to scholars who will benefit from pursuing their projects at the work-home of the Center. Local (to the Five College area), non-local U.S.-based, and international applicants are invited to apply.
Click through the below links to learn more about:
Applicants must complete an online application, which involves making an account with Interfolio. Be prepared to provide the following information via the online form:
- Name and contact information
- Current position/title and institution/organization (or indicate unaffiliated/independent status), as well as office contact information, if applicable
- Desired time of residency (Fall 2023 semester, spring 2024 semester, or full academic year)
- Title of the project
- Project abstract (under 150 words)
- Key terms
- A brief bio (under 150 words)
- An explanation of sources of funding (grants, fellowships, self, etc) and whether funding is confirmed or applications are in-progress
- If you are an alum of the Center, please provide us with the year/semester of your Associateship, as well as your institutional affiliation at the time (if applicable)
- For scholars whose research involves collection of data from human subjects (via oral histories, interviews, questions, surveys, etc), please indicate whether the project has been approved by an appropriate ethics committee
- Contact information for two professional references (references may be contacted following an initial review of applications, so there is no need for the applicant to refer references to Interfolio)
- For international applicants who would require J-1 visa sponsorship:
- Country of citizenship
- how the English proficiency requirement for a U.S. visa will be met (documentation from an English language
institution or degree program, TOEFL score, or anticipated interview with Center Director)
- Any additional information the Selection Committee should know.
Applicants will also be asked to upload two PDF documents: 1) a curriculum vitae and 2) a project proposal of up to three pages in length, single spaced. The project proposal should describe:
- the project in detail, including methodologies employed and a breakdown of the work that the applicant plans to undertake at the Center;
- the project’s contribution to and significance in the fields of Women's and Gender Studies, Feminist Studies, and/or Queer and Trans Studies;
- how undertaking the project while in residence at the Center would benefit your project and broader scholarship. Applicants might consider engagement with museum/archival resources, interactions with specific local networks of Five College scholars and collaborators, having dedicated space, time, and community, etc.
- how you envision contributing to the feminist communities of the Center and across the broader Five College campuses. The Center is interested in cultivating a thriving network of feminist thinkers across generation, rank, institutional affiliation, field, and background, in both formal and informal capacities. Applicants may consider writing about potential intellectual contributions (ideas for workshops, reading groups, presentations, etc), informal contributions, or speak more broadly to their vision of feminist community.