MBB Postdoctoral Fellowships
The Mind/Brain/Behavior Interfaculty Initiative (MBB) invites Harvard faculty to nominate candidates for the MBB Postdoctoral Fellowships for 2009-2011. These fellowships are two years in duration, but we will also consider applications for a single year or a single term (e.g., spring 2010).
Click here for a list of current MBB Postdoctoral Fellows
Purpose
These MBB postdoctoral fellowships are intended to advance the careers of young scientists and their fields of study. The primary goal is to support postdoctoral scientists who have achieved excellence in at least one of the disciplines that comprise the mind or brain sciences and who wish to pursue research that transcends disciplinary boundaries to connect two or more fields of study.
Guidelines
Each candidate's application must be brought forward to MBB by two Harvard faculty sponsors, one of whom is identified as the primary sponsor. We especially encourage applications on behalf of candidates whose sponsors originate from different departments and even schools, those who work with different model systems, or who analyze similar problems at differing levels of analysis. Successful postdoctoral proposals will seek to integrate across these disciplines or levels and demonstrate the unique issues that can potentially be solved through such collaboration. Candidates from within any Harvard school as well as those from outside Harvard are eligible.
Each fellow will be appointed in an academic department and will pursue his or her research in that department (or in multiple departments depending on the nature of the work). The nominating faculty members will be expected to supply office and research space as well as the necessary funds for carrying out the research. MBB will typically select two candidates for two-year fellowships. Fellows will receive a stipend at or above NIH levels based on previous experience.
Expectations and Requirements
Fellows are expected to be in residence during the years of their appointment. MBB is an interdisciplinary intellectual community of faculty members, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate and undergraduate students, therefore, fellows are expected to participate in MBB events and activities, especially when requested by the co-directors of MBB. Periodically, fellows will be required to discuss their work at small group meetings or submit a written report on their activities. Further, fellows are required to cite their MBB affiliation in any publications that result from work done during their tenure and to provide MBB with copies of the published work.
Application
The successful candidate will be selected by the MBB Faculty Steering committee. Nomination materials will be due on January 30, 2009 and include:
- Nomination cover sheet
- Curriculum vitae of candidate
- Succinct description of the proposed research and work plan (no more than 5 pages including hypotheses and empirical tests)
- • Letter from the Harvard faculty sponsors detailing the research accomplishments and suitability of the candidate for the position. This letter should describe the facilities that will be available to the fellow and the opportunities for exchange across labs or programs.
- Two additional letters of recommendation
All materials except “additional letters of recommendation” should be mailed or delivered as one packet to MBB by the application deadline. The two additional recommenders should send supporting letters directly to MBB by the deadline. We expect to send notifications in February, 2009. For an example of a funded award, please click here.