Smithsonian Climate Change Postdoctoral Fellowship

_NOTE: Due to unexpected delays in the current 2024-2025 cycle, our regular planning timeline has shifted. The 2025-2026 cycle will likely open later than usual_

Our Shared Future: Life on a Sustainable Planet initiative

As part of this initiative, the Smithsonian is launching three new in-residence fellowship programs: the Smithsonian Climate Change Postdoctoral Fellowship, Smithsonian Environmental Justice Fellowship, and the Resilience and Sustainability Science Postdoctoral Fellowship. Each program will support a cohort of 2-5 fellows for a period of two years. Fellows will receive a stipend to conduct independent research that utilizes Smithsonian resources (e.g., data, facilities, expertise). Fellows are especially encouraged to apply if they have research projects that have the potential to produce rapid results and impact.

Smithsonian Climate Change Postdoctoral Fellowship

Climate change is dramatically and profoundly altering our planet, and for decades, Smithsonian researchers have been conducting studies and collecting data to understand these changes. The Smithsonian hosts one of the largest natural history collections in the world, and through its 21 museums and science and cultural research centers, the Institution conducts multidisciplinary research on climate change with partners and collaborators in over 140 countries.

Through the Smithsonian Climate Change Postdoctoral Fellowship, the Smithsonian seeks to support five fellows as they conduct independent research in the spirit of the Smithsonian’s wide-ranging research effort and in support of the Smithsonian’s goals to understand and inform solutions to climate change. These fellows will be able to leverage the Smithsonian’s resources, including its researchers, collections, exhibits, and data sets, to advance scientific understanding of climate change and the impacts it is having on nature and human well-being.

Fellows will be hosted by a Smithsonian Museum or research center. Fellows must identify an advisor from one of the identified units and we encourage applicants to identify a second advisor from another Smithsonian Museum or research center to foster cross-institutional collaboration. All proposals are welcome, but the following focus areas have been suggested by Smithsonian scholars who are poised to serve as advisors.

• Term: 24 months (in residence)
• Eligible Locations: The use of SI collections, data, labs, and resources is a central component of this fellowship. The research location should align with the scope of one of the research projects, and fellows are expected to spend a significant amount of time in residency.
• Stipend: Recipients will receive a stipend of $62,000 per year for Postdoctoral Fellows. Stipends are prorated for periods of less than 24 months. A maximum research allowance up to $10,000 is available for the fellowship period.

Information about potential research themes can be found here.

Eligibility

_You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website._

• Applicants for Postdoctoral Fellowships must have or will have received the Ph.D. by the time the fellowship begins.
• Applicants must propose to conduct research in residence.

Ineligibility

• No employee or contractor of the Smithsonian Institution may hold a Smithsonian fellowship during the time of his/her employment or contract, nor may an award be offered to any person who has been employed by or under contract to the Institution in the previous year, without the prior approval of the Office of Academic Appointments and Internships.