Interdisciplinary teams submit a research proposal on a sustainability topic that can be realized in a 9-month period.

Successful applications will receive $10,000 per team. During the project period (June – February), the fellowship cohort meets monthly with the MSSI to share progress, challenges and feedback. This cohort component is a central part of the fellowship. Fellows should expect to contribute approximately 5 hours a week to the program.

The team

• All applicants are ƽÌØÎå²»ÖÐ Graduate Students or Postdocs that will be at ƽÌØÎå²»ÖÐ for the duration of the fellowship
• All applicants must have approval from their supervisor(s)
• All applicants must commit to participate in monthly cohort activities, the MSSI Collective, and final project showcase

The project

• The project must be original sustainability research. It is not intended to support applied sustainability projects or the scale-up or dissemination of existing work. Other resources for sustainability projects at ƽÌØÎå²»ÖÐ:
  • ƽÌØÎå²»ÖÐ Office of Sustainability’s Sustainability Projects Fund: Seed funding for action-oriented sustainability projects at ƽÌØÎå²»ÖÐ
  • Weston Family Entrepreneurial Innovation & Sustainability: For Innovative startups addressing major global challenges
• The project must be a new idea. This funding is not intended to support existing research projects

$10,000 per team for up to 5 teams for projects running from June – December 2024.

A panel of ƽÌØÎå²»ÖÐ faculty members will evaluate proposals based on the following criteria (for details on each section, please see the application questions):

• Team
  • Interdisciplinary
  • Experience (formal or other) and knowledge (academic or other) to undertake this research
• Idea
  • Novelty and creativity
  • Link to sustainability
• Project plan
  • Feasible within the timeframe
  • Appropriate and well-defined research methods and deliverables
• Equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI)
  • How EDI considerations have been integrated in the development of the proposal