The Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies at the University of Michigan (WCED) offers Weiser Emerging Democracies Fellowships for Incoming Graduate Students. These fellowships will be awarded to incoming graduate students at the University of Michigan who expect to focus their graduate work around the theme of “emerging democracies past or present.”
This focus on emerging democracies is understood broadly. For example, it might refer to the historical development of democratic (or conversely, autocratic) rule; the impact of culture, literature, institutions, or the economy on democratic governance; or the role of the public sphere and civil society on democratic transition, consolidation, or breakdown.
Fellowship awards are in the amount of $15,000 for the academic year; the number of fellowships awarded is contingent on the availability of funds. Preference is given for graduate students in doctoral programs, and students in multi-year master's or professional degree programs. The fellowships are intended to directly recruit excellent individual students—they cannot be used to supplement the pool of departmental graduate funding and subsidize other graduate candidates. Departments/schools can nominate up to five incoming graduate students for the fellowship.
We expect Weiser Emerging Democracies Fellows to participate in the various lectures and conferences of the Center, and to join the Emerging Democracies Graduate Workshop. Upon successful completion of this workshop, up to an additional $3,000 will be added to awardees’ accounts to support their research on emerging democracies. To nominate a student, please combine the following required nomination materials into one PDF:
- Nomination form
- A copy of all application materials submitted for consideration of admission.
- A short letter of support from the department chair and/or faculty advisor, including information on other funding to be offered to the nominee, and a brief explanation about how this student’s work—if not obvious from the application—would inform the study of emerging democracies.
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