GWIS National Fellowship Program

Benefits & funding

• Up to US$10,000 per proposal. A budget above that figure is automatically disqualified.
• Funding period is one academic year, 1 July through 30 June. The award may not be renewed.
• Covers expendable supplies, small equipment for the recipient’s use, research publication costs, travel for field or collaborative research, subsistence during research travel (maximum $500), payment of an undergraduate assistant (maximum one third of the budget), and compensation for study subjects.
• Does not cover salaries, tuition, child care, travel to professional meetings, coursework travel, training, overhead or indirect costs, personal computers and tablets, living allowances, or general-use equipment.
• The two highest-scoring SDE designees receive added recognition as the Adele Lewis Grant/SDE Fellowship Winner and the Hartley Corporation/SDE Fellowship Winner.

Eligibility

• Open to any person who identifies as a woman in science, irrespective of race, religion, nationality, creed, national origin, sexual orientation or age.
• Applicants hold a degree from a recognised institution of higher learning; a completed bachelor’s degree is the baseline, and graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and established researchers all apply through the same competition.
• The research must be hypothesis-driven work in STEM, life science or a related social science field, performed at any institution in the US or abroad.
• GWIS membership is required by the application deadline. Membership is open to anyone with a baccalaureate degree; national dues run $85 regular, $60 transitional, $40 graduate student, and reduced international rates for members in lower-income countries start at $5.
• Financial need for research funding must be demonstrated. Projects that are already fully funded are not eligible, and pending funding sources must be disclosed.
• One application per applicant per cycle.

Application process

1. 1
   Join GWIS as a member before the deadline; membership approval takes up to 48 hours.
2. 2
   Read the program page and the application checklist, and confirm the proposed budget lines are allowable.
3. 3
   Create an account in the online application portal and build the applicant profile.
4. 4
   Complete the application form, which includes a 200-word project abstract and three 400-word statements on relationship to degree programme or career development, collaborative and mentoring capacity, and qualifications.
5. 5
   Upload a project description of at most four pages, excluding references and one optional appendix page, stating a testable hypothesis, specific aims, significance, methods, background, preliminary data and anticipated results.
6. 6
   Upload an itemised budget and justification of at most two pages, totalling no more than $10,000.
7. 7
   Request two letters of recommendation through the portal, one from an advisor or department head and one from another qualified evaluator, each on institutional letterhead and at most two pages.
8. 8
   Add supplemental documentation where it applies: animal or human subject approvals, collecting permits for field research, and a letter of invitation from a host institution if travel funds are requested.
9. 9
   Submit every item, including both letters, before the deadline at 5:00 pm US Eastern Time. Applicants are notified no later than mid-July, following the GWIS national meeting.

Program timeline

1. Deadline of the most recent cycle for all materials, including letters of recommendation, at 5:00 pm US Eastern Time

   Jan 12, 2026

2. Applicants notified, following the GWIS national meeting

   Mid-July 2026

3. Funding period for that cycle

   Jul 1, 2026 to Jun 30, 2027

4. Next cycle

   the competition runs annually; dates for the following round are posted on the program page and the application portal page