Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Wolf Humanities Center, 2026-2027

Description

The Wolf Humanities Center invites applications from Penn undergraduate students interested in conducting humanities research on "Truth" during the 2025–2026 academic year. Students may apply for a Research Fellowship or for a Research Fellowship with a position on the Executive Board.

For the 2025–2026 academic year, Undergraduate Humanities Forum meetings will be held on Fridays between 2:00pm and 4:00pm and the Research Conference will be held on a Friday in late March or early April 2026, 9:00am–5:00pm (date TBC). Interested applicants are advised to avoid conflicts in scheduling classes and other obligations during these times.

Applicants from all of Penn's schools are welcome to apply, provided their project fits the intellectual agenda of the Wolf Humanities Center; must be full-time and on campus for the entirety of the academic year of the award; and must be in good academic standing. Proposed research may be part of a student's independent studies course, capstone seminar, or honors theses, or developed independently, but must be undertaken under the guidance of faculty specialists. Applicants should confirm a faculty advisor who will supervise their research during the fellowship year, and assist the fellow in completing the project in a timely manner for the conference presentation. Faculty advisors must submit a reference letter as part of the application process.

Beyond the merits of each project, the selection committee will prioritize proposals that engage with humanistic perspectives on Truth as outlined on the topic page. These perspectives embrace ambiguity, relativity, and cultural variance, particularly inviting historical approaches to the construction of truth and its conceptual opposites, as well as an exploration of their tension with belief systems, opinion, and doubt. Successful projects will deeply engage with the complexities and methodological implications of the topic, using the idea of truth as a lens to question and re-examine research methods, underlying assumptions, and the broader intellectual framework.

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Undergraduate students who join the Wolf Humanities Center as Fellows of the Undergraduate Humanities Forum (UHF) conduct research in the humanities on the Center's annual topic and become part of a group of interdisciplinary scholars and the greater Wolf Center community, which also includes Penn and Regional Faculty, Postdoctoral, and Graduate Research Fellows. Wolf's Undergraduate Research Fellows meet regularly to share and workshop their research, pursue various cultural activities of common interest, and occasionally meet in special receptions with the Wolf Humanities Center's distinguished guest speakers. The year's program culminates in organizing a spring undergraduate research conference, at which students give formal presentations of their research projects. The Undergraduate Humanities Forum provides an excellent environment for work on research projects that students develop as a part of their independent studies courses, capstone seminars, or honors theses under the guidance of faculty specialists.

Responsibilities of Wolf's Undergraduate Research Fellows include attending and participating in regularly scheduled meetings and outings, as well as organizing and presenting at the annual Undergraduate Humanities Forum Research Conference. Fellows receive $1500 awards paid in two installments (December and May).

Two Executive Board positions are available to Fellows who will work closely with the UHF Faculty Director and the Wolf administrative staff to organize and plan meetings and outings throughout the year, as well as the spring research conference. Executive Board Fellows receive $2000 awards paid in two installments (December and May).

Application Instructions

TO APPLY, please submit the following via the Interfolio application portal no later than Wednesday, March 19, 2025, 11:59pm Eastern. The Interfolio application portal will open in November 2024.

1. Research Plan
Please include the following: Project Title; Project Abstract (125 words max); and Project Proposal (300-500 words). In your proposal, please explain how you came up with this project, how it relates to the topic of Truth, and outline your theoretical and methodological approach. 

2. Personal Statement
Please explain why you are applying for a humanities fellowship and how participating in a humanistic research program will benefit your research. The Wolf Humanities Center is an inclusive intellectual space. If you have had any experiences of diversity that have shaped your approach to your research and educational path, we would be glad to hear about it. (300-500 words)

3. Unofficial Transcript