Bourses du Beckman Center

2019-2020 Beckman Center Fellowships in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine

Call for Applications

The Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry at the Science History Institute, an independent research library in Philadelphia, PA, invites applications for new multi-year postdoctoral fellowships, as well as for one-year and short-term visiting fellowships in the history of science, medicine, technology, and industry.


Two-Year 80/20 Postdoctoral Fellowships:

The 80/20 postdoctoral fellowship program will allow the Beckman Center’s postdocs to build skills that can enhance their opportunities outside the academy or their work within it. Fellows will spend one day a week working closely with an Institute staff member from the library, museum, publications team, Center for Applied History, outreach group, Oral History Program, archives, or digital library team on developing skills in one of two areas: collections and curation, or outreach and exhibitions. The other four days each week, postdoctoral fellows will have access to the institution's considerable resources and ample time to develop and publish their own research. Applicants for postdoctoral fellowships must have their PhD in hand before the July prior to the start of the fellowship and must have earned that degree within the last five years. Postdoctoral fellowship stipends are $45,000, paid in monthly installments. For more information or to apply, go to: https://www.sciencehistory.org/fellowships



Visiting Research Fellowships:

Short Term and Dissertation Fellows take part in the activities of a class of roughly 18 fellows each year, creating a vibrant international community of scholars whose work is in some way tied to the Institute’s collections (see below) in the history of the life sciences, chemistry, and related sciences. Applications come from scholars in a wide range of disciplines across the humanities and social sciences. To see this year's list, go to: https://www.sciencehistory.org/current-fellows.



Dissertation Fellowships

9 Months in Residence; open to graduate students at the dissertation stage • $26,000



Short-Term Fellowships

1–4 Months in Residence; open to all scholars and researchers • $3,000 per month



Collection Strengths:

The research collections at The Science History Institute range chronologically from the fifteenth century to the present and include 6,000 rare books, significant archival holdings, thousands of images, and a large artifact and fine arts collection, supported by over 100,000 reference volumes and journals. Within the collections there are many areas of special strength, including: alchemy, mining & metallurgy, dyeing and bleaching, balneology, gunpowder and pyrotechnics, gas-lighting, books of secrets, inorganic and organic chemistry, biochemistry, food chemistry, and pharmaceuticals.



The deadline for all fellowship applications is January 2, 2019. Please see our website for more information or to apply: https://www.sciencehistory.org/fellowships/apply-for-a-fellowship