Mershon Center Residency Competition

Mershon Center Residency Competition
Fiscal Year 2023-2024
 

For a general understanding of Mershon's mission and funding goals, please review the overview of Mershon funding on our website.
 

Scope and eligibility

This grant is intended to help Ohio State faculty bring a scholar or practitioner to campus for an extended period of time in order to interact with Mershon affiliates and other relevant faculty, student, or public and community constituencies around security-related issues. Depending on circumstances, a residency may be as short as a few days or as long as a year. (For a lecture with just an additional course visit or other minor event, please apply for a Programming Grant or a director-reviewed Small Grant, depending on expense.)
 

This competition replaces previous visiting scholar arrangements. The Ohio State applicant is expected to serve as the immediate host for the resident, coordinating activities for them with the help of the Mershon staff and doing their best to ensure that the resident has a satisfying experience at Ohio State.

A residency should benefit both Mershon and the resident. While there will normally be a programming component (talks, film screening, etc.), the primary purpose is intellectual exchange. For example, a practitioner in peacebuilding might take a mini-sabbatical to talk with academics and read recent scholarship. In return, they might give a seminar on their practice and a workshop for students interested in NGO careers, or advise PhD students planning fieldwork. The seminar could lead to a publication or broadcast allowing them to synthesize the learning from their career for others.

Because this competition is a new experiment, we strongly urge prior consultation, especially for longer residencies. Mershon cannot offer salary replacement, full fellowships, or office space for long-term visitors (note, however, our postdoc program, with the next round in 2024-2025), but are interested in discussing what would make a visit feasible, recognizing the different circumstances of tenured scholars in the US, international visitors, community practitioners, and so on.

Applicants must think hard about the viability of their residency plan in relation to an overcommitted constituency and overprogrammed campus. They should also think clearly about their own bandwidth for hosting the visitor. Regular and affiliated faculty are eligible to apply. Postdocs and graduates may apply in collaboration with a faculty member. Collaborative applications from more than one unit are strongly preferred; applicants should demonstrate buy-in from relevant constituencies, up to and including co-sponsorship by another unit. In the case of an extended visit, the proposed resident should submit a plan of work.

Due date

April 1, 2023
 

Submission Instructions

All application materials should be sent via email attachments (coversheet saved as a Word document) to mershon.faculty@osu.edu  .  Please identify each electronic document with your last name, the grant, and document type (i.e. smithRESIDcv.doc or smithRESIDproposal.doc).

For questions regarding the application process or budget, allowable expenses, travel, or disbursement of funds, please contact Kyle McCray, Business & Operations Manager at the Mershon Center, at mccray.44@osu.edu or at 614-292-3810.
 

Coversheet