Work Remotely with the fully funded Wilson Center Research Fellowship ($10,000 per month stipend): Apply Now

Ednah Carrick December 3, 2025

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Closing Date: 16 January 2026

Work Remotely with the fully funded Wilson Center Research Fellowship ($10,000 per month stipend): Apply Now

The Wilson Center is now accepting applications for its flagship Research Fellowship Program. This fully funded, twelve-month opportunity is ideal for mid-career scholars, practitioners, journalists, and public intellectuals who want protected time to advance a substantial, nonpartisan, policy-relevant research agenda, including work toward a second book or a major scholarly project.

Fellows receive a stipend and work remotely for the full fellowship year. The program also includes opportunities for visits to Washington, D.C., where fellows engage with Wilson Center experts, participate in events like Congressional education briefings, and connect their academic work with ongoing policy conversations. The Center welcomes proposals across a wide range of policy-relevant themes.

Stipend and Duration

The Wilson Center Research fellowship will commence on June 1, 2026 and end on May 30, 2027. The Center offers a stipend of $10,000 per month for a twelve-month fellowship.

Conditions of Award

Fellows 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.

Applicant Eligibility

Applicants must meet the following criteria 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. Additional details are included in the Instructions for Applicants section.

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.

Selection Process

Applications that satisfy the eligibility requirements are subsequently subjected to a multi-stage review process involving evaluations by Wilson Center experts and external specialists with relevant expertise. Final decisions about all grant awards are contingent on the approval of the Center’s Board of Trustees and subject to available funding.

The basic criteria for selection are:

Significance of the proposed research, including the importance and originality of the project. Explain the urgency and importance of your work to resolve a larger problem in foreign policy.
The relevance of the project to contemporary policy issues and policymakers, with the aim of bridging the worlds of scholarship and policy.
Quality of the proposal in definition, organization, clarity, and scope. Describe what the reviewers will learn from your project, why it is important, and how the reviewer will know your conclusions are valid.
Capabilities and achievements of the applicant and their propensity to accomplish the proposed project. The proposal should convince the reviewer that something is genuinely at stake with your inquiry and your project will yield interesting results.
Potential of a candidate to actively contribute to the priorities and mission of the Center by making expert research accessible to policymakers and a broader audience.