The Center for the Humanities at UC Merced invites applications for a summer 2025 graduate student fellowship with a stipend of $8,000 that will allow a UCM graduate student to work with a human rights organization, in partnership with UC Berkeley's Human Rights Center. The application is available here and further details on the fellowship can be found below. If you have questions about UC Merced's process, please contact humanities@ucmerced.edu. The application deadline is Nov. 27, 2024.
About
The Human Rights Center student fellowship is impact-oriented. Fellows' fieldwork may be, but is not limited to, research. Registered students at UC Berkeley and the Graduate Theological Union are eligible, with priority given to graduate and returning students. Prior recipients of Human Rights Center fellowships are not eligible. These awards will enable students to carry out clearly defined fieldwork, domestically or internationally, with organizations working on human rights issues related to a student’s area of interest. Applicants must plan to spend at least 8 weeks full-time or its equivalent part-time working with a partner organization to qualify for the fellowship. The purpose of the fellowship is to provide students with an opportunity to contribute to the organizations’ work while also gaining practical experience that may influence the students' areas of research, academic focus, or career trajectory. Partnerships with both non-governmental and governmental organizations are acceptable, so long as the affiliation enables the proposed human rights work. Multi-disciplinary approaches to human rights fieldwork are welcomed.
The fellowships are student-initiated. Applicants must identify the organizations they will work with, the social justice or human rights issue to be addressed, and the parameters, objectives, goals, and expected outcomes of their proposed fieldwork. Applicants can look at the "Current Fellows" and "Fellowship Alumni" pages to see partner organizations previous fellows have worked with. Fundamental changes to accepted proposals (e.g., different human rights topic, new partner organization, alternate location) are not permitted. On some occasions, human rights organizations interested in hosting fellows do contact the Center for the Humanities. Fellowship Coordinator Christina Lux may be able to refer applicants to appropriate organizations on request and can be reached at clux@ucmerced.edu. All fieldwork, including more independent projects, must include a partner organization. If your fieldwork is relatively independent, consider doing a web search/literature review on what similar work has been done previously to avoid replicating existing research or doubling existing projects.
Human Rights Fellowship benefits and expectations:
- Receive an $8,375 stipend to support their work
- Attend several virtual meetings in preparation for fieldwork
- Attend an orientation at UC Berkeley to prepare for summer fieldwork
- Meet regularly with my panel group to discuss, reflect, and collaborate on final presentation
- Submit an informal mid-term report from the field (July/August)
- Attend an informal gathering upon return from the fellowship (in September)
- Present on a Fellowship panel at the Fellowship Conference (in October)
- Complete all assignments and participate fully and in person in all fellowship events
- Membership in a lifelong alumni community
FAQs can be found online at humanrights.berkeley.edu/students/fellowship.
Note on Research Involving Human Subjects
Per the IRB office at UC Merced: "All human-subject research, and all other activities that in part involve human-subject research, regardless of sponsorship/funding, must be reviewed and approved by the UC Merced IRB before initiation. This includes all interventions and interactions with human subjects for research, including advertising, recruitment and/or screening of potential subjects. Additionally, use of state death data records must be reviewed and approved by the UC Merced IRB before initiation."
Not all fellowship work is considered research as the university defines it. If you intend to use the fellowship to conduct research that may meet that definition involving human subjects (for example, that you will include in your thesis or dissertation, present on at certain conferences, or publish on in an academic journal), you may need to consult with our campus's IRB office for approval. For more information, please speak with your faculty advisor. IRB review can be a very lengthy process. We encourage applicants to start the process as soon as possible.
