Research Associate 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.
Our longstanding Research Associate Program invites participants to spend a semester or year in residence at the FCWSRC, advancing major feminist research and writing projects. Each Research Associate is provided with a private office at the FCWSRC, access to libraries and special collections across the consortium, and opportunities to engage in the intellectual life of the Research Associate cohort and the broader Five College community. Designed for faculty on sabbatical, PhD candidates completing dissertations, and independent writers and scholars with external funding and fellowships, the Research Associate Program cultivates critical feminist discourse that transcends disciplinary lines, professional stages, and writerly traditions.
2026-27 Research Associate Program
The Five College Women’s Studies Research Center (FCWSRC) invites applications for our 2026-2027 Research Associate Program. Currently in its thirty-fifth year, this initiative provides feminist writers and researchers with dedicated time, space, and intellectual community in which to develop major projects. Interested participants are welcome to apply for the Fall 2026 semester, the Spring 2027 semester, or the 2026-2027 academic year.
This is an ideal opportunity for Five College faculty wishing to stay local on an upcoming sabbatical, UMass PhD students completing dissertations, and writers and researchers who wish to spend a semester or year in Western Massachusetts.
Research Associate Testimonies
"The Center has been a perfect environment for me to read and reflect and revisit my relationship to the written word, a place to develop new ideas and revisit existing ones through exchange with other Research Associates and members of the community. Particularly the engagement with others who have a completely different area of expertise and focus has helped me sharpen my own thoughts. The engagement with others at different moments in their career has helped me reflect where I stand and where I want to be. Other standouts from my time: having meaningful side conversations over a cup of coffee or lunch in the communal space; knowing that someone is there when you get to campus; stepping outside my office, picking an apple from the tree and sitting down to enjoy the beautiful view from Hampshire campus into the hills; going for a walk in the Hampshire woods with a colleague after lunch, enjoying the fresh air and the conversation; enjoying thoughts, recommendations for books and recipes for yummy food with the other Associates; being able to enjoy everything the Five College libraries have to offer, including enjoying the support of the extremely helpful and friendly staff in the Hampshire library; enjoying the community, picking healthy veggies and garden flowers at the Hampshire Farm through a membership in their CSA has been a highlight of my week; and getting to know and enjoying the differences in focus, 'style and culture,' student body and campus environment between the Five Colleges."
— Silke Steinhilber, Independent Consultant, based in Germany (2022-23 Research Associate)
"I particularly enjoy our Wednesday cohort meetings when we review each other’s works-in-progress and provide constructive feedback, or just allow the meeting to breath and take on a life of its own, ideas bursting from all angles. Through these interactions, I have found myself examining and re-examining my own approach to engaging feminist thinking in my life both inside and outside of the classroom and as I continue to explore ways to incorporate feminist theory in my scientific and creative work. Besides the much-appreciated mental stimulation from my colleagues and administrators at the Center, the physical space provided by the Center is another wonderful perk of this fellowship that I am always raving about to whoever would listen! Lack of access to physical space or a conducive work space can easily become a barrier to creative writing, so as someone hoping to write some poetry this year, I do not take for granted my large office with tall book shelves and extra storage space that suits my current busy schedule juggling TA work with the fellowship and my dissertation work. It’s been a great experience so far and I feel honored to have been considered for the Associateship during what I hope would be my last year of grad school."
— Ruthfirst Ayande, Doctoral Candidate, UMass Amherst (2022-23 Research Associate)
"I have found the ideal community for finishing my dissertation and for engaging in feminist praxis. In our weekly meetings at beautiful Hampshire College—where you’ll connect with nature and hear the birds sing as soon as you get out of your car or the bus—I have received the most thoughtful comments on my writing while feeling nourished and supported not only through my peers' voices and hugs when needed, but also with hot coffee and seasonal snacks. Discussing the complexities of our present while indulging in the best cider doughnuts in the country has made this space a home. In our monthly lunches, I have had the opportunity to meet with feminist scholars, artists and activists from the area; it is really a productive and generous transgenerational space in which I have asked more senior and experienced scholars awkward questions about academia and life in general that I would not ask elsewhere."
— Ever Esther Osorio Ruiz, Doctoral Candidate, Yale University (2022-23 and 2023-24 Research Associate)
Frequently Asked Questions
Research Associates fund their terms in a variety of ways. These include institutional sabbatical funding for professors, dissertation grants for graduate students, and foundation and government grants (such as Mellon, Fulbright, European Commission, etc.) as well as artistic/cultural production grants, research fellowships, and seed grants.
If you are applying to a grant with a funding cycle that does not align with our application timeline, we encourage you to apply to the FCWSRC before you apply for the grant, even if this means applying to the FCWSRC a year in advance of submitting your grant application. In the event you are accepted to the Research Associate Program, we will then be able to furnish you with documentation for your grant application that we have invited you to the FCWSRC (we frequently do this for Fulbright applicants to serve as a formal affiliate). We will also work with you to defer you Associateship so that is corresponds with any funding you expect to receive.
For Research Associates not local to the Pioneer Valley, the FCWSRC provides guidance in securing housing for the semester or academic year. Our pre-orientation packet includes extensive information about reliable rental agencies, realtors, and housing forums. We also share a regularly-maintained “Housing Notices and Leads” document with incoming Research Associates that compiles rental opportunities from Five College faculty, staff, graduate students and community members. Past Research Associates have found housing in the towns of Amherst, South Hadley, Northampton, and Holyoke.
Additionally, those traveling with dependents will be provided with information on public school enrollment (ages 5 through 17) and childcare.
The Five College area is home to a number of art museums, galleries, and notable special collections. We invite you to explore the resources page on our website to learn more about the gems unique to the Consortium and the surrounding area.
Applications are evaluated based on their alignment with the FCWSRC’s mission to advance cutting edge feminist research and writing. We consider the rigour of the research proposal and the applicant’s approach to the work, including potential for collaboration and intellectual exchange that transcends scholarly disciplines and writerly forms. We welcome projects that engage the Five Colleges and draw on area resources, such as archives and special collections, though projects are not required to do so. All applications are reviewed by the FCWSRC Steering Committee, which is composed of faculty representatives from each Five College campus.
The FCWSRC typically hosts seven Research Associates per academic semester. Some Associates come for one semester only (fall or spring) while others come for a full academic year (both the fall and spring semesters). The total size of each annual cohort varies, in accordance with the combination of semester and full-year Associates who join us.
The Research Associate program is open to feminist researchers and writers at every career stage. We regularly host graduate students completing dissertations and professors on sabbaticals as well as independent scholars, creative writers, and activists. All applicants have a core writing project that they undertake during their time at the center.
We welcome applicants who primarily identify as academics, creative writers and artists, and activists, as well as applicants whose engagements intersect these areas of feminist work.
We welcome applicants of any gender! We also welcome applicants with wide-ranging disciplinary affiliations. Most Research Associates are either scholars of the humanities or social sciences or have practices as creative writers, including fiction writers, poets, and playwrights. All Research Associates have projects that engage critical questions about gender, sexuality, and/or feminism. We invite you to explore this page on our website to learn about past Research Associates and the broad range of projects they worked on at the Center.
Early stage PhD students are most welcome at FCWSRC events! However, we accept Research Associate applications only from ABD students currently completing their dissertations (or nearly-ABD students who expect to be writing their dissertations during the Associateship period).
We welcome inquiries from feminist researchers and writers who wish to join us for periods of under three months. These visits are often ideal for scholars traveling to the area to explore archives and special collections or who are guests of academic units in the Five Colleges. Rather than applying to our Research Associate program, please complete our short term visit inquiry form.
We want the Research Associateship and cohort community to be a generative and engaged space in which needs are being met and work-lives feel balanced. The most important thing is likely taking note of the weekly programming schedule as class schedules, work schedules, and care arrangements are being preliminarily settled for the fall. We keep most programming to Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, with the vast majority of Research Associate programming concentrated on Mondays and Thursdays.
The Research Associate Program is best suited for when you have dedicated time to devote to scholarship or creative work. Those teaching full time or holding full time positions are encouraged to apply to the Research Associate Program when they have a course release available, are on sabbatical, or have positions in which they are able to organize time to be present and participate fully as a member of the Research Associate cohort. There are a number of opportunities to become involved in the FCWSRC outside of the Research Associate Program. We encourage those looking to become involved to look into our hybrid Feminist Writing Community, complete our Work-in-Progress Interest Form, make use of our flex office for a change of scenery, and explore possibilities of a short-term visit to the FCWSRC and Five College area.
Past Research Associates
Over the course of the Research Associate Program's existence, the FCWSRC has hosted over 450 scholars from more than 44 countries and 36 states across the United States. Learn more about alums of the program and the projects they undertook at the FCWSRC here.