The SPA / Robert Lemelson Foundation Fellowship Program

Application Deadline: November 1, 2024.

  • About the fellowship
  • About dr. lemelson

The SPA/Robert Lemelson Foundation Fellowships are designed to provide graduate students working in the field of psychological anthropology with funding to pursue exploratory research for planning their doctoral dissertation research and /or methods training to prepare for their doctoral dissertation research. Research projects supported by the funding should have the potential of advancing the field of psychological anthropology.

Normally, fellows receive their awards after their first or second year of graduate training as they begin to develop their dissertation research projects. Proposed exploratory projects are evaluated for viability and the potential of resulting in future dissertation research that will advance the field of psychological anthropology. Preference is given to applicants conducting exploratory research abroad. We expect to award six or more fellowships (depending upon funding levels) in 2025 with each fellow expected to receive between $3,000 and $6,000 depending upon need.

Dr. Robert Lemelson

Dr. Robert Lemelson, Ph.D., is an anthropologist who received his M.A. from the University of Chicago, and his doctorate from the UCLA Department of Anthropology. He is currently an adjunct professor in the Department of Anthropology at UCLA. He is also the president and founder of The Foundation for Psychocultural Research, a non-profit research foundation supporting research and training in the neurosciences and social sciences, and the director of Elemental Productions, a ethnographic documentary film production company. In addition, he is a director of the Lemelson Foundation, a family foundation supporting invention and innovation for basic human needs and sustainable development in the United States and the developing world.

As a practitioner and strong advocate of psychological anthropology, Dr. Lemelson personally began the SPA/Lemelson student fellowship and conference funds programs in 2007 to encourage graduate student fieldwork in psychological anthropology and to support faculty conference gatherings meant to stimulate innovative and creative thinking in psychological anthropology. Through these programs, numerous graduate students have been enabled to establish field sites for themselves and several collections of scholars have been encouraged to meet, exchange ideas, and push the boundaries and frontiers of both theory and practice in psychological anthropology.

Application Form:

Application Instructions:

ELIGIBILITY

PERMISSIBLE USES OF ROBERT LEMELSON FOUNDATION FELLOWSHIP FUNDING

APPLICATION COMPONENTS

DEADLINE AND SUBMISSION DETAILS

Past SPA/RLF Fellowship Award Recipients

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2012