2015-2016 Additional Insights International Research Fellowship New York University’s newly established internationally focused center, Global TIES for Children: Transforming Intervention Effectiveness and Scale, is pleased to announce the 2015-2016 Additional Insights International Research Fellowship. Led by Dr. Larry Aber, with support from the Hewlett Foundation, the Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund at the World Bank, and Innovations for Poverty Action, we are seeking applicants from around the world who are interested not only in whether interventions improve the lives and well-being of low-income women and children, but for whom, why, and where do they do so. This fellowship seeks to generate actionable evidence through using state-of-the-art advanced research methodologies to evaluate variation in, and mechanisms of, program impact while also investing in future research leaders through mentorship, professional development, and training activities. About the Fellowship The Additional Insights International Research Fellowship is a rigorous, multi-disciplinary program for emerging scholars (advanced doctoral students through early career research scientists) in the applied social sciences. This fellowship capitalizes on existing and under explored resources – the many hundreds of impact evaluations conducted in low- and middle-income countries over the past decade – and seeks to both build our knowledge base as a field about the factors that contribute to or detract from program success and to train a new cohort of scholars on how to best approach such questions within experimental designs. The fellowship targets programs that seek to improve women’s economic empowerment and/or children’s development (education, early childhood, socio-emotional, mental health) in low- and middle-income countries. Participating scholars will both be trained in rigorous, settings-level1, secondary data analytic techniques and supported in answering and reporting on a research question of their own selection within the parameters of better understanding for whom, why, and where such programs work. Fellows are expected to produce a paper suitable for publication on their question(s). Answering the kinds of questions addressed throughout this project is crucial to guiding the replicability and scalability of successful programs. Exploring such questions, concerning variation in and mechanisms of program impact, also greatly increases the returns yielded from (very expensive) large-scale interventions. We believe that this work, and the fellows selected and trained through this program, will push forward the field in its use (and sharing) of large-scale intervention data toward greater insights, and thus better outcomes, in women’s economic empowerment and child development in low- and middle-income countries. 1 Settings-level analytic techniques refer to analyses that look beyond individual outcomes; nest individuals within families/schools/communities; and/or expressly evaluate the role of context on outcomes and trajectories. Program Structure This fellowship has a two-stage application process (see below for application requirements). Initial applications are due February 16th, 2015. Finalists for participation in this fellowship, based on this application, will be notified by March 2nd, 2015. These finalists will then be asked to propose specific research question(s) based on data from one of approximately twenty international studies with varying degrees of settings-level and other mediating or moderating variables. These proposals will be due on Monday, March 30th, 2015. From these proposals, ten fellows will be selected for the 2015 fellowship. Fellows will be notified of this decision in April 2015 and supported in clarifying and fine-tuning research questions as needed in May 2015. In the summer of 2015, fellows will participate in a week long Summer Training Institute at NYU Abu Dhabi. This summit has been tentatively scheduled for the week of June 15th. The Summer Institute will be composed of mixture of methodological presentations, plenary addresses, and statistical workshops with a high degree of individual support to researchers’ specific analyses. The focus is on furthering fellows’ understanding of variation in program impact and why it is critical to understand and assess; strengthening fellows’ analytic skills; teaching specific techniques for such secondary data analyses; and creating a structured, supported setting in which fellows can begin work toward answering their research question(s). Presentations and workshops will be led by researchers and statisticians trained in the use of secondary and settings-level analytic techniques. Fellows will also be provided with one-on-one support specific to their research questions throughout the Institute. The goals of the institute are both to learn new analytic techniques and to apply these techniques to specific questions of interest in the field of women’s economic empowerment and/or child development. It is expected that fellows will return home fully launched into their own research and well-positioned to complete a paper on their proposed questions. In the year following the 2015 Summer Institute, consultation will be available to further support fellows in finishing and presenting and/or publishing on their research. Financial Support Fellows will receive modest financial assistance in support of this work as well as a small honorarium on completion of their research. There are two levels of support. At the start of the fellowship, fellows from low- and middle-income countries will receive $8,000 and fellows from high income countries will receive $3,000 in support of the work itself. This differential is an attempt to compensate for the likelihood of differential resources available to fellows from sources outside of the fellowship. Upon completion of their research, all fellows will receive a $2,000 honorarium. Additionally, all travel, lodging, and meal expenses for attendance at the 2015 Summer Institute in Abu Dhabi will be covered. There is not specific coverage allocated for technological supports, such as statistical software, but the amount of financial support was established with such concerns in mind and should be viewed as an unconditional transfer toward supporting fellows’ time as well as additional research needs. Eligibility Criteria Applicants should be current doctoral students, post-docs, or early career researchers who finished their doctoral degree within the past five years and have a clear and demonstrable interest in conducting research on interventions to strengthen women’s empowerment and/or children’s development in low- and middle-income countries. Additionally, applicants must commit to attending the week long Summer Institute in Abu Dhabi in June 2015 and conducting additional research after their return home toward a paper suitable for publication on their proposed research question(s). Selection Criteria Successful applicants will demonstrate a keen interest in women’s economic empowerment and/or child development in low- and middle-income countries as well as a desire to learn and capacity/preparedness to perform high level statistical analyses in variation in program impacts. Finalists for the fellowship will be further assessed according to their proposed research question(s): its feasibility; the relevance of the question to informing work targeting women’s economic empowerment and/or child development; and how well the question aligns with program goals to promote rigorous secondary analyses of data from completed impact evaluations. Priority will be placed on selecting a diverse group of fellows who can best learn from and inform each other’s experiences. Application Instructions Applications should be submitted as a single pdf file including the applicant’s CV and a 300-400 word response to each of the following questions: 1) Why are you interested in better understanding variation in program impacts and why do you think this is a fruitful direction for the field of applied social science as a whole? 2) What experience do you have with experimental analyses, multi-level modeling, and/or other advanced analytic techniques? 3) Please discuss how your research interests align with those of promoting women’s economic empowerment and/or child development. Applicants should also arrange for two letters of recommendation to be submitted on their behalf. All application components must be received via email, addressed to Kate Schwartz, Project Director, at [email protected] by 5pm EST, Monday, February 16th. Please do not hesitate to contact us, in advance of this deadline, with any further questions. We welcome your interest and look forward to your application.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 23:03:53 +0000
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