Apply to the Research Fellowship

**Applications for the Research Fellowship are currently open.

**Las solicitudes para la beca de investigación están abiertas actualmente. Para la traducción al español de esta página o de la aplicación, envíenos un correo electrónico.

What is this Research Fellowship?

Engaging Collections Research Fellows are meant to build community through creativity around representation within libraries, archives, and special collections. Fellows will be generating research, writing, and creative story-sharing content informed by their areas of interest and the scope of EC’s initiatives.

Compensation:

Each Fellow will be compensated up to $1,000.

The structure of payment will be determined during the interview process - to be built around the Fellow’s needs, on an hourly, weekly, or project-based framework.

What will the Research Fellow(s) do?

The Research Fellow(s) will generate content for the Journal and social media, as well as supporting EC’s two major initiatives on the horizon (a publication and an immersive installation focusing on the BIPOC legacies of Western North Carolina led by our AiR Honey Simone). The Research Fellow(s) will participate in research for both initiatives, as well as produce their own self-directed content.

We are interested in building community with Fellows who have fresh ideas for social media/digital communication and encourage applications which suggest innovative projects or things they are excited to spearhead. We consider Fellows collaborators and co-conspirators.

Qualifications:

+ interest in conducting research in digital collections - specifically libraries, archives, and special collections, around representation and archival omissions (if you don’t totally know what this means that’s fine! apply anyway and let’s talk about it).

+ fluency with and access to digital tools (smartphone, computer/laptop, tablet) and regular access to the internet.

+ social media competence and an interest in creating engaging content.

+ familiarity with design and communication applications such as Canva, Adobe suite, Google Drive, Later, etc.

If you have other assets and ideas we haven’t listed, ie:

- you make video content
- you’re obsessed with infographics
- you worked as a youth basketball coach and you’re interested in the overlap between basketball and art
- you’ve recorded hours of your 97-year old gram’s stories about growing up in the region
- you’re a tattoo artist
- you’re secretly a branding or marketing genius
etc.

Great! Please include that info in your application.

Who is encouraged to apply?

Artists, creatives, historians, archivists, students, designers, who …

• identify as emerging or early-career

• are LGBTQIA2S+, BIPOC, Queer, Non-binary, or identify as part of a historically underrepresented, marginalized or oppressed community

• experience geographic or socio-economic barriers

• are seeking mentorship and/or practical experience in the arts, library science, culture, and community building

• are currently working in Western North Carolina / unceded Cherokee territory who wish to engage in some community-based efforts in person (health and safety allowing) and/or those who are interested in working entirely remotely

• want to be part of a collaborative, community-minded, academic-adjacent initiative

How do I apply?

The Application is free, and requests the following:
+ short bio, name, and pronouns
+ a little background information on your experience with library, archive, and special collection research (not required! We are happy to work with folks who have never done research of this nature before but who are eager to learn)
+ information about your experience, familiarity, and interest in digital communication, social medias, etc.
+ anything else you would like to include to help us get to know you.