Application deadline: Thursday, January 21st, 2016, 12:00 a.m. PST.

Stanford’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society invites applications for a one-year postdoctoral fellowship renewable for a second year contingent on performance. Applications are welcome from scholars across the humanities, social sciences, and social science related professional schools. We seek to appoint promising post-doctoral scholars who are actively engaged in research on topics related to our core scholarly mission, which is to develop and share knowledge to improve philanthropy, strengthen civil society, and effect social change. It is a broad mandate, encompassing scholars from across the university. Topics range from the ethics of humanitarian aid, debates over school financing and form, assessments of the efficacy of foundation efforts at field-building, organizational capacity for continuous innovation, studies of altruism, and the role of social movements in civic engagement, to name only a few.

Each fellow will be affiliated with the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society and potentially a department or school at Stanford University. The postdoctoral fellowship provides scholars with the opportunity to pursue original research related to philanthropy, social innovation, civic engagement and civil society (whether at the national or global level). For the 2016-17 year, the postdoctoral fellow will work primarily with Rob Reich, Professor of Political Science and faculty co-director of Stanford PACS and the Digital Civil Society Lab, while participating in Center activities, including an interdisciplinary workshop on philanthropy and civil society and some public events. There will be ample time for fellows to pursue their independent line of scholarship and to participate in workshops and activities outside of the Center, although it is also expected that they will collaborate with Stanford scholars and pursue research in tandem with their faculty sponsor.

The Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society is an affiliate of the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences (IRiSS). Since 2006, the Center has supported PhD students and undergraduates from across the university. The post-doctoral fellowship program, which began in 2010, is an effort to fund research from outside Stanford. The Center also sponsors a Junior Scholars Forum every June in which postdoctoral fellows participate.

The annual fellowship stipend is $55,000, plus the standard benefits that postdoctoral fellows at Stanford University receive, including health insurance and travel funds. The fellowship program falls under U.S. Immigration J-1 Exchange Visitor Visa activities. The start date of the fellowship will be September 2016, unless otherwise agreed.

How to apply

Application materials should be submitted to the Stanford University Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society via email to pacscenter@stanford.edu using the subject line “PACS Post-Doctoral Fellowship 2016” no later than January 21st, 2016 at 12:00 a.m. PST. Please include the following items and information in your application:

• Cover letter: detailing the reasons for the applicant’s interest in coming to Stanford;
• Curriculum Vitae;
• Fellowship proposal: detailing the research that the fellow would undertake while at Stanford (five page limit);
• Writing sample: consisting of either a dissertation chapter or a recent published paper. There are no specific page length or formatting requirements for this sample;
• Graduate Transcript: with proof that applicants have completed all the requirements for the PhD, or a letter from their PhD advisor stating when they will do so;
• Two Letters of Recommendation.

Please disclose if you have additional funding arrangements.

To assume a Post-Doctoral Fellowship, you must have a PhD in hand by July 1, 2016. We cannot consider applications from scholars who earned a PhD earlier than May 1, 2014.

Questions about the application process or requirements should be directed to Sam Spiewak, at pacscenter@stanford.edu.

Inquiries about the program can be directed either to Kim Meredith, Executive Director, or Faculty Co-Directors: Rob Reich or Walter Powell.