Apply Now! Wenner-Gren Foundation SAPIENS Public Fellowship Program

Wenner-Gren Foundation SAPIENS Public Fellowship Program

The Wenner-Gren Foundation invites applications for its Public Fellowship program. This year, the program will place one fellow in a two-year term (2022-2023) staff position at SAPIENS, the Foundation’s online magazine. The fellow will participate in the substantive work of the magazine and receive professional mentoring. The Fellow will receive a stipend of $50,000 per year and benefits through the University of Chicago Press. The Foundation cannot sponsor a U.S. work visa, but successful applicants may work outside the U.S. Acknowledging the precarity of early career anthropologists, the fellowship may thus be fulfilled by telecommuting from any location or by working at the Foundation’s headquarters in New York City.

This initiative aims to expand the role of doctoral education in the United States by demonstrating that the capacities developed in the advanced study of anthropology have wide application, both within and beyond the academy. The program allows advanced scholars to gain career-building experience in public media and science communication.

The Foundation seeks applications from recent PhDs who aspire to careers in public service by choice rather than circumstance. Competitive applicants will be able to demonstrate sincere interest in public anthropology and will have a record of success in both academic and extra-academic endeavors.

Job activities will include but are not limited to:

The position has five primary areas of work, which include the following: (1) oversee the magazine’s art editing process, (2) identify articles by anthropologists for republication, (3) oversee the magazine’s translated articles and process, (4) write Q&A articles and other content, and (5) oversee the magazine’s pedagogical projects. The Managing Editor will also regularly meet with the editorial team through Zoom to build a cohesive editorial vision for the publication and to ensure the publication’s editorial systems are effective and efficient; conduct online or in person workshops for anthropologists on the craft of writing; represent the magazine at conferences and other venues; and collaboratively work with editing colleagues within the publication through Slack.

Desired qualifications of applicants:

1. have a PhD in anthropology conferred between September 1, 2017 and September 1, 2021
2. defend and file/deposit their completed dissertations no later than September 1, 2021, and be prepared to verify this with official university documentation during the review and selection process; and
3. write fluent English, the primary language of the magazine.

Application procedures:

If you are interested in pursuing this opportunity, please apply through the jobs portal at University of Chicago Press, which hosts the position. Note that the two-year postdoctoral fellowship is titled “Managing Editor” for UCP’s administrative purposes. Review of the applications begins on September 15, 2021.

Your cover letter will be a critical part of the application review process. Please talk about 1) your past experiences and how they have led to an interest in this fellowship program, and 2) your vision for the mission of public communication, the future of SAPIENS, and your own future as a practitioner in the field.