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The Provost's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
The Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program at the University of Notre Dame supports outstanding early-career scholars in science, engineering, and the liberal arts who seek to make a difference in the world.
For the 2027-2029 academic years, the Program in the College of Arts and Letters will appoint a cohort of eight postdoctoral fellows in residence at the University including one at the Initiative on Race and Resilience.
The Notre Dame Initiative on Race and Resilience is a vibrant interdisciplinary community of students and scholars sponsoring a wide array of campus and community programming, including an artist residence, talks from visiting scholars, workshops, book clubs, and film series. Since its inception in 2021, the IRR has dedicated its resources to examining the intersections of race, power, and systemic inequality. Global in scope and comparative in its critical approach, the IRR embraces the arts alongside traditional scholarship as a substantive means to examine race, attending both to the forms of oppression it produces and the unique identities and narratives it enables. This dual focus on rigorous critical inquiry and artistic production aligns directly with Notre Dame’s Strategic Framework. This fellowship provides an optimal intellectual ecosystem for an emerging scholar. It offers a crucial bridge between advanced graduate training and a tenure-track faculty career.
This opportunity is intended for exceptional early-career scholars whose work traverses traditional academic boundaries to examine these intersections and community resilience. We welcome applications from scholars whose innovative, cross-cutting methodologies span different disciplines represented by units in the College of Arts & Letters. The successful candidate will be expected to pursue a program of independent research and participate in the scholarly life of the faculty. The IRR leadership will serve as a co-mentor for the hosted scholar and secure a commitment from an affiliate faculty member from the fellow’s discipline to enhance their professional engagement with departmental peers and the field, as well as establish a tailored, two-year professional timeline at the outset of the fellowship. This timeline can include, if the fellow expresses interest, exploring teaching opportunities at the University. Over the course of the academic year, the candidate is
expected to organize and host one formal academic event. This may take the form of a workshop, a guest lecture, a symposium, or a public-facing seminar related to their field of study.
The Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program targets exceptional early-career scholars interested in advancing their careers in an academic environment that is both committed to disciplinary expertise and vibrant in interdisciplinary exchange. The College will appoint the fellows for a two-year term. They will receive an annual salary of $75,000 and an additional $15,000 to cover expenses related to research endeavors and further training. Hosting units will provide fellows with office space and work together with the Director of Postdoctoral Studies in the College to identify primary faculty mentors for the fellows’ proposed research projects. Co-mentors with appointments at the University can be named at the discretion of the director and hosting units. Every six months, the director and hosting units will review the fellows’ progress in their research and discuss future plans.
Monetary support and faculty mentoring will be coupled with professional development and networking opportunities in and outside of the hosting unit. The Provost’s Fellows will be a part of a university-wide cohort of distinguished researchers who participate regularly in lectures, colloquia, and panel discussions designed to advance their research and career aspirations.
Notre Dame has recently launched eight strategic initiatives intended to identify research areas where the University can make a significant impact. These initiatives will support dramatically expanded research efforts in the arts; data, AI, and computing; democracy; ethics; health and well-being; sustainability, and global Catholicism. The University also sustains premier research programs in traditional disciplines as well as having more than 30 university-wide interdisciplinary centers and institutes. Candidates for the Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellowship are encouraged to explore these opportunities, as well as the areas of excellence and growth identified by hosting units, and to select a field of study in which they can excel.
Eligibility:
Applicants must have successfully completed (or plan to complete) a doctoral degree between June 2024 and June 2027. Earlier dates may be accepted if maternity or paternity leave, or Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave occurred within the past two years. Scholars of all nationalities may apply. We welcome candidates with or without permanent full-time research or teaching positions. Doctoral candidates and graduates of the University of Notre Dame, as well as current postdoctoral scholars at the University, are not eligible.
Application:
Applicants should submit the following via the Interfolio website:
1. A cover letter including your research trajectory, your motivations for applying, and the
fellowship’s role in furthering your career goals. Your cover letter should not exceed 4 pages in length, double-spaced, with font size 12 and 1-inch margins.
2. Your curriculum vitae.
3. A statement describing your previous research accomplishments and your proposed research project(s) for the fellowship period. This statement may include the names of faculty from whom you would like to receive mentorship if you should be selected as a fellow, and why you think you would benefit from their expertise and experience. Please do not, however, reach out to faculty in the hosting department or institute to arrange a primary mentor or co-mentor prior to submitting your application. Your research statement should not exceed 5 pages in length, double-spaced, with font size 12 and 1-inch margins.
4. Candidates must submit a writing sample representative of their own work (no more than 10,000 words in length).
5. Candidates must also arrange for at least three letters of recommendation to be submitted via Interfolio by the deadline. Please do not ask your letter writers to email their letters directly. Applications without the full complement of letters will not be reviewed.
Timeline:
The application deadline is December 1, 2026, at 11:59 pm EST. Decision by March 1, 2027.
Frequently Asked Questions can be found on the Program’s webpage.
For further questions or concerns about the application process, please email alprovostpostdocs@nd.edu.