CAORC - Multi-Country Research Fellowship Program 2025

The fellowship supports advanced research in the humanities, social sciences, and allied natural sciences for US doctoral candidates, who are ‘all but dissertation,’ and scholars who have earned their PhD or a terminal degree. Preference will be given to candidates examining comparative and/or cross-regional research. Applicants are eligible to apply as individuals or as teams.

Important information about the fellowship competition:

• Scholars must carry out research in two or more countries outside the United States, at least one of which must host a participating Overseas Research Center (ORC). Click here for a list of the centers.
• The award is for a minimum of 90 days and fellows may travel and carry out research between the period of May 2024 and November 2025. The 90-day travel minimum can be split into multiple trips and does not need to be consecutive.
• Fellows must work on their research full-time while they are traveling on the fellowship.
• Twelve awards of $12,600 each will be granted. The award payment is in the form of a stipend.

Information on travel:

• Travel advisories may fluctuate in some countries, which CAORC continually monitors. CAORC abides by all US Department of State travel restrictions. Note that in accordance with US Department of State travel warnings, travel is not currently possible to the following countries with Overseas Research Centers: Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Myanmar (Burma), Pakistan (senior scholars may be permitted to travel to Lahore and Islamabad subject to approval), and Yemen.
• Please list a tentative travel plan and dates in your application. CAORC will work with fellows to confirm travel plans when the fellowships are awarded.

Notification of fellowship status will be made available to each applicant via email in late March, 2024. Fellows are advised that it can take up to six months to obtain necessary research clearances and should plan accordingly.

Application Information:

Applications can be accessed via https://orcfellowships.smapply.org/. You must sign up for an account to access the application. This will allow you to save and return to your application before submitting. Please save your login/password information for future applications.

• Project Description: In 1500 words or less (footnotes do not count as part of the word count), please describe the nature of your proposed project and your competence to carry out the required research. State your research question and the methods and procedures you will use to conduct your research. Be sure to describe the proposed methodology in clear terms. Describe the broad value and scholarly significance of the research you plan to do and the expected publication, outputs, or dissemination that will result from your research. Give the reasons why your project requires your presence in the countries indicated, and note the facilities (e.g. libraries, museums, archives, field sites) that you plan to use while conducting your research. What relationship will you have with the host-country overseas research center(s)? Finally, indicate the extent to which you have investigated other funding sources. Please note that those judging your application may not be specialists in your field.
• Project Bibliography/Literature Review: You must submit a one-page bibliography or literature review outlining your project resources. CAORC does not have a preference for one format over another. Please clarify primary and secondary sources, and – where applicable – locations of listed material. Please note that additional pages will not be submitted to the review committee.
• Letters of Recommendation: You must have two (2) letters of recommendation. You will be able to send a link to your recommenders via the online grant portal, SM Apply, by entering their contact details, which will trigger the system into sending an automated email. Your recommenders will then be able to upload their letters. All letters must be in English. Recommendations letters will be confidential in the system. The applicant is responsible for checking in with their recommenders to ensure the letters are submitted in time.   
  PhD candidates must have one letter from an academic advisor with a signed Academic Advisor Form. Please inform your academic advisor that the will need to complete the form the CAORC online grant portal, SM Apply.  
• Curriculum Vitae: Three (3) pages maximum. Additional pages will not be submitted to the review committee. Please ensure that prior awards and language capacity are clearly noted.
• Transcripts: PhD candidates only. Please submit transcripts from your most recent institution. 

Deadline: December 6, 2023 at 5:00pm ET (applicants are advised to submit applications well before the deadline in case applicants have questions).

If you have questions, please email fellowships@caorc.org.​

A few additional notes about the fellowship applications:

• It is possible to apply for both the Multi-Country Research Fellowship and the NEH Senior Research Fellowship.
• Referees have one additional week after the applicant deadline to upload their recommendation letters into SM Apply.