Postdoctoral Fellow, Georgetown-Howard Center for Medical Humanities and Health Justice (MHHJ)

Description

The Georgetown - Howard Center for Medical Humanities and Health Justice (MHHJ) is pleased to announce the call for proposals for its 2025-2026 Postdoctoral Fellowship. The fellowship supports research focused on the Washington, DC metropolitan area (District of Columbia, Northern Virginia, Montgomery County, and Prince George's County). Recipients will also teach one fall course in a related medical or health humanities field and contribute to scholarly articles, method or theory development, or other scholarly tools.The fellowship is a full-time, residential position, requiring fellows to reside in the DC area and fully engage in the Center’s activities throughout the academic year. Each year, the fellowship focuses on a specific theme; this year's theme is "Networks."

Postdoctoral Fellow Notice of Funding Opportunity

Fellowship Expectations

Fellows are expected to produce at least one research output, such as the following:

• Peer-reviewed articles
• Public and engaged scholarship
• Digital materials and databases
• Oral histories
• Archival projects
• Expressive and creative projects
• Fellows must organize at least one public-facing workshop, conference, or similar event. 
• Fellows may apply for additional funding with MHHJ (if the event meets the Center’s annual objectives) or third party sources to support this public-facing event.
• Fellows are expected to design and teach one course in the medical humanities.

Funding Details

• Maximum Award Amount: $64,000 (benefits available)

• Period of Performance: 12 months

• Funding Conditions:

• Funding cannot be deferred

Funding Restrictions

Fellowship funding cannot be used for the following:

• Directly funding research expenses

• Preparing or revising of textbooks

• Developing curriculum

• Writing of books for children or young adults

• Creating documentary films

• Inventorying of collections

• Writing a guidebooks, how-to books, and self-help books

• Pursue projects that fall outside of the humanities or the humanistic social sciences

Qualifications

To be eligible for this fellowship, the candidate must: 

• Have an a doctoral degree in relevant areas such as history of health/medicine, science and technology studies, literature, philosophy/bioethics, medical anthropology, medical sociology, race and ethnic studies, medicine, public health, or disability studies;

• Received their doctoral degree within the last five (5) years;

• Be willing to relocate to the Washington, DC metropolitan area and be available to participate in MHHJ programming;

• Not be currently appointed as full-time faculty at Georgetown or Howard.

Selection Criteria

Applicants will be evaluated based on:

• Relevance of the application to the Center’s designated research theme.

• Overall significance of the research to the Washington, DC, metropolitan area.

• Feasibility of research and engagement plans.

• Clear dissemination pathways for research findings.

• Likelihood of deriving satisfactory results during the fellowship period.

• Collaboration opportunities with other Center Fellows and community advocates.

• Use of humanities methodologies to explore topics related to health or health justice.

Application Instructions

Full Application (due February 14, 2025)

• Two referees’ names and emails (letters requested for finalists only)

• Cover letter (max 1 page) detailing interest, qualifications, and project relation to MHHJ and the annual theme

• Curriculum vitae (max 2 pages)

• Proposed