Research Associate Program

Founded in 1991, the FCWSRC is a vibrant site of local, national, and international engaged, intersectional feminist scholarship, cultural production, and activism from diverse perspectives. The FCWSRC has a rich history of supporting transnational work and recognizing the diverse pathways and plurality of forms that feminist creative and academic scholarship can take. Located on the campus of Hampshire College, the FCWSRC is supported by the Five College Consortium, which includes Hampshire College, Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Since 1966, the five institutions have been recognized for their cooperation and innovation in higher education. The Consortium boasts one of the largest concentrations of feminist scholars anywhere in the world. The FCWSRC has hosted over 450 semester and year-long visiting scholars as part of its Research Associate Program and welcomed many other guest speakers to the Five Colleges.

The Center is committed to supporting engaged, intersectional feminist scholarship and values diversity in terms of background, experience, geography, discipline, perspective, and practice. Faculty, doctoral students approaching the end-stages of their degree, activists, practitioners, artists, and independent scholars are encouraged to apply. Applicants’ work should be situated within and informed by the expansive fields of women’s and gender studies, feminist studies, and/or queer and trans studies. We welcome projects engaging with specialist and emerging areas of inquiry, as well as community-based or creative forms of knowledge production and circulation. Local (to the Five College area), non-local U.S.-based, and international applicants are invited to apply.

Click through the below links to learn more about: 

• the learning, teaching, and research resources that the Five Colleges and surrounding area have to offer
   
• 2024-25 Research Associate bios and project descriptions
   
• past Research Associates and their diverse array of projects
   
• the Center's most recent newsletter
   
• the Center's current programming

A complete application includes the following items submitted on Interfolio: 

• Online application forms
• Curriculum vitae
• Project proposal

On the online application form, you will be asked the following information:

• Name and contact information
• Current position/title and institution/organization (or indicate unaffiliated/independent status), as well as work contact information, if applicable
• FCWSRC Research Associate alum status
• Desired term of residency (fall 2025 semester, spring 2026 semester, or full academic year)
• Project title
• Project abstract (between 100-150 words)
• Project key terms
• A brief professional bio (between 100-150 words)
• An explanation of sources of funding (grants, fellowships, self, etc.) and whether funding is confirmed or pending
• Ethics committee/Institutional Review Board details for scholars whose research involves collection of data from human subjects via interviews, questionnaires, surveys, etc.
• Contact information for two professional references. References may be contacted following an initial review of applications.
• For international applicants who would require J-1 visa sponsorship:
  • Country of citizenship
  • How the English proficiency requirement for a U.S. visa will be met 
• Any additional information that you would like to share with the selection committee

The project proposal can be up to three pages in length, single spaced. The proposal should provide a description of:

• the project in detail, including objectives, methodologies employed, and a breakdown of the work that the applicant plans to undertake at the Center.
• the project’s contribution to and significance in the fields of Women's and Gender Studies, Feminist Studies, and/or Queer and Trans Studies.
• how undertaking the project while in residence at the Center would benefit your project and broader scholarship. Applicants might consider engagement with museum or archival resources, interactions with specific local networks of Five College scholars and collaborators, having dedicated space, time, and community, etc.
• how you envision contributing to the feminist communities of the Center and across the broader Five College campuses. The Center is interested in cultivating a thriving network of feminist thinkers across generation, rank, institutional affiliation, field, and background, in both formal and informal capacities. Applicants may consider writing about potential intellectual contributions (ideas for workshops, reading groups, presentations, etc.) or more informal contributions to fostering feminist community. 

Research Associates fund their terms in a variety of ways. These include institutional sabbatical funding for professors, dissertation grants for graduate students, and foundation and government grants (such as Mellon, Fulbright, European Commission, etc.) as well as artistic/cultural production grants, research fellowships, and seed grants.

If you are applying to a grant with a funding cycle that does not align with our application timeline, we encourage you to apply to the FCWSRC before you apply for the grant, even if this means applying to the FCWSRC a year in advance of submitting your grant application. In the event you are accepted to the Research Associate Program, we will then be able to furnish you with documentation for your grant application that we have invited you to the FCWSRC (we frequently do this for Fulbright applicants to serve as a formal affiliate). We will also work with you to defer you Associateship so that is corresponds with any funding you expect to receive. 

For Research Associates not local to the Pioneer Valley, the FCWSRC provides guidance in securing housing for the semester or academic year. Our pre-orientation packet includes extensive information about reliable rental agencies, realtors, and housing forums. We also share a regularly-maintained “Housing Notices and Leads” document with incoming Research Associates that compiles rental opportunities from Five College faculty, staff, graduate students and community members. Past Research Associates have found housing in the towns of Amherst, South Hadley, Northampton, and Holyoke.

Additionally, those traveling with dependents will be provided with information on public school enrollment (ages 5 through 17) and childcare.

The Five College area is home to a number of art museums, galleries, and notable special collections. We invite you to explore the resources page on our website to learn more about the gems unique to the Consortium and the surrounding area.

Applications are evaluated based on their alignment with the FCWSRC’s mission to advance cutting edge feminist research and writing. We consider the rigour of the research proposal and the applicant’s approach to the work, including potential for collaboration and intellectual exchange that transcends scholarly disciplines and writerly forms. We welcome projects that engage the Five Colleges and draw on area resources, such as archives and special collections, though projects are not required to do so. All applications are reviewed by the FCWSRC Steering Committee, which is composed of faculty representatives from each Five College campus.

The FCWSRC typically hosts seven Research Associates per academic semester. Some Associates come for one semester only (fall or spring) while others come for a full academic year (both the fall and spring semesters). The total size of each annual cohort varies, in accordance with the combination of semester and full-year Associates who join us.

The Research Associate program is open to feminist researchers and writers at every career stage. We regularly host graduate students completing dissertations and professors on sabbaticals as well as independent scholars, creative writers, and activists. All applicants have a core writing project that they undertake during their time at the center.

We welcome applicants who primarily identify as academics, creative writers and artists, and activists, as well as applicants whose engagements intersect these areas of feminist work.

We welcome applicants of any gender! We also welcome applicants with wide-ranging disciplinary affiliations. Most Research Associates are either scholars of the humanities or social sciences or have practices as creative writers, including fiction writers, poets, and playwrights. All Research Associates have projects that engage critical questions about gender, sexuality, and/or feminism. We invite you to explore this page on our website to learn about past Research Associates and the broad range of projects they worked on at the Center.

Early stage PhD students are most welcome at FCWSRC events! However, we accept Research Associate applications only from ABD students currently completing their dissertations (or nearly-ABD students who expect to be writing their dissertations during the Associateship period).

We welcome inquiries from feminist researchers and writers who wish to join us for periods of under three months. These visits are often ideal for scholars traveling to the area to explore archives and special collections or who are guests of academic units in the Five Colleges. Rather than applying to our Research Associate program, please complete our short term visit inquiry form.

We want the Research Associateship and cohort community to be a generative and engaged space in which needs are being met and work-lives feel balanced. The most important thing is likely taking note of the weekly programming schedule as class schedules, work schedules, and care arrangements are being preliminarily settled for the fall. We keep most programming to Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, with the vast majority of Research Associate programming concentrated on Mondays and Thursdays.

The Research Associate Program is best suited for when you have dedicated time to devote to scholarship or creative work. Those teaching full time or holding full time positions are encouraged to apply to the Research Associate Program when they have a course release available, are on sabbatical, or have positions in which they are able to organize time to be present and participate fully as a member of the Research Associate cohort. There are a number of opportunities to become involved in the FCWSRC outside of the Research Associate Program. We encourage those looking to become involved to look into our hybrid Feminist Writing Community, complete our Work-in-Progress Interest Form, make use of our flex office for a change of scenery, and explore possibilities of a short-term visit to the FCWSRC and Five College area.