Center Opportunities
The Center provides funding and career opportunities for undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral associates and faculty. Read on to learn about our annual Calls.
Faculty Affiliate Program
CISS welcomes applications on a rolling basis for Faculty Affiliates. BU faculty and full-time lecturers from across the university who are engaged in research, teaching, or training in social sciences are eligible. Affiliate benefits include (a) opportunities to participate in Center activities and network with social scientists through affinity groups, pilot grant programs, paid student internships, workshops, conferences, and book events; (b) access to Center research support and services, media outreach, and event promotion; and (c) opportunities for leadership including serving on the Steering Committee and subcommittees. Affiliate terms are for five years, contingent on active participation in the Center. Please contact Deborah Carr, Director, Center for Innovation in Social Sciences (carrds@bu.edu), with any questions.
CISS Summer Mini-Grants Proposals
Please check back in Spring 2024 for information on the next application cycle.
The Center for Innovation in Social Science invites proposals for small grants to support faculty (tenure-track and full-time lecturers), postdoc, and graduate student research in the social sciences. The grants are intended to help foster new research or enhance in-progress projects. (See Summer 2022 recipients here). Types of eligible funding include (i) undergraduate research assistance (max: $1,500), (ii) research consultancies (max: $1,000), (iii) travel awards (max: $500), and training support awards (max: $500). Guidelines and instructions for proposals are provided in the featured article on our website here. This is a rapid-turnaround process, to help facilitate Summer ’23 research productivity. Proposals are due April 24, 2023; decisions will be issued by May 15, and funding starts June 1, 2023. Funding may be used through December 31, 2023. IRB approval for funded proposals must be approved/pending prior to June 1. (for PDF of call, click here: CISS Summer 2023 Minigrant Call). For more information and to apply, visit the webpage.
Boston University Summer Graduate Internships in the Social Sciences
Please check back in Spring 2024 for information on the next application cycle.
Together with CISS, the Associate Provost for Graduate Affairs and the Associate Dean, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, are pleased to provide stipend-supported summer internships aimed at introducing PhD students in Social Sciences fields to career opportunities at institutions beyond academia. Interns will bring to their roles the array of skills developed during their PhD training, including research and writing and area-based expertise. Internships run for approximately 10 weeks. Interns serve in their roles for no more than 20 hours per week and receive a stipend.
Previous internships sites included the City of Boston Mayor’s Office of Health & Human Services, The Department of Housing and Community Development, United Way of Massachusetts Bay & Merrimack Valley, Partners in Health, BU Office of the Provost/Academic Affairs, and the BU Center for Antiracist Research. Learn about the 2022 Summer Intern cohorts by visiting our webpage.
Additional Opportunities
CISS Paid Undergraduate Research Interns
Please check back in Fall 2024 for information on the next application cycle.
CISS offers year-long, paid undergraduate research intern support to social science faculty and CISS affiliates. We welcome proposals for internships where an undergraduate student(s) will focus on three thematic areas: 1) social justice and inclusion, 2) inequality, and 3) sustainability. The research project should draw on social science methods and explore questions related to human society and social behavior. Priority will be given to projects that directly involve undergraduates in the analysis and/or collection of data, where data are construed broadly to encompass qualitative, quantitative, archival, digital, and other forms. Center affiliates and BU faculty from any CAS department are eligible to apply. For more information and to apply, visit the webpage.
The Center also offers research assistant recruitment support. We provide faculty, lecturer, postdoc, and graduate student researchers is assistance in identifying undergraduate or graduate research assistant candidates. Through our website, weekly digest, social media accounts, and targeted email lists, we can reach a large number of students who may be interested in applying for the research positions you have available. We can assist with producing your job ad and provide information regarding pay rates, BU rules for employing undergraduate and graduate students, and lists of candidate attributes and job responsibilities that may be relevant to your position ad. Here you will find resources to identify, fund, and hire graduate and undergraduate students. If you would like your research assistant position promoted by the Center, please email the position description to us at ciss@bu.edu.
CISS Pilot Grants
Informational Session: Thursday January 25, 2024, from 3-4 pm
Application deadline: February 15, 2024
Please check back in Spring 2025 for information on the next application cycle.
The CISS Pilot Grant program is designed to provide funding for innovative research projects that explore cutting-edge social issues, especially those that align with the Center themes of inequalities and sustainability. The Center seeks applicants from social science faculty and CISS affiliates. Applicants are encouraged to adopt an interdisciplinary approach, such as integrating concepts or methods from multiple academic disciplines, or collaborating with a co-investigator representing a distinctive methodology or field of study. Funded projects should have the potential to attract subsequent external funding, and should yield concrete products at the end of the funding period, such as peer-reviewed journal articles or a book proposal. For more information and to apply, see visit the Faculty Pilot Grant webpage.
CISS Book Manuscript Incubator Small Grants
Informational Session: Thursday January 25, 2024, from 1-2 pm
Application deadline: February 15, 2024
Please check back in Spring 2025 for information on the next application cycle.
The Center for Innovation in Social Science and the Associate Dean of the Faculty for the Social Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences invite Boston University faculty to apply for small grants to support book proposal/manuscript “incubator” workshops. These workshops provide faculty an opportunity to receive feedback on their book proposal or manuscript draft through a day-long or half-day meeting in which key readers gather to provide guidance and suggestions. The Center anticipates awarding up to four grants of up to $1,000 each for a virtual or in-person book workshop held between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025. For more information and to apply, visit the Book Manuscript webpage.
CISS Postdoctoral Associates Program
Please check back in Spring 2025 for information on the next application cycle.
CISS invites applications from promising early-career associates from diverse disciplinary backgrounds to join a vibrant community committed to excellent, innovative research and teaching; interdisciplinary scholarship; and advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the academy. CISS Postdoctoral Associates will receive faculty mentoring, opportunities for teaching, professional development, and interdisciplinary networking. CISS Postdoctoral Associates are appointed for a term of two years, with the possibility of applying for a third year. CISS Postdoctoral Associates whose appointments begin in the 2022-23 academic year receive an annual (12-month) stipend, plus benefits. Associates also receive an annual allowance for research expenses and a one-time computer allowance. Associates will be encouraged to seek external funding for a third year (workshops on grant and fellowship application writing are included in the program’s professional development workshops and supports).
This program is open to all associates who employ social science theories or methods in their work; we are particularly interested in outstanding associates whose research spans disciplinary divisions. Meet our incoming Fall 2023 cohort view the News article.
All applicants must be eligible to work in the United States for the duration of the program (at least two years) and the program does not provide visa sponsorship or work authorization. If the candidate would require visa sponsorship from the program in order to be continually authorized to work in the US for the full duration of the program, then they unfortunately would not be eligible.