CRRC Publication Research Fellowships 2009 AvailableExplore issues – handle data – satisfy your curiosity – get published – generate opportunities
CRRC is offering a new round of research fellowships. Are you curious about a social science issue? Do you have some ideas or hypotheses that you want to explore further? This fellowship could be the perfect opportunity for you!
What issues are we looking to address?
We’re looking for social science research that addresses pressing issues your country faces. The Millennium Development Goals (click here) constitute one such urgent research agenda. Other likely issues include child poverty, youth, social capital, migration and democratization. Pretty much any advanced analysis based on our Data Initiative is of interest to us. We can also help you develop your topic if you are unsure about it, but are committed to undertaking professional research. Look at our blogs, crrc-caucasus.blogspot.com and crrcam.blogspot.com, to see some of the issuesthat previous fellows have worked on.

What issues are we NOT looking to address?
We are open to innovative ideas and projects. But we are not particularly interested in geopolitical studies, partisan pieces, or research that is unfocused, speculative (or too theoretical) and does not ground itself in the relevant existing literature. We prefer research that can make a real impact by improving people’s lives.

What results?
We want you to produce international quality research. You should aim to publish your research in a peer-reviewed journal (we will help you find one). This will give your research international recognition. We also expect your work to contain prescriptive richness and ask you to present you findings to relevant interested groups (international organizations, NGOs, government agencies) in your home country. We definitely want you to use some of our great data from the Data Initiative and other surveys.

Who is the fellowship for?You are smart, committed, curious and want to apply all your abilities. Typically you will have at least a Master’s Degree. You are committed to develop your research ability and have a track record of excellence. You may work in fields other than research, but you are interested in getting back into research because you realize there are excellent long-term opportunities there. We require a working knowledge of English, since you want to publish internationally. Exceptions can be made for those doing quantitative and survey work. (Sorry, no funding for stipends abroad, or for expatriates.)

What do you get?
Primarily you get the satisfaction of doing excellent work and of being part of a small but vibrant community of internationally recognized research scholars in the South Caucasus. Moreover, if you get published internationally, many opportunities follow. The fellowship provides an opportunity to prove your professionalism, which you can use for many other applications (jobs, consultancy work, joint research projects, conference participation, and international research stipends such as CRRC’s Carnegie Fellowship, to name the most obvious). Depending on your research project, you can also get between 2000 and 4000 USD for pursuing your research interest (surveys, for example, may have higher costs).

Is it easy?Yes and no. We will help at every step. But it certainly is not easy money. In research you confront new challenges and difficult decisions all the time. That is why we are doing it, after all. It requires determination and persistence — we hope you will join us in the thrill of discovery.

How to prepare?
Our online application procedure is specifically designed to help you develop your research proposal. Write us a short e-mail now (latest by November 13, 2009) at nana+fellow@crrccenters.org to find out more, telling us about your field of interest, and, if you have it, your provisional research topic. We will send you an email to let you know about the next step and to invite you to discuss your ideas at our open houses.