The Cogut Collaborative Humanities Fellowship, Cogut Digital Humanities Fellowship, and Cogut Environmental Humanities Fellowship relieve students in the third, fourth, or fifth year of their doctoral program from all teaching duties in their home department. Fellows also receive a $1,000 research fund.
Awards cannot be deferred. Students already scheduled for a fellowship year, with approval of the departmental program, may defer that fellowship to a later year. The fellowships do not extend the student’s funding clock.
Eligibility
The fellowships are open to Brown University students pursuing doctorates in the humanities and the humanistic social sciences.
Students currently in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year of their doctoral program may apply to hold either fellowship in their 3rd, 4th, or fifth year, respectively. However, please note that your department may limit years of eligibility in light of professional development requirements and staffing needs in the discipline. We encourage you to consult with your Director of Graduate Studies and prospective advisor if you are considering an application in the course of your studies.
Students can apply at any stage of their pursuit of the certificate(s) in collaborative, digital, and environmental humanities, whether or not they have started the sequence of seminars or will have completed all its requirements. In general, students should aim to complete certificate courses before their fifth year with the possible exception of the capstone work, in which students can advance dissertation writing and publication projects.
Recipients of either fellowship are not eligible to apply for the other.
Application
Applications for the 2027–28 fellowship are due Friday, February 5, 11:59 pm. The application form will close automatically.
All applicants should complete the fellowship application form as well as request a recommendation letter from their advisor and a statement of good standing and departmental support from their director of graduate studies.
Fellowship Application Form
You must be logged into your Brown University email account to access the form. Applicants should submit:
A research statement, in 1 single-spaced page, describing the conceptual stakes and methodologies of the project you plan to focus on during your year of fellowship and explaining how they relate to your doctoral certificate training.
A work plan, up to 1 single-spaced page, outlining how you will mobilize the time freed by the teaching relief. Describe in detail the nature and timeline of any proposed travel plan, field work, archival work, skill-based training, or community engagement, and why this work is necessary for your project. For archival work, please specify the name and location of the archives and the collections and materials you are hoping to consult.
A career path reflection describing, in a few paragraphs, how the fellowship will help you advance your professional goals broadly, including, as applicable, the practices and knowledges that might inform your research and teaching moving forward.
A CV including a list of all Ph.D. coursework.
A writing sample of 15–20 pages.
Students not formally enrolled in the doctoral certificate at the time of the fellowship application should also submit a complementary certificate application through UFunds.
Letter of Recommendation and DGS Statement
In addition, applicants should request:
A letter of recommendation from their advisor.
A statement of good standing and departmental support from their director of graduate studies.