Funding Opportunity – SPIN Fellowships

January 16, 2021

SPIN Fellowship Scheme (Jan-May 2021)

 

SPIN is pleased to announce the launch of its inaugural SPIN Fellowship programme. Over the course of Spring 2021, four SPIN Fellows will be appointed. These awards will be offered to PhD and Early Career Researchers interested in developing a secrecy and/or ignorance themed project.

 

More specifically, these fellowships are intended to support the work of PhD researchers and Early Career Researchers to undertake a piece of research or research-related activity that fits within the remit of the Secrecy, Power and Ignorance research Network (SPIN). Applicants are therefore invited to apply for fellowship funding to develop a project idea that addresses a core theme of SPIN’s work and that is at the leading edge of scholarship on secrecy and/or ignorance research.

 

Possible project themes include but are not limited to:

 

  • Conspiracy cultures (for example migration, elections, climate denial, health)
  • Intelligence and state secrecy work
  • Ignorance (wilful, structural) in relation to different issue areas
  • Colonisation and the politics of knowledge (erasure, cultural amnesia and forgetting)
  • Secrecy practices in relation to communities, histories, identities, geographies, time

 

Additional themes and ideas can be seen in the Research section of our website.

 

Over the course of the fellowship, Fellows are therefore welcome to complete an activity that will produce a piece of work exploring one or more of these themes, through:

 

  • Developing a research paper for publication,
  • Develop a grant application to work with us,
  • Coordinate a workshop or speaker series (may take place post Fellowship).

 

Other project ideas are also warmly welcome.

 

Duration and Value

 

The Fellowships are tenable for the duration of the scheme, January to May 2021, but the period of work is to be determined by the SPIN Fellow in accordance with project needs. All work should be completed by the end of May 2021.

 

The value of the Fellowship is up to and including £1,000 (GBP), though smaller projects and awards may be considered.

 

Upon completion of the Fellowship, in all cases unless by prior arrangement, SPIN Fellows will be required to author a short blog entry (500-100 words) for the SPIN blog at www.secrecyresearch.com. Video or artistic contributions are also welcome. This work will then be added to the SPIN social media feed. We may also invite SPIN Fellows to record a podcast for our podcast series.

 

Application process

 

Interested PhD and Early Career Researchers are invited to submit a 1-page proposal along with a CV (any standard format, but no longer than 10 pages). This is a rolling acceptance process, and Fellowships will be issued on a first-come-first serve basis. Final proposals will be considered no later than the 15 April 2020 for very short, quick turnaround projects. Please email proposals to the SPIN Coordinator Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren, e.vanveeren@bris.ac.uk

 

SPIN is committed to being an anti-racist, diverse and inclusive community. We therefore encourage applicants from all backgrounds to consider working with us and are happy to answer questions and support applicants new to applying for funding.

 

For further information, please contact the SPIN Coordinator, Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren, e.vanveeren@bris.ac.uk or the SPIN Administrator, Mr. Paterson Deppen, pat.deppen@bris.ac.uk