Call for Applications: 2024 Cultural Heritage Informatics Grad Fellowship

ATTENTION:

Graduate Students

The Cultural Heritage Informatics Initiative invites applications for its 2024-2025 Cultural Heritage Informatics Graduate Fellowship program.

Fellowship Details

Hosted and administered by the Department of Anthropology in partnership with LEADR, the Cultural Heritage Informatics Graduate Fellowships offer Michigan State University graduate students the skills to thoughtfully apply digital methods and computational approaches to cultural heritage materials, collections, data, questions, and challenges.

While the fellowship, which spans an academic year, involves workshops, collaborative development work, and technical experimentation, the overall focus is the development (either individually or collaboratively) of a significant and innovative digital cultural heritage project. To support their work, fellows will receive a stipend of $2500 per semester. In addition, fellows will have the opportunity to receive an additional $1000 to expand their project during the summer. While applicants may have previous technical experience, such experience is not required to apply.

Framing Cultural Heritage

The focus of the Cultural Heritage Informatics Graduate Fellowship Program is the application of digital methods and computational approaches within cultural heritage. The program leverages the definition of cultural heritage commonly used by UNESCO to shape our efforts and focus.

Material culture (artifacts and objects, monuments, structures, landscapes, etc) and intangible cultural attributes (oral traditions, language, ritual, social practices, traditional knowledge, performing arts, cuisine, etc) of a group, community, or society that are transmitted intergenerationally, used and maintained in the present, and preserved for future generations.

Fellowship Projects

The primary goal of the fellowship program is to provide an opportunity for participants to individually or collaboratively develop a significant and innovative digital cultural heritage.

Projects might include (but are certainly not limited to) a mobile application, a digital exhibit, a digital archive, or a collaborative digital publication. The project must also have a significant public component. It is important to note that there is no single mechanism by which fellows will come to these projects. If applicants have an existing idea for a specific project, they are welcome to include that in their application statement. If applicants have an interest in a platform or technology (but no specific project in mind), they are encouraged to include that in their application statement. If fellows do not have a particular project or platform in mind, they will work with members of the Cultural Heritage Informatics Initiative in order to define a suitable project.

Responsibilities

The Cultural Heritage Informatics Grad Fellowship carries the following obligations:

  • All CHI Grad Fellows must attend the weekly meeting on Fridays from 1:30-3pm in LEADR (Old Hort 112) .
  • All CHI Grad Fellows must be in-residence at LEADR for 10-3 each week on Fridays (part of this time will be dedicated to the fellowship program’s weekly group meeting, while the rest of the time will be dedicated to collaborative/communal work between all of the fellows).
  • All CHI Grad Fellows must complete a series of technical tutorials before the beginning of the fellowship in the fall. Failure to complete these prerequisites by 8/23 will result in the fellowship offer being withdrawn
  • All CHI Grad Fellows must write at least 1 substantive blog post per month on the CHI Website
  • All CHI Grad Fellows must submit a project proposal at the end of the fall semester
  • All CHI Grad Fellows much complete and launch their project by the end of the spring semester
  • All CHI Grad Fellows must submit all final reporting materials after the launch of their fellowship project

Those students who are not able to meet these obligations should not apply.

Eligibility

In order to be eligible to apply for a Cultural Heritage Informatics Graduate Fellowship,
applicants:
• must be enrolled and be in good academic standing in a graduate program at Michigan
State University (either at the Masters or Doctoral level). A primary focus of their work
must be cultural heritage (as defined above).
• must be enrolled (and remain enrolled) full-time in the year for which they are applying.
• must demonstrate positive progress in their graduate programs.

Awards will be made to individuals who demonstrate academic achievement, are committed to a career that embraces the application of digital methods and computational approaches, and show potential to make meaningful contributions in the domain of digital cultural heritage.

How to Apply

Applicants must complete and submit the following materials in order to be considered:

  • A cover letter expressing their interest and introducing their motivations for applying.
  • A current copy of their CV
  • A brief statement (3 pages maximum - double spaced) discussing the applicantʼs professional and scholarly goals, their interests in the application of digital methods in cultural heritage (broadly or specifically), and how the fellowship program will contribute to their professional & scholarly development.
  • An unofficial copy of current transcripts

Applications should be submitted using the following form.

Please note, the application submission form requires that all users login with their MSU account. If you encounter a "You need permission" message, make sure you are logged out of your non-MSU google account. Please be sure to read and follow the direction included on the form about file formats and file naming.

Any questions can be directed to Ethan Watrall.

Application Deadline

Completed application package must be received by 5 p.m. (EST) on May 15, 2024.