2016-2017 Graduate Fellowship in Digital Scholarship

OVERVIEW

The Lewis & Ruth Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship invites applications for the 2016-2017 graduate fellowship in digital scholarship. The Sherman Centre’s role is to support members of the McMaster community as they experiment with and integrate digital scholarship tools, methods, and practices into both research and pedagogy.

The fellowship program is designed to assist outstanding graduate students who are interested in developing digital scholarship as a component of their research and pedagogical practice and to involve them in a community of researchers and practitioners engaged in digital scholarship at McMaster University and beyond.

Up to three one-year fellowships will be awarded. Current or accepted graduate students from all faculties at McMaster University may apply.

Information Session

If you are interested in the fellowship program, please join us for an information session on Friday, September 9 from 1:00-1:45 at the Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship

If you would like to know more about digital scholarship and how your research aligns with it, please join us for the first workshop in our Demystifying Digital Scholarship series, “Introduction to Digital Scholarship” on Friday, September 9 from 2:00-4:00 at the Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship. Register here for the workshop.

FELLOWSHIP FEATURES

The Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship is located on the first floor of Mills Library and offers a range of staff to support research projects, as well as a flexible technical infrastructure that fellows and other researchers may utilize. The Centre includes a presentation space, three public high-powered workstations that provide access to a wide range of digital scholarship tools, and an attractive and comfortable work environment for researchers.

The fellowship runs from October 1, 2016 until August 31, 2017 and offers these benefits:

• Dedicated work space in the Lewis & Ruth Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship
• Technical and project consulting, both with Sherman staff, as well as with other Library units (e.g.- Lyons New Media Centre; Maps, Data, GIS)
• Technical infrastructure to support projects
• Professionalization workshops (e.g.- CV building, journal publishing)
• Mentoring (e.g.- project planning and deliverables)
• Training workshops (e.g.- Demystifying Digital Scholarship)
• Networking with graduate students and faculty
• A $1,500 stipend

Expectations and Deliverables

• A minimum of 20 hours a month in residence
• Participation in the Centre’s activities and events
• A research presentation for the graduate colloquium
• Seven posts on the Sherman Centre blog (minimum two per term and a final post at the end of the fellowship) on project updates and/or related digital scholarship issues
• With support from staff, creation of a visualization of an aspect of their work to display on the Sherman Centre multimedia entryway
• A report at the conclusion of the fellowship that details project outcomes and outlines next steps

Eligibility

• Current or accepted graduate student at McMaster University
• Not previously a Sherman fellow

APPLICATION PROCESS

A complete application includes the following:

1. A personal statement (~500 words) that (i) explains how the year-long graduate fellowship supports and compliments your graduate research and training at McMaster University; and, (ii) addresses the role you see digital scholarship playing in your professional formation.
2. A project proposal (1500 words maximum) that provides a succinct description of the project you wish to undertake during the 12-month fellowship term. The project could be part of or complementary to your thesis or dissertation work. Possible sections to include in the proposal: (i) a description of the project, including the form it will take, its intended audience, a preliminary project timeline, and inspirational projects and works; (ii) a description of the technical requirements, skills, and expertise necessary to achieve the project goals; (iii) if applicable, a description of the data or corpus required and how access to it will be obtained; and, (iv) possible dissemination outcomes, which may include, for instance: a public installation, a scholarly publication, a conference paper, a poster, a public data set.
3. A current C.V.
4. A list of two references.

Submitting your application

Please submit each document as separate PDFs attached in a single e-mail and include your last name in all of your filenames.

Applications should be sent to Dr. Andrea Zeffiro, Academic Director (zeffiroa@mcmaster.ca) by 5pm on Friday, September 16, 2016. Please include ‘SCDS Graduate Fellowship’ in the subject line.