USC Berggruen Fellowship 2021-2022

USC Berggruen Fellowship 2021-22
Call for Applications

The Berggruen Institute seeks to encourage a deeper understanding of the great political, economic, social, and cultural transformations that are reshaping the human condition, in order to better inform practical responses. It organizes and supports inquiries that bring multicultural and interdisciplinary knowledge to questions of governance, of philosophy and culture, and of global restructuring including especially the role of China.

To this end, USC Dornsife Center on Science, Technology and Public Life (STPL) and the Berggruen Institute (BI) will sponsor up to ten (10) fellowships at the University of Southern California for the academic year 2021-22.

The selected Berggruen USC Fellows will work on projects under the Institute’s programmatic areas to study the Great Transformations: Future of Capitalism, Globalization and Geopolitics, Transformations of the Human, and the Future of Democracy. For a full description, see the STPL website: https://dornsife.usc.edu/stpl/usc-berggruen-apply/

USC Berggruen Fellows can be either academics or unattached intellectuals (for whom the Berggruen Fellowship may serve as a retreat from work in industry, government, or the arts) but above all must be committed to intellectual work of the highest quality. Applicants should have a terminal degree or commensurate research expertise in the appropriate field of study.

In addition to well-qualified individuals with independent projects, we also seek teams of scholars eager to come to the Berggruen Institute to work together on a shared project or theme. We are especially eager to support teams that include diverse or unusual institutional, professional, disciplinary and national backgrounds. Those applying as a team should each apply individually and indicate that they would like to have their application considered in conjunction with the other scholars on their team.

The term of the fellowship is flexible, from three months to up to two years. Stipend is commensurate with qualifications. For a full-year fellowship, Fellows with academic appointments will receive a stipend based on half of their annual academic year salary, up to $75,000 with the expectation that their home institution will make up the remainder. Fellows without sabbatical half-salary or a similar particle remuneration package can be paid up to $90,000 or more, depending on position and seniority. Fellows will be provided with $3,000 in research funds. Fellows from outside the Los Angeles area will be offered housing assistance and relocation subsidy.

To Apply

In order to apply to become a USC Berggruen Fellow, please fill out and upload your materials to the application form via the STPL website: https://dornsife.usc.edu/stpl/usc-berggruen-apply/

Full curriculum vitae

Two reference letters
At least one letter should be from an expert in your area of interest.

Writing sample
Please provide one short writing sample, such as an article, essay, or book chapter.

Project Statement
Your project statement, up to 750 words, should answer two questions:
Question #1:  How do you propose to contribute to one of the Projects listed above?

Concisely describe the work you plan to do during your fellowship years:

• Explain the intellectual agenda of your proposal and the ways it can contribute to the Project of your choice?
• Address the public dimensions: How will your contribution “make a difference”? How would you propose to raise public awareness of the Project?

Question #2:  What is your most important work to date?
Identify your most important book, book chapter, or article and explain why it was important—how it corrected a misconception in the literature, how it advanced thinking in some important way, and/or how it filled in an important gap in knowledge.

The application deadline is January 8, 2021. Awardees will receive notification of their fellowships by April 1, 2021.

Questions about the logistics of applying should be addressed to Emily R. Anderson at stpl@usc.edu. For other questions pertaining to the details of the Berggruen Institute’s work, please contact Jennifer Bourne at jb@berggruen.org.

USC is an equal-opportunity educator and employer, proudly pluralistic and firmly committed to providing equal opportunity for outstanding persons of every race, gender, creed and background. The University particularly encourages women, members of underrepresented groups, veterans and individuals with disabilities to apply. USC will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with known disabilities unless doing so would result in an undue hardship. Further information is available by contacting uschr@usc.edu.