Announcement of the Aurelius-Curie Interdisciplinary Fellowship

The Board of Governors of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Inquiry is pleased to announce the inauguration of the Aurelius-Curie Fellowship, a year-long program designed for scholars working at the intersections of philosophy, advanced sciences, and literary analysis. This initiative responds to a growing recognition that the most pressing questions of our era cannot be adequately addressed within the confines of a single discipline. The fellowship will support projects that rigorously investigate how scientific models, philosophical frameworks, and narrative forms mutually shape one another. Proposals might, for instance, examine how quantum theories of indeterminacy influence contemporary accounts of moral responsibility, or how emerging research in cognitive neuroscience complicates traditional notions of the unified self found in canonical literature. Particular consideration will be given to candidates who resist the temptation merely to decorate scientific exposition with metaphor or to retrofit philosophical concepts into popular science writing. Instead, we seek scholars who can demonstrate a precise, critical understanding of how explanatory methods differ across fields, and who can elucidate what is lost when these methods are casually conflated. Projects that reveal both the reach and the limits of scientific explanation, without succumbing either to uncritical scientism or to reflexive anti-scientific skepticism, will be especially welcome. Applicants are encouraged to draw on diverse literary traditions, including but not limited to postcolonial fiction, experimental poetry, and speculative narrative. We are particularly interested in work that exposes how literary texts do not merely illustrate pre-existing theories but, rather, function as laboratories in which new conceptual tools are forged. An exemplary proposal might trace how a modernist novel anticipates contemporary debates about observer effects, or how science fiction reconfigures long-standing metaphysical disputes about time and causality. The Aurelius-Curie Fellow will receive a stipend, dedicated research space, and access to our high-performance computing cluster, rare books room, and philosophy of science archives. Over the course of the year, the Fellow will be expected to deliver three public lectures, co-teach at least one graduate seminar, and produce a substantial piece of publishable research that is accessible to informed readers beyond the Fellow’s home discipline. Eligibility is open to scholars worldwide who hold a doctoral degree or equivalent professional experience. While the working language of the fellowship is English, we strongly encourage applications that engage with non-Anglophone intellectual traditions and that challenge the implicit provincialism of much contemporary theory. Applications must be submitted by 15 March and include a curriculum vitae, a writing sample of no more than 10,000 words, and a project proposal clearly articulating the central research question, methodological approach, and anticipated contribution to at least two of the three focal domains: philosophy, advanced sciences, and literary analysis. Shortlisted candidates may be invited to participate in a virtual colloquium in which they will discuss a pre-circulated text with current fellows. By establishing the Aurelius-Curie Fellowship, the Institute affirms its conviction that nuanced, conceptually careful work across disciplinary boundaries is not a luxury but a necessity, if we are to think responsibly about the ethical, epistemic, and imaginative contours of an increasingly complex world.