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Graduate Fellowship in Community-Based Research (CBR)

CU Engage is happy to announce the return of the Graduate Fellowship in CBR! 

CU Engage’s Graduate Fellowship in Community-Based Research helps train a generation of scholars in CBR practices/principles and prepares doctoral students for public scholarship careers. Emerging scholars are often forced to make a difficult choice – either engage in the community or do peer-reviewed research. The goal of this fellowship is to enable emerging scholars to build strong academic careers while working on public issues in partnership with community groups. 

The CBR Fellowship program includes a cohort of 4-6 PhD students, working with a CU Engage faculty member, each academic year.  Fellows work together to support each other in designing, implementing CBR projects, and to explore ways of disseminating and translating knowledge gained through CBR projects.  Fellows will participate in:

• A CBR Summer Institute that introduces the Fellows to critical social theory and roots of community-based participatory research (two 4-hour sessions). 

• In-person, bi-weekly research seminars, during Fall 2023 and Spring 2024, that focus on building the capacity of each Fellow to carry out high quality, ethical CBR. 

• Collaboratively designing and implementing a CBR Spring Showcase which will bring together Fellows, their community partners, and their academic supervisors. 

• Structured activities that guide them through the process of writing 3 short pieces about their CBR project. We will consider the ways in which these pieces could be integrated in a scholarly journal article, conference presentation, and/or funding application.

All fellows receive a stipend to support their participation and CBR work:

• 4-5 fellows will receive $6,000 stipends, paid as supplement/overload appointments to .50 GRA or GPTIs. There are no tuition credits or health benefits connected to this award.

• 1 fellow will serve as the Cohort Organizer, and support planning and administration of the program in fall 2023.  The Cohort Organizer will receive a .25 Graduate Research Appointment (GRA) for the fall semester and $3000 to support their participation in Fellowship activities during the spring semester.

CU Boulder doctoral students from any department are eligible to apply. We give priority to partnerships with people or organizations working with historically marginalized communities or projects that work to promote equity. Because we want to encourage graduate students to align CBR with their academic training and traditions, we are open to a range of types of projects, ranging from natural sciences to the arts and humanities. Past cohorts have included graduate students from disciplines such as Mechanical Engineering, Ethnic Studies, Education, Computer Science, and Geography. 

LEARN MORE: Read this feature story about David Pfotenhauer, a Mechanical Engineering doctoral student who was part of the 2016-17 CBR Fellows cohort. David collaborated with a community-based organization to improve air quality in Denver.

Applicants must be in their 2nd-6th years during the 2023-24 academic year, and already have established a relationship with a community partner. The online application will close on Friday, May 5, 2023 at 5pm. .