Page/Post Type: Programs

HFG Emerging Scholars

STANFORD, CA – MARCH 09: A person walks past archways during a quiet morning at Stanford University on March 9, 2020 in Stanford, California. Stanford University announced that classes will be held online for the remainder of the winter quarter after a staff member working in a clinic tested positive for the Coronavirus. (Photo by Philip Pacheco/Getty Images)

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Emerging Scholar Awards (formerly the Harry Frank Guggenheim Dissertation Fellowships) recognize promising researchers in their final year of writing a doctoral dissertation examining a salient aspect of violence.

The Foundation welcomes proposals from any of the natural and social sciences or allied disciplines that promise to increase understanding of the causes, manifestations, and control of violence and aggression. Highest priority is given to research that addresses urgent, present-day problems of violence—what produces it, how it operates, and what prevents or reduces it.

The Foundation is interested in violence related to many subjects, including, but not limited to, the following:

  • War
  • Crime
  • Terrorism
  • Family and intimate-partner relationships
  • Climate instability and natural resource competition
  • Racial, ethnic, and religious conflict
  • Political extremism and nationalism

The Foundation supports research that investigates the basic mechanisms in the production of violence, but primacy is given to proposals that make a compelling case for the relevance of potential findings for policies intended to reduce these ills. Likewise, historical research is considered to the extent that it is relevant to a current situation of violence. Examinations of the effects of violence are welcome insofar as a strong case is made that these outcomes serve, in turn, as causes of future violence. 

The Emerging Scholar Awards 

The award is $25,000 for one year and contributes to the support of a doctoral candidate to enable the completion of a dissertation that advances the Foundation’s research interests described above in a timely manner. They are available only to students for support during the final year of Ph.D. studies.

The award does not support doctoral research.Applicants may be citizens of any country and studying at colleges or universities in any country. 

Timing

Applications for the awards open on November 1, 2023 and must be received by February 1, 2024 for a decision in June. Final decisions are made by the HFG Board of Directors at its meeting in June 2024. Applicants will be informed promptly by email of the Board’s decision. Awards ordinarily commence on September 1, but other starting dates (after July 1) may be requested if the nature of the project deems this appropriate.

Eligibility

Applicants for an award must be Ph.D. candidates entering the dissertation stage of graduate study. Usually, this means that fieldwork or other research is complete and writing has begun or will at the beginning of the award period. If analysis and writing are not far enough along for an applicant to be confident that the dissertation will be completed within the award year, an application should not be submitted. In some disciplines, particularly experimental fields, research and writing can reasonably be expected to be completed within the same year, and in those cases, it is appropriate to apply.

Application

Candidates for the Harry Frank Guggenheim Emerging Scholar Awards may apply online annually between November 1 and February 1. Applicants must create an account to access the application and guidelines. The guidelines are also available through the second link below.

Online Application (Login required)

Application Guidelines (PDF)

Advice for Applicants (PDF)

Recent Recipients

2023

Tessa Devereaux Evans (Cornell University). To Have and to Hold: The Determinants of Insurgent Gender Governance
Eldad Levy Guerrero (University of Texas at Austin). Making a Market for Security: Private Security Entrepreneurship in Mexico City
Tauhid bin Kashem (University of California, Irvine). Violence and Protection at the Borders of the Refugee Regime: Refugee Response in South and Southeast Asia
Isabel Laterzo (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). The Politics of Public Security: An Analysis of Campaigns and Policy in Brazilian States
Britni Moore (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign). Police Recruits and the Discursive Construction of Rape in Sexual Assault Training
Ana Paula Pellegrino (Georgetown University). The State That Forges Armed Criminal Groups
Apekshya Prasai (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Gendered Processes of Rebellion: Understanding Strategies for Organizing Violence
Matthew Schissler (University of Michigan). Cultivating Islamophobia: Fear, Revulsion, and a Buddhist Movement Against Muslims in Myanmar
Natán Skigin (University of Notre Dame). Punitive Solidarity in Drug Wars: How Human Rights Campaigns Shape Prosocial Behavior and Criminal Justice Preferences

See Full List

HFG Distinguished Scholars

BERLIN – MAY 06: A visitor looks at an exhibit of index cards from the post-World War II investigation of members of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), one of the main security orgainzations of the Nazis and led by Heinrich Himmler, at the Topography of Terror documentation center and museum on May 6, 2010 in Berlin, Germany. The center, which stands on the site of the former Gestapo and SS headquarters building, documents the role of the Gestapo, the SS and other instruments of terror of the Nazis with exhibition spaces, a library, events and a special scholars’ archive. The Topography of Terror center is scheduled to officially open with an official ceremony later today. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Distinguished Scholar Awards (formerly the Harry Frank Guggenheim Research Grants) recognize leading researchers proposing to make a significant contribution to illuminating an issue of violence.

The Foundation welcomes proposals from any of the natural and social sciences and aligned disciplines that promise to increase understanding of the causes, manifestations, and control of violence and aggression. Highest priority is given to research that addresses urgent, present-day problems of violence—what produces it, how it operates, and what prevents or reduces it.  

The Foundation is interested in violence related to many subjects, including, but not limited to, the following:

  • War
  • Crime
  • Terrorism
  • Family and intimate-partner relationships
  • Climate instability and natural resource competition
  • Racial, ethnic, and religious conflict
  • Political extremism and nationalism

The Foundation supports research that investigates the basic mechanisms in the production of violence, but primacy is given to proposals that make a compelling case for the relevance of potential findings for policies intended to reduce these ills. Likewise, historical research is considered to the extent that it is relevant to a current situation of violence. Examinations of the effects of violence are welcome insofar as a strong case is made that these outcomes may serve, in turn, as causes of future violence. 

The Distinguished Scholar Awards 

Most awards fall within the range of $15,000 to $45,000 per year for periods of one or two years. Applications for larger amounts and longer durations will be considered but must be strongly justified. The awards are made to individuals (or sometimes two or, rarely, three principal investigators) for specific projects, not general research support. They are not awarded to institutions for institutional programs. Individuals who receive research grants may be subject to taxation on the funds awarded.

Timing

Applications must be submitted by August 1, for a decision in December. Final decisions are made by the Board of Directors at its meeting in December. Applicants will be informed promptly by email of the Board’s decision. Awards ordinarily commence on January 1, but later starting dates may be requested if the nature of the research deems this appropriate.

Eligibility

Applicants for an award may be citizens of any country. While almost all recipients of these awards possess a Ph.D., M.D., J.D., or equivalent degree, there are no formal degree requirements for the award. The award, however, may not be used to support research undertaken as part of the requirements for a graduate degree. Applicants need not be affiliated with an institution of higher learning, although most are college or university professors.

Application

Candidates for the Harry Frank Guggenheim Distinguished Scholar Award may apply online annually between May 1 and August 1. Applicants must create an account to access the application and guidelines. The guidelines are also available through the second link below.

Online Application (Login required)

Application Guidelines (PDF)

Advice for Applicants (PDF)

Recent Recipients

2024

Javier Auyero (The University of Texas at Austin). Police Collusion and Drug Violence: What is the Relationship?
Julie Chernov Hwang (Goucher College). How Terror Cells are Constructed: The Role of Social Networks
Melchesidek Chétima (University of Québec in Montréal) and Scott MacEachern (Duke Kunshan University). Slave-Raiders and Boko Haram on the Border
Rebecca Clift (University of Essex). Behind Closed Doors: Trajectories to Violence in Intimate Interaction
Mikkel Dack (Rowan University). Fighting Fascism: Eliminating and Preventing Violent Extremism Since WWII
Graham Denyer Willis (University of Cambridge) and Pedro Mendes Loureiro (University of Cambridge). More and Better Prisons, More and Worse Criminal Governance?: Exponential Prison Construction and Violence in Brazil
Alex Hinton (Rutgers University). “Never Again!” and the Problem of Prevention
Sami Miaari (Tel Aviv University) and Maha Sabbah-Karkabi (Ben Gurion University). Economic Opportunities, Criminal Activity, and Deterrence: Evidence from the Palestinian-Arab minority in Israel
Melanie-Angela Neuilly (Washington State University). At the Root of Lethal Violence: The French Death Investigation System and the Accuracy of Mortality Statistics in Violence Prevention
Jessica Stern (Boston University) and Megan McBride (Center for Naval Analyses Institute for Public Research). Assessing Mental Distress, Relative Loneness, Ideology, and Leakage in a Violent Extremism Intervention Dataset

See Full List

Knowledge Against Violence Speaker Series

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation Knowledge Against Violence speaker series provides timely research and analysis for an informed audience from leading violence experts.

Guest speakers, drawn from the Foundation’s network of scholars and practitioners, seek to illuminate the causes, manifestations, and responses to violence in areas such as war, crime, terrorism, intimate relationships, climate instability, and political extremism. 

The 90-minute events are open to the public.

Follow the Foundation on X/Twitter and sign up for our newsletter to register for these and other HFG events.

Announcing the Spring Speaker Series

The Foundation’s 2024 Knowledge Against Violence speaker series begins this spring with two conversations:

“Local or Global? The Future of Peacebuilding in Africa”

On May 2, the academic and practitioner worlds converge in this sit-down conversation between Séverine Autesserre, Chair of Political Science at Barnard College, and João Honwana, Former Director of the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs of the UN. They’ll discuss the tensions that often exist between the international peacebuilding agenda set by the United Nations and the local implementation realities.

Register for virtual or in-person attendance here.

“Conflict and Climate: How Global Warming Leads to Global Violence”

On March 21, three academics examined the complex relationship between conflict and climate at HFG’s first speaker series event of 2024. They discussed how climate intersects with other vulnerabilities and how these factors contribute to violence often attributed to climate change.

Watch the video recording here.

Global Perspectives on Gender-Based Violence Series

In the fall of 2023, the Foundation hosted the “Global Perspectives on Gender-Based Violence” series. Conversations featured practitioners and HFG grantees connecting the latest research to practices and policies aimed at understanding and addressing gender-based violence. Videos of the series can be found below. Learn more about the series here.

Discussions

02/16/2023

“Protectors or Predators: Understanding Urban Gang Violence Around the World” Panel

Nicholas Barnes is a Lecturer in the School of International Relations at the University of St. Andrews, David C. Brotherton is Professor of Sociology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Adeem Suhail is an assistant professor in social anthropology at Franklin and Marshall College, and Rosette Sifa Vuninga is Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of the Western Cape’s Centre for the Humanities Research.

Watch Video
09/17/2022

“Rising Violent Crime in Mexico” Panel

Angélica Durán-Martínez is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Global Studies PhD program at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Guillermo Trejo is Professor of Political Science, and Director of the Violence and Transitional Justice Lab at the University of Notre Dame. Javier Osorio is an Assistant Professor in the School of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Arizona.

Watch Video
05/03/2022

“Why We Fight”: Dr. Chris Blattman

Dr. Chris Blattman is the author of Why We Fight: The Roots of War and Paths to Peace and Ramalee E. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies at The University of Chicago, in Harris Public Policy and The Pearson Institute.

Watch Video

Programs

Through its research activities, The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation supports work in the social and natural sciences and aligned disciplines to increase understanding of the causes, manifestations, and control of violence in the contemporary world.

Signature research awards include the Harry Frank Guggenheim Distinguished Scholars, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Emerging Scholars, and the Harry Frank Guggenheim African Fellows.  

The Foundation also conducts, commissions, and publishes original research on contemporary problems of violence. It organizes conferences, seminars, briefings, and other convenings to explore particular issues of violence. 

Priority is given to work that addresses urgent, present-day problems of violence—what produces it, how it operates, and what prevents or reduces it.

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – OCTOBER 21: Members of the South Korean Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team are surrounded by smoke October 21, 2004 during a ceremony to commemorate the 59th anniversary of the national police in Seoul, South Korea. President Roh Moo-Hyun urged police to increase alertness to head off any terrorist attacks on the country by Islamic insurgents who oppose South Korea’s deployment of troops to Iraq. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

The Foundation is interested in violence related to many subjects, including but not limited to the following:

  • War
  • Crime
  • Terrorism
  • Family and intimate-partner relationships
  • Climate instability and natural resource competition
  • Racial, ethnic, and religious conflict
  • Political extremism and nationalism

The Foundation supports research that investigates the basic mechanisms in the production of violence, but primacy is given to work that makes a compelling case for the relevance of potential findings for policies and approaches intended to reduce these ills. Likewise, historical research is considered to the extent that it is relevant to a current situation of violence. Examination of the effects of violence are welcome insofar as a case is made that these outcomes serve, in turn, as causes of future violence.

The Foundation does not accept unsolicited requests for support.

RESEARCH GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS

The Foundation awards the following research grants and fellowships to scholars studying the origins and effects of violence in the U.S. and abroad.

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Distinguished Scholars

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Distinguished Scholar Awards (formerly the Harry Frank Guggenheim Research Grants) recognize leading researchers who propose to make a substantive contribution illuminating an important issue of violence. Applications are submitted by August 1 of each year and awarded in December.

Application | Past Grants

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Emerging Scholars

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Emerging Scholar Awards (formerly the Harry Frank Guggenheim Dissertation Fellowships) acknowledge promising graduate-student researchers in their final year of writing a doctoral dissertation that examines a salient aspect of violence. Applications are submitted by February 1 of each year and awarded in June.

Application | Past Grants

The Harry Frank Guggenheim African Fellows

The Harry Frank Guggenheim African Fellows (formerly the Harry Frank Guggenheim Young African Scholars) recognize promising doctoral-candidate researchers who are from, and studying on, the African continent and who propose to illuminate an issue of violence in or related to Africa. Applications are submitted by March 1 and awarded in July, biennially.

Application | Past Grants

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Research Fellow at Pembroke College, University of Cambridge

Selected by Pembroke College, this three-year award supports post-doctoral research proposing to make a significant contribution to the study of violence. Candidates are drawn from the disciplines of human, political, and social sciences, international relations, and aligned fields. The fellow is resident at, and admitted as a fellow of, Pembroke College during the fellowship.

ORIGINAL RESEARCH

Commissioned Research

The Foundation commissions research on topics of violence that are timely and important when a particular need or opportunity to advance understanding or dialogue arises. Recent examples of commissioned research include “Explaining the Past and Projecting Future Crime Rates” and “Projecting Illinois Crime Rates and the Impact of Further Prison Population Reductions.”

Self-Initiated Research

The Foundation and its staff undertake research of its own design on violence issues of note as occasions to contribute to scholarly or public discourse arise. Recent examples of self-initiated research include “Did De-Policing Cause the 2015 Homicide Spike?”

CONFERENCES AND CONVENINGS

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Conference at Pembroke College, University of Cambridge

During the Harry Frank Guggenheim Research Fellow’s tenure, the Foundation convenes a conference at Pembroke College on an aspect of the Fellow’s work with particular relevance for both the academic community and the realms of policy and practice.  

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Symposium on Crime in America at John Jay College of Criminal Justice

The Foundation’s flagship annual conference at John Jay College of Criminal Justice brings together researchers and policymakers with journalists to deepen public understanding and conversation related to the most pressing crime issues in the United States.  

The Harry Frank Guggenheim Masters Seminars

The Foundation regularly gathers experts to critique a scholarly or policy-oriented violence manuscript in progress to help focus and sharpen its arguments and enhance the value of the final product to academic or practitioner audiences.

Capitol Hill Briefings for Members of Congress and Staff

Since 2018, the Foundation has partnered with the Center on Evidence-Based Crime Policy at George Mason University to conduct Capitol Hill briefings for members of Congress and staff on timely issues related to violence and crime. Briefings have featured leading scholars discussing research that should inform the work of federal policymakers.  

The Council on Criminal Justice Violent Crime Working Group

The Foundation supports the work of this interdisciplinary group formed in 2021 to address the rapid rise in homicides in the U.S. and the need for policymakers and practitioners to identify and implement effective responses that are grounded in solid research. The group hosts online discussions about violent crime in the U.S. and publishes regular bulletins sharing its findings.

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