Wilson Center Fellowship Grant

Wilson Center Fellowship Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (The Wilson Center)
Amount: Up to US $120,000
Last Updated: December 11, 2025

Summary

The Wilson Center Fellowship offers scholars, practitioners, and journalists an opportunity to conduct impactful research on pressing foreign policy challenges. Applicants must have a PhD or equivalent experience, and projects should align with the Center's scholarship pillars, including strategic competition and technology innovation. The fellowship includes remote work and a trip to Washington D.C. for presentations, fostering engagement with policymakers and other experts. The program emphasizes nonpartisan research and aims to translate academic insights into actionable policy recommendations.

Overview

About the Wilson Center Chartered by Congress, the Wilson Center provides nonpartisan counsel and insights on global affairs to policymakers through deep research, impartial analysis, and independent scholarship. Wilson Center Research Fellowship Program The Wilson Center invites scholars, practitioners, journalists, and public intellectuals to take part in its flagship Research Fellowship Program. Fellows conduct research and write in their areas of interest, while interacting with policymakers in Washington and other fellows. The Center accepts policy-relevant, nonpartisan fellowship proposals that address key foriegn policy challenges confronting the United States and the world.Selection ProcessThe Center encourages projects that transcend narrow specialties to connect to broader policy and global issues. Fellows should want to, and be prepared to, interact with policymakers in Washington, other Wilson Center fellows, and scholars within DC and the world working on similar issues.

It is essential that projects have relevance to public policy and at least one of the four pillars of scholarship of the Wilson Center: strategic competition, economic statecraft, technology and innovation, and regional scholarship. Projects should involve fresh research in terms of both the overall field and the author’s previous work.Conditions of AwardFellows will work remotely during their tenure with the Wilson Center. The program will include a trip to Washington D.C. at the start and end of the fellowship, as paid for by the Wilson Center.

The focus of each fellow’s tenure will be their research project. The project must be a policy-relevant, nonpartisan project that addresses key foreign policy challenges confronting the United States and the world.Fellows are required to complete their project as proposed. They are also required to give a Work in Progress presentation, which is an internal meeting where fellows can speak about their work, share ideas, and receive feedback from their peers. Fellows will attend the Work in Progress presentations given by their colleagues. The Wilson Center Library provides loan privileges with the Library of Congress and access to digital resources, its book and journal collections, and to university and special libraries in the area, and other research facilities.
Fellows will be expected to actively contribute to the goals and mission of the Wilson Center during their tenure. The Center will work with all fellows to share their expertise with the Washington policy community. These interactions may range from a deep background briefing for a federal agency to an informal roundtable discussion with members of Congress and their staffs. They may deliver more formal presentations to the public, including colloquia, seminars, workshops, or other coordinated events with the Center. Fellows will also be encouraged to produce policy reports, op-eds, and other short written products during their tenure and engage with the broader Washington community of scholars working on similar topics. The Center will provide guidance for all fellows on translating academic research into policy-relevant content.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Eligibility Requirements for Applicants Applicants must meet the following criteria at the time of application to be eligible for a fellowship: Applicants from academia must have a PhD and have published a book or monograph beyond the PhD dissertation.Applicants from government, policy, or the nonprofit sector must have achieved a level of professional distinction and experience equivalent to advanced academic standing. This is typically at least 10 years of relevant experience and a record of substantial policy impact, publication, or leadership in their field.Applicants must be proficient in English, as the Center is designed to encourage the exchange of ideas among its fellows and provide educational opportunities to Congress. You do not need an institutional affiliation to apply. Scholars and practitioners who previously held research awards or fellowships at the Wilson Center are not precluded from applying for a fellowship. However, the nature and recency of the prior award may be among the factors considered during the selection process. Fellows may take leave from their current positions or maintain additional affiliations during their Wilson Center Research Fellowship. Applicants will be required to describe how they will balance other responsibilities while actively contributing to the goals and mission of the Wilson Center. Eligibility Requirements for Project Proposals Project proposals must meet the following criteria to be considered:Projects must be nonpartisan in nature.Projects must focus on at least one of the following scholarship pillars of the Wilson Center: strategic competition, economic statecraft, technology and innovation, and regional scholarship.Primary project outputs may include but are not limited to a book manuscript, series of long-form articles, or a briefing roundtable series for policymakers. Additional projects demonstrating a high-level of scholarship may be considered.Primary project outputs may not include rewriting or completion of doctoral dissertations; projects in the visual arts, dance, or musical composition; editing of texts, papers, and documents; or preparations of textbooks, anthologies, translations, or memoirs.