Applications Now Open for the 2025 Fellowship

About SEEKCommons

The Socio-Environmental Knowledge Commons (SEEKCommons) project is dedicated to building pathways for horizontal collaborations across Science and Technology Studies (STS), Open Science (OS), and socio-environmental researchers and community organizers.

The SEEKCommons Fellowship is an initiative to bring graduate students and early-career researchers to socio-environmental research with common technologies. Our program is designed to:

  • Encourage new integrative practices involving socio-environmental and climate action research with OS practices; and
  • Provide a space for fellows and network members to collaborate on common research tools, issues, and challenges.

We are seeking 9 fellows for the 2025 SEEKCommons Fellowship. More details below:

  • Application Form Open: Nov. 7–Dec. 15, 2024
  • Successful Fellows notified: Jan. 31, 2025
  • Fellowship begins: Feb. 10, 2025
  • Fellowship ends: Nov. 10, 2025

Priority Topics for Fellowships

Priority will be given to applicants with community-based projects on:

  • Open technologies for data management, formats, standards, protection, and sharing strategies;
  • Creating/adapting tools or workflows to support the reuse of open research technologies;
  • FAIR Implementation Profiles for socio-environmental research for public benefit with orientation of CARE principles;
  • Equity, collaboration, and justice in socio-environmental studies;
  • STS research on responses to OS institutional mandates, data protection and sharing practices, and anti-commoning practices with the commercialization of the sciences.

Partnering Organizations

Applicants can present a project to collaborate with one of our partnering organizations:

Please follow the links above to learn more about the research questions that our partners would like to respond with the help of SEEKCommons Fellows.

Eligibility Requirements

In order to be eligible for this fellowship program, you must:

  • Be currently enrolled in a graduate program, or hold a postdoctoral appointment, or be a professional practitioner working in a community-based organization;
  • Demonstrate clear alignment with the goals and objectives of the SEEKCommons project. This will be assessed via your application materials.

Of the nine fellowships offered in each cohort, at least one will be reserved for:

  • An indigenous STS fellow working on the priority topics listed above under “potential research topics”
  • An applicant that engages with the research questions elaborated in partnership with OSHWA or Tor Project.

Please review our SEEKCommons Fellowship FAQ for additional eligibility information.

Fellows’ Responsibilities

To successfully participate in the fellowship program, fellows will be expected to be actively involved in cohort activities, including:

  • Participation in once-monthly virtual cohort meetings (total of 9);
  • Participation in, at least, 7 virtual workshops during the duration of the fellowship, with the option to join additional workshops;
  • Engagement with mentors during the process of design, implementation, and completion of the proposed project;
  • Participation in annual in-person SEEKCommons Network convening (travel funding provided).
  • Work with SEEKcommons team and network members to curate content for the Resource Hub;
  • Document research work through public, multimedia formats (i.e. blogs, video, social media) so the benefits of the fellowship are shared publicly and widely;
  • Preparation of a final research product (i.e. peer-reviewed publication, software package, hardware project, white paper, website, data portal, conference poster/presentation). Post-docs will be required to pursue, at least, one peer-reviewed publication;
  • Participation in entry and exit surveys conducted by the SEEKcommons team.

SEEKCommons Fellows will benefit from these offerings:

  • Stipends: $8,000 graduate students, $12,000 post-docs and professionals
  • Mentorship from SEEKCommons project and network members
  • Training in OS, STS, and Socio-environmental research topics
  • Participation in virtual meetings and annual SEEKCommons convenings
  • Access to computing infrastructure (via SEEKCommons Lab)

Applications due by Dec. 15, 2024

Read our FAQ to learn more and apply here.

SEEKCommons is a collaboration between partners at: University of Notre Dame, University of California Davis, University of Michigan, University of Virginia, and the HDF Group. The project is made possible by a National Science Foundation FAIROS RCN grant (Award 2226425). This award was jointly supported by the NSF Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences and the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure.