Woodrow Wilson International Center, 2025-26 International Fellowship Program

Through an international competition, the Center offers 9-month residential fellowships. Fellows conduct research and write in their areas of expertise, while interacting with policymakers in Washington and Wilson Center staff. The Center accepts non-advocacy, policy-relevant, fellowship proposals that address key policy challenges facing the United States and the world.

In addition to its residential program, the Center conducts research through its programs, organizes conferences and seminars, and disseminates the content of its work and fellows’ research through its website and email marketing. The Center invites Fellows to take part in the Center’s conferences, meetings and seminars and to benefit from the wide range of dialogue that takes place at the Center.

The Wilson Center invites scholars, practitioners, journalists and public intellectuals to take part in its flagship international Fellowship Program and to take advantage of the opportunity to engage actively in the Center’s national mission. The Center awards approximately 15-20 residential fellowships each year. Fellows will be affiliated with one or more of the Wilson Center programs/projects and are encouraged to interact with policy makers in Washington, D.C., with Wilson Center staff, and other scholars who are working on similar research and topics.

Selection Process

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

The basic criteria for selection are:

1. Significance of the proposed research, including the importance and originality of the project;
2. The relevance of the project to contemporary policy issues; try to convince the reader that there is some urgency or importance in your work that can resolve a larger problem.
3. The relevance of the project to the programmatic work of the Center;
4. 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. A clear hypothesis or step-by-step argument of a central problem helps capture the essence of your work for the reviewer. Also describe your methodology, i.e. how and why your approach is the best way to deal with such a problem. Since each field has different methodologies that the reviewer may not know, tell the reader what archives, sources, and techniques you plan to employ.
5. Capabilities and achievements of the applicant and the likelihood that the applicant will accomplish the proposed project; not only should your proposal demonstrate how you have the technical know-how and ability to reach some conclusion, but that the conclusion is not preconceived. The proposal should convince the reviewer that there is something genuinely at stake with your inquiry and that your project will yield interesting results.
6. Potential of a candidate to actively contribute to the life, priorities, and mission of the Center by making expert research accessible to a broader audience; remember that one of the Center's main goals is to help inform policymakers to make well-informed decisions.

The Center welcomes in particular those projects that transcend narrow specialties and methodological issues of interest only within a specific academic discipline. Projects should involve fresh research-—in terms of both the overall field and the author’s previous work. It is essential that projects have relevance to public policy, and fellows should want, and be prepared, to interact with policymakers in Washington, Wilson Center staff, and other scholars who are working on similar issues.

Some final tips--start your proposal early, and have friends or colleagues review it. Debate over your proposal will help you answer questions reviewers may have. Sharpen your language and style, especially your opening paragraph. Be to the point so that the reviewer knows exactly what you mean--the Center does not conduct interviews, so make sure that your proposal is clear and concise.

Alignment with Programs and Cross-Regional Initiatives

The Center accepts policy-relevant, non-advocacy fellowship proposals that address key challenges confronting the United States and the world. Priority will be given to proposals which align with the programmatic work of the Center and can result in work that reaches a broad audience. Within this framework, the Wilson Center supports projects that intersect with contemporary policy issues and provide the historical and/or cultural context for some of today’s significant public policy debates.

While in residence, Fellows will be affiliated with regional and/or topical programs working on issues that complement the Fellows’ projects. Program and project directors often collaborate with scholars in producing policy reports, op-eds, and other short written products and in designing seminars, conferences, and/or meetings related to scholars’ research. 

The Wilson Center has launched a series of cross-regional initiatives and will also give priority to proposals in these topic areas:

• Geo-Strategic Competition: the U.S.-China-Russia Triangle
• Playing the Great Game: the Digital Edition
• The Future of the New “Global Arctic”
• Rule of Law