Visiting Fellows Information

The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s Regional & Community Outreach (R&CO) department has funding to support up to three scholars with training in social science research to conduct one-year research fellowships that pay $15,000 for a published brief. We are now inviting applications for projects in 2025. The purpose of the fellowship is to produce short and timely research briefs in areas related to R&CO’s work: the economic conditions of low- and moderate-income households and communities in New England or nationally. This work should align with R&CO’s commitment to advancing equity in the region. Each fellow will produce one 3,000-word brief intended for a research and policy audience.

We will prioritize proposals emphasizing structural explanations and roles and not evaluation studies. We are looking for proposals that align with our goals for impact on improving conditions of economically excluded people and communities. This could be through widespread readership as well as being informative to policy, discussions, and practice. Research fellows will have the opportunity to work as a cohort to support each other’s progress and will be paired with a partner from the R&CO research team.

Studies may be quantitative or qualitative in nature and may employ a mix of research designs and analytic methods. Examples of R&CO’s past briefs are accessible on our website. Applicants may submit proposals with co-authors, but please note that in those cases, we will establish a contract with just one lead researcher.

Learn more about the Visiting Fellows Program.

Contract Period

Research support is intended for 12 months from the award date beginning in January 2025 to the completion of the research brief in late 2025. Applicants should note that R&CO has a multistage review process, requiring revisions at each stage (see Approximate Timeline section). This means final payments could extend into 2026.

Occasionally, fellows may also be invited to contribute insights from their research findings to be published as a short feature in our community development magazine, Invested. These additional opportunities would be covered in a separate contract.

Funding

Funding of $15,000 is provided to each fellow, to be disbursed as follows:

• Initial presentation to research team (outline and preliminary findings): $3,500
• Final presentation and draft ready for review: $5,000
• Revised draft following reviews: $5,000
• Published brief following additional revisions as required: $1,500

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

Proposals should be submitted electronically to sarah.savage@bos.frb.org by November 8, 2024, with the subject line “Visiting Fellows Program.” Applicants should provide the following materials as one PDF file:

1. Cover letter listing:
   • Researcher(s) name
   • Relevant research training
   • Project title
   • Plain language abstract (200 words or less)
2. Description of proposed work or ongoing project
   • Research questions and significance (relevant literature) (200 words)
   • Hypotheses (if applicable)
   • Methodology (200 words for Methodology and Data)
   • Data
   • Relevancy to R&CO’s focal areas and public policy or practice (200 words)
   • Project timeline
3. Plan for future work – how this project will support scholar’s plans for future research (200 words)
4. Current curriculum vitae
5. Indication of how you learned about the fellowship

SELECTION CRITERIA

Proposals will be evaluated by a subcommittee within the Boston Fed’s Regional & Community Outreach department. Decisions will be based on the research rigor, including being well informed by the literature, or potential impact of the proposed research. Second, we will seek to support proposals that contribute to the scholar’s broader research goals or that have policy implications. Third, priority will be given to junior scholars whose proposals meet the first two criteria. 

APPROXIMATE TIMELINE