Application Guide

Wadsworth African Fellowship

Applicant Profile

We will ask you to tell us about yourself and your home and host sponsors.

  1. Applicant contact information. This includes your full legal name (first, middle, and surname), email address and other contact details, and home country.

  2. Applicant educational history and current position. This includes your highest academic degree, the discipline of your degree, the year it was awarded, the institution where you received it, and your current academic appointment. We will also ask whether English is your and/or your institution’s primary scholarly language

  3. Host institution. Institution where you plan to pursue training.

  4. Host sponsor. Academic faculty or staff member at institution who will oversee your training. Please give full legal name: first, middle, and surname. Also give contact details.

  5. Home institution.  Institution where you received his or her prior degree(s).

  6. Home sponsor. Member of the home institution who is familiar with you and your proposed training. Please give full legal name: first, middle, and surname. Also give contact details. In some cases the host institution may be the same institution where you received your prior degree(s). If this situation applies, the home sponsor should be the head of a relevant department at the host institution or another member of the academic staff who is familiar with you, but who will not be acting as your host sponsor.

  7. Applicant personal information (optional). In an effort to promote greater equity in funding, we ask whether you are willing to share some confidential demographic information about yourself. We will remove any identifiers and analyze this data in the aggregate. This section of the application is entirely optional. Your answers to these questions will have no bearing on the success of your application. Our questions concern citizenship, gender identity, pronouns, sexual identity, disability, caregiving responsibilities, your parents’ highest level of education, income insecurity, race and ethnicity, Indigenous affiliation, and how you decided to apply for this program.

Plan of Study and Professional Goals

The application form invites you to answer three questions about your background and your proposed plan of study, your research interests and your professional goals or plans. You should read the questions and instructions carefully as you develop your answers.

Question 1: What is your background and what are your plans for study/training? Describe the ways in which you meet the eligibility criteria for the Wadsworth African Fellowship, your plans for study/training and your reasons for undertaking a doctorate in anthropology? [Limit: 1000 words]

It is important to describe your general background as well as your academic background in anthropology and/or in related disciplines. We prioritize students from groups that have been under-represented in South African universities. Explain why you are eligible in this light. You must also outline your academic and personal reasons for wanting to pursue a higher degree in anthropology. You should provide a strong justification for choosing your host institution. This justification should emphasize your training and research goals in the field. It is important to avoid generalities and to provide sufficient detail for the Foundation to understand why you have chosen your particular institution and sponsor.

Question 2: What are your research interests? Describe your research interests, either those already developed or those you hope to pursue in the future. [Limit: 1000 words]

Be as precise as possible about your research interests in the field of anthropology. Include a description of any prior research you have undertaken and how this relates to your training goals. Priority will be given to those applicants who have had relevant experience in the field and whose training goals are clearly designed to further prior interest and involvement in the field.

Question 3: What are your professional goals/plans and prospects for employment in your home country upon completion of your degree? [Limit: 1000 words]

Be as specific as you can be in the answer to this question. Please note that the Foundation expects recipients of the Wadsworth African Fellowship to return to their home countries upon completion of the fellowship (if not from South Africa) and engage in a career that is related to academic anthropology.

Budget

  1. Wadsworth African Fellowships may be used to cover travel, living expenses, tuition, student fees, insurance, books, research expenses, and any other relevant expenditures while studying at the Host Institution.

  2. Fellowship funds cannot be used for institutional overhead.

  3. The maximum fellowship is U.S. $20,000 for a year of study. Your budget should include expenses for one year. If you receive a Wadsworth African Fellowship, you will be provided with information on renewing the fellowship for subsequent years.

  4. If funds for research are included in the budget, please note that research expenses are limited to a maximum of $20,000 over the 3-year duration of  the fellowship.

  5. List only those budget items and amounts for which Wenner-Gren funding is requested. This budget should be in U.S. dollars. Include dollar amounts for each item and show how expenses were estimated.

  6. Before submitting your application, please read the information on U.S. tax issues if you are intending to be present in the U.S. during your fellowship period. Click here for more information.

Transcripts

You’ll have a chance to submit transcripts from your Home Institution. Please provide a translation if they are not in English.

Evidence of Language Competence

If the scholarly language of the institution where you hope to study is not your own, you’ll need to provide evidence that you have the language skills needed to succeed in the program.

Applicant's and Host Sponsor's Curriculum Vitae

The curriculum vitae should be typed or word-processed and formatted in the following manner.

  1. The curriculum vitae must be in English and may not exceed five pages in length.

  2. Be sure your name and your host sponsor’s name are on the top of each page of the curriculum vitae and number the pages.

  3. Use single-line spacing and 11-point font or larger. Use 1-inch (2.5 cm) left, right, top and bottom margins.

  4. You must submit these documents a format compatible with Microsoft Word 2003, or as an Adobe PDF. Acceptable document formats include “.doc”, “.txt”, “.xls” and “.pdf” extensions.