The Society of Christian Philosophers invites applications for its fifth round of its Graduate Student Cross-Training (GSCT) Fellowship Program, funded by the John Templeton Foundation, with fellowships to begin fall 2021. The GSCT Fellowship program is intended to equip graduate student members of the Society of Christian Philosophers, the American Catholic Philosophical Association, the Evangelical Philosophical Society, or the Evangelical Theological Society with an opportunity to take up to one academic year to develop competency in an empirical science connected with their research. The 2017-2018 fellows were: Allison Thornton (Baylor, biology), Isaac Wilhelm (Rutgers, physics), Vivek Mathew (Cornell, cognitive science and psychology), Eddy Keming Chen (Rutgers, physics), and Hayden Kee (Fordham, developmental psychology). The 2018-2019 fellows were: Nick Byrd (FloridaState, social psychology), Brittany Gentry (South Carolina, physics), Paul Rezkalla (Florida State, evolutionary anthropology), Brandon Rickabaugh (Baylor, neuroscience), and Wes Siscoe (Arizona, neuroscience/cognitive science). The 2019-2020 fellows were: Luke Kallberg (SLU, neuroscience), Sabrina Little (Baylor, developmental psychology), Derek McAllister (Baylor, psychology), Ashley Potts (South Florida, Psychology), and Alexandra Romanyshyn (SLU, psychology). The current 2020-2021 fellows are: Christopher Arledge (Johns Hopkins, physics), Dennis Bray (St. Andrews, psychology), Jennifer McDonald (CUNY, psychology), John Rosenbaum (Baylor, empirical linguistics), Ysabel Vandenberg (SLU, psychology).
Program Directors
Dr. Kevin Timpe
Calvin University
Dr. Christian B. Miller
Wake Forest University
Fellowships
Up to five fellowships will be awarded. Each GSCT Fellowship will provide recipients with a stipend of $31,000 and an additional research fund for the applicant of $3,000. This fund can support the purchase of books, journal subscriptions, or travel to disciplinary conferences, subject to the following conditions: (a) any books or journal/articles subscriptions must be for the purposes of cross-training in an empirical discipline; and (b) any travel costs must be for the purposes of traveling to a professional meeting, conference, or workshop in the cross-training discipline. The Society of Christian Philosophers will contract with recipients’ home institutions for the award monies, and the fellows’ home institutions will administer the award on behalf of the Society of Christian Philosophers. The home institution will be expected to continue providing fringe benefits and tuition support.
At the end of the fellowship period, each fellow will submit a 5-page narrative summary of their fellowship experience. Fellows will also be required to participate in two virtual events. The first of these will be reserved only for fifth-round fellows and take place in early to mid February 2022. The second, to be held in late spring 2022, will be open to all previous fellows as well. The second workshop will be a forum for past fellows to talk about their current scientifically engaged philosophy of religion or philosophical theology and network with previous fellows; there will also be a time for each participant to engage in some speculative brainstorming for future research ideas.
Course of Study
Eligible sciences for cross-training include psychology (with the exclusion of clinical psychology), physics, neuroscience, biology, zoology, paleontology, genetics, astronomy, and cognitive science. Acceptable courses of study might include a plan to audit or take for credit undergraduate and graduate-level courses, take up residence in a laboratory, or earn a degree in an empirical science. Fellows will be expected to undertake their study at their home institution, but study at another institution may be warranted in rare instances. All fellows must have a faculty mentor in their cross-training discipline.
Eligibility Requirements
The following requirements must be met for an application to be eligible for consideration:
Full Proposal Application Instructions
The deadline for full proposals is 1 March 2021, and awards will be announced by the end of April. Fellowships are to begin fall 2021. Applicants must submit to the following to [email protected]:
Selection Criteria
Applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria, in ascending order of importance: