Application for Visiting Research Scholar
Recent debates about truth, lies, and authenticity have reminded us that truth has a history and that the meaning of truthfulness and justice keeps changing over time. The Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies at Princeton University seeks applications from scholars exploring the historical evolution of regimes and practices of establishing, telling, and writing truth. We understand the notion of truth broadly: as a philosophical and epistemological category, an ideal of social equity and political justice, and a principle governing historical writing, legal, and scientific investigation. We invite historians who study the role of ideology, religion, informational technology, and media in the historical evolution of truth. We are also interested in projects on the history of lying, deception, and misinformation. Intellectual historians, historians of art, gender, race, sexuality, information, governance, science, and technology from antiquity to the modern period whose work engages with these subjects are encouraged to apply. Topics may include (but are not limited to) the use and misuse of facts in political propaganda, problems of evidence and objectivity, authenticity and source criticism, fakes, forgery and conspiracy theories, and diplomatic, inter- and intra-national reconciliation.
The Davis Center offers fellowships for either one semester (usually September–December or February–June) or the academic year. Visiting scholars will normally receive a stipend of one-half of their academic-year salary. This will be calculated based on the amount of support that each individual expects to receive from their home institution, but will usually be no less than $50,000, and no more than $90,000, per semester. Though the Center can normally offer fellowship support for only a single semester, it welcomes the residence of year-long Fellows who combine Center support with funds from elsewhere. Applicants are encouraged to apply for external funds or sabbatical support and to apply for a year's Fellowship if they have a reasonable expectation of bringing additional funds with them.
Center fellowships are residential. Fellows are required to live in Princeton or the local vicinity or demonstrate to the program's satisfaction the ability to be on campus on a daily basis in order to take an active part in the exchange of ideas with Fellows and others in the university community. The most important intellectual forum of the Center is the weekly Davis Seminar, which meets on Friday mornings during the fall and spring terms for lively and wide-ranging discussion of work by invited outside scholars and by the Fellows themselves. It is the core seminar of the History Department, attended not only by Fellows but also by faculty from the History and other departments at Princeton, graduate students, members of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, faculty from nearby universities, and others. Fellows are expected to attend the weekly seminar and present a paper on their ongoing projects at one of its sessions.
Fellows have the privileges of a member of the History Department. They are given offices in a cluster of offices assigned to The Davis Center. The Davis Center does not manage housing for its Fellows, but it assists Fellows in finding appropriate housing through the University Housing Office and private landlords if a Fellow wishes. Fellowships are normally awarded to employed scholars who are expected to return to their positions. Verification of employment will be requested prior to approval by the Dean of the Faculty. PhD required.
Deadline
The deadline for receipt of applications and letters of recommendation for fellowships for 2025/2026 is December 1, 2024, 11:59 p.m. EST. Applicants must apply online and submit a CV, cover letter, research proposal, abstract of proposal, research title, and contact information for three references.
The work location for these positions is in-person on campus at Princeton University.
For more information about how to apply, visit our fellowship information page.