The Cogut Doctoral Certificate Fellowships supports graduate students at any stage of their pursuit of the doctoral certificates in collaborative humanities and digital humanities.
The Cogut Collaborative Humanities Fellowship and the Cogut Digital Humanities Fellowship relieve students in the third, fourth, and 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 and digital 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 2026–27 fellowships are due by February 6, 2026, 11:59 p.m.
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 statement of intent, in 1–2 single-spaced pages, explaining the significance of the doctoral certificate with regard to the applicant’s academic and professional goals, and outlining the proposed course completion timeline.
A teaching relief statement describing, in a few paragraphs and no more than a single-spaced page, how the teaching relief will serve to support the applicant’s work in the collaborative or digital humanities, enhance their doctoral curricular training, and enrich their professional training and projects.
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.