
Resilience Fellows
Building capacity and connections
Through a 12-month fellowship program, representatives from both the community and university come together to share knowledge, discover gaps or opportunities, and respond to challenges. Working in community–university pairs, fellows conduct collaborative research focused on FUSE themes. To encourage collaboration and knowledge exchange, fellows meet weekly for six months and transition to monthly meetings for the fellowship's remainder.
Applications for the 2023 cohort are now closed. Email resilience.asu.edu to be notified about future calls for applications.
Benefits
$15,000 stipend to support research project
Training in media and communications
Rich opportunities to develop cross-sector partnerships and networking
Access to collaboration spaces within ASU upon request
Support from data visualization and analysis experts
Featured Projects


Tina Drews

Lauren Keeler
How can Arizona organizations support the development of resilience hubs?


Augie Gastelum

Rafael Martinez
How can we harness the power of community-based solutions to combat displacement?
Application Process
Please carefully review all three required materials.
Send final applications to resilience@asu.edu. Applicants must include full names, contact information, and email addresses for both themselves and their supervisor or employer.
Candidates applying as a pair may submit a joint project and intent statement but must send resumes and agreement documentation for each partner. Candidates who have not yet identified a partner should indicate this in their submission email.
Applications for the 2023 cohort are now closed. Email resilience.asu.edu to be notified about future calls for applications.
1 Resume
A brief 2-page resume highlighting experience and qualifications and any special skills relating to community resilience and/or exchanging knowledge.
2 Project and Intent Statement
Concise statement explaining (a) the reason the applicant desires to participate in the fellowship, including (b) identification of the project idea and how it builds community resilience at a systems level, under one or more of the FUSE themes, (c) how the funding support would be used, and (d) one personal learning or professional development objective.
3 Agreement Documentation
A letter or email from the department level supervisor indicating agreement with the use of the fellowship stipend in the applicant’s submission.
FAQ
What are the eligibility requirements for KER fellows?
Resilience fellows participate in a diverse cohort of academic and community fellows. Candidates will need to meet either the academic or community fellowship classification requirements to be eligible for the program.
Academic Fellow
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Successful academic fellow applicants may be tenure-track or non-tenure-track professors at any level (assistant, associate or full), scholars with instructor or research appointments, or post-doctoral research associates in any discipline.
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Graduate or undergraduate students are not eligible.
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Eligible applicants may be affiliated with any department, school or research center across all Arizona State University campuses in Maricopa County.
Community Fellow
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Successful community fellow applicants may be employed by any of the following types of institutions: non-profit organization, local and regional municipality, government agency, philanthropic, non-governmental or religious entities.
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Private sector business applicants may be considered if the enterprise's primary mission relates to a proposed community resilience theme or solutions space.
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Sole proprietors or unaffiliated entrepreneurs are not eligible.
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Community partner applicants should have sufficient experience, stature or permissions in their home institution to enable substantive collaboration, whether through data exchange, access to institutional programming or relationships with beneficiaries. They should also have sufficient opportunity to implement what they learn during their fellowship at their home institution.
What is the difference between an academic and community fellow?
The only difference between community and academic fellows is the classification based on their home organization. Both types of fellows receive program benefits and will be placed in the same fellowship cohort under the general name KER fellows.
Fellows will work in community-university pairs to complete collaborative projects. Candidates who already have a partner in mind can apply as a pair. Our team will help match candidates who applied as individuals with an appropriate partner.
What criteria is used for selection?
A heavy emphasis is placed on the proposed project and the potential to contribute knowledge to strengthen community resilience and bridge academics, practitioners and the public. The project must focus on a topic within the FUSE framework.
Three additional criteria include:
- The individual applicant’s potential to contribute to insights, actions or solutions related to a specific social, economic and/or environmental resilience challenge, as proposed in the application.
- The merit of a proposed idea to advance understanding on community resilience broadly and systematically.
- The possibility for innovative creation and/or use of data, including participatory methods to support the synergetic exchange of knowledge within the cohort.
These factors are considered along with meeting the eligibility criteria for an academic or community fellow classification.
How is funding allocated?
The $15,000 award for research can be used to support project needs in many ways. Examples of funding allocation for academic and community fellows is below.
Academic – Funding support type will be determined in coordination with the department:
- Pay for summer salary.
- Employ a research assistant for one semester.
- Cover costs of data acquisition.
- Coordinate local travel, supplies, open access publication fees or a combination of those.
The funds are proposed by the fellow and agreed upon by their director or chair.
Community – Fellows can work with KER up to 19.5 hours per week. Their home institutions will agree to allow for a reduction in workload to accommodate the fellowship.
- Their home institution will receive up to 49% of their current salary to permit time release to the project, allowing the fellow to keep the full salary and fringe benefits of their present employer.
- Funding may also cover operating expenses for data acquisition, local travel, supplies or open access publication fees.
What is the time commitment?
The 12-month program design features a six-month phase for discovery and knowledge exchange, followed by another six months for project implementation.
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January – June: Fellows will attend weekly cohort meetings during the first six months, where they'll receive guidance from the KER Executive Director and team to develop, revise and establish driving project questions.
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July – December: Fellows will attend monthly cohort meetings. During this period, fellows will test, refine and implement projects within the community and university.
COVID-19 Update: The meetings' format may be in person or virtual based on university guidance and specific health-related contexts.
What are the final expectations of the fellowship?
Fellows will produce and present three deliverables by the end of the fellowship period:
- An analysis of their community resilience question.
- A creative deliverable, such as a data dashboard, an organization roadmap or a manuscript draft intended for submission to an academic journal or community practitioner white paper.
- Comprehensive summary submitted to KER staff that includes data, insights, outcomes and contributions for public distribution.
What is the timeline after I submit my application?
- Notifications of selection – early November 2022
- Public announcement – December 2022
- Fellowship begins – late January 2023
- Project implementation begins – no later than July 2023
- Project showcase – November 2023
- Fellowship ends – December 31, 2023
Who can I contact with further questions?
Request for notification of future calls for applications may be sent by email to resilience@asu.edu. Other inquiries may be addressed to Dr. Patricia Solís, Executive Director, at patricia.solis@asu.edu or Dr. Elizabeth Wentz, Director, at wentz@asu.edu.