Visiting Research Scholar - Fung Global Fellows Program 2026-2027

Princeton University is pleased to announce the call for applications to the Fung Global Fellows Program at the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies (PIIRS). The program will select early-career scholars from around the world to be in residence at Princeton for an academic year (10 months) and to engage in research and discussion around a common theme. The fellowships will be awarded to those employed outside the United States who have a faculty appointment or a professional research appointment, and they will be expected to return to their positions at the conclusion of the fellowship. Lastly, they must have demonstrated outstanding scholarly achievement and unusual intellectual promise. Early-career scholars will be appointed at the rank of Visiting Research Scholar.

The program for the academic year 2026-27 will focus on "the Politics of the Archive." Selected fellows will explore the international inheritance of libraries, museums, and archives broadly defined and in any modern nation. Just how have these collections been created? And how are they now maintained, justified, or redacted in light of current politics?

Applicants may also be working on demands for redress for past appropriations. What forms have these taken, and when has curatorial re-contextualization or physical restitution been offered in response to such calls? How might digital technology overcome or reinforce asymmetries of knowledge production?

We will further be interested in considering projects examining instances where collections remain integral to national histories of resistance, or else contest such narratives, even transforming erstwhile heroes into collaborators. Finally, it seems appropriate at the present moment to consider the histories of, and potential for, the forced migration of custodians of memory.

Applicants may address any region of the world and may be from any disciplinary background in the humanities and social sciences. Applicants must apply online (please click the Apply button above). Applications are due on November 17, 2025 (11:59 p.m. EST).

To be eligible, applicants must have received their Ph.D. (or equivalent) generally after September 1, 2016. Candidates who are currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program or employed as postdocs are not eligible to apply. Fellowships will be awarded on the strength of a candidate's proposed research project, the relationship of that project to the program's theme, the candidate's scholarly record, and their ability to contribute to the intellectual life of the program. For more information, see: https://funggfp.princeton.edu/applications.

The following items must be submitted by the applicant, in English, by November 17, 2025:

• Cover letter (1.5 pages maximum)
• Curriculum Vitae (including publications)
• Research proposal (maximum of 3 pages, single spaced)
• One writing sample (article or book chapter, maximum of 50 pages)
• The names and email addresses for three referees, who will be contacted automatically by the online

application system with an invitation to upload their letter of recommendation to the system by the application deadline. (*Please note: all letters of reference should be submitted by your referees before the November 17, 2025 deadline.*)

Should an offer be made, successful candidates who hold faculty appointments or professional research appointments will be required to submit an official letter from their current employer affirming that they would be permitted to accept the offer and to spend the academic year at Princeton University.

The work location for these positions is in-person, on campus at Princeton University.

Princeton University is an Equal Opportunity Employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.