Research Fellowship Application

CSA Research Fellowship

The Communal Studies Association invites applications for our annual Research Fellowship competition to support research on historic or contemporary intentional communities.

Amount

$1600 stipend: $1000 given upon selection, $600 given after presentation of the research at a CSA conference. The winner is announced on May 1 of the award year, and the research is presented at the following year’s conference (e.g. the 2020 award’s research is presented at the 2021 conference).

Application Deadline

March 1st of the award year.

Applicant should provide

  • A curriculum vitae or resume
  • Letters from two relevant references.
  • A two-page description of the overall project including what the applicant proposes to do, how they plan to accomplish such research, its goals, and its overall relevance or significance
  • A timeline of research activities including when and how the research will be presented at the CSA conference (paper, panel, A/V presentation, performance, exhibition, etc.)
  • A bibliography of intended resources to be consulted during the grant project, and a statement that these resources are open to the applicant; resources may include literature available through a library, items in a specific archive, and/or participants in a field research project for which the applicant may need approval from their institution’s Institutional Review Board
  • A detailed budget identifying how the funds will be used (specify if funds other than this grant are to be used and identify their sources).

Criteria

Research must meet the goals of the mission of the CSA (to encourage and facilitate the preservation, restoration and interpretation of historic communal sites, to study intentional communities past and present, to communicate the successful ideas from and lessons learned by these communal societies) and result in tangible scholarship that must be presented at a CSA conference.

Research activities and presentation of the research at the CSA conference should be completed within one and a half calendar years of the awarding of the grant, unless special circumstances intervene. Any exceptions must be discussed with the committee and will be approved at their discretion.

Qualifications of applicant

  1. Must be a CSA member in good standing at the time of application and at presentation of the research. To become a member, go to the CSA membership page.
  2. Need not be affiliated with an academic or historical institution, but qualifications to complete the stated research should be demonstrated through the applicant’s CV/resume and letters of recommendation.

Application

To apply to this fellowship email your project and qualifications to:

info@communalstudies.org

CSA Research Fellowship Winners

  • 2008 – Laird Schaub
  • 2009 – no award given
  • 2010 – Shawn David Young
  • 2011 – Emily Lapisardi
  • 2012 – Torang Asadi
  • 2013 – Josh Fleer
  • 2014 – Tom Guiler; Steve Shipper (two awards given)
  • 2015 – Jaya Reinhalter
  • 2016 – Lina Verchery
  • 2017 – Christa Shusko
  • 2018 – Amy Hart
  • 2019 – Lisa Mychajluk
  • 2020 – Christopher Malone
  • 2021 – no award given
  • 2022 – John Sheridan
  • 2023 – no award given