The Climate Museum Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Climate and Inequality

The Climate Museum seeks applications from humanities scholars who wish to engage the public on climate change and inequality to fill a two-year full-time Post-Doctoral Fellowship funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The Fellowship will run from August 1, 2020 to July 31, 2022, concurrent with a Pre-Doctoral Fellowship on climate and inequality also funded by the Mellon Foundation.

The Climate Museum is the first climate-dedicated museum in the United States, working to mobilize the strengths of museum programming for public engagement. Since early 2017, the Museum has been building a practice of engaging the public and making climate solutions accessible through programming across the arts, sciences, humanities, and design. We had a breakout year in 2018, presenting In Human Time, an art exhibition about polar ice loss, deep time, and humanity, and Climate Signals, a citywide public art installation. In 2019, the Museum developed Climate Speaks, an ongoing, citywide, youth climate spoken word program, and Taking Action, a five-month solutions-focused exhibition, which closed in late October. 

The Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow in Climate and Inequality will serve on the leadership team responsible for the development and implementation of an exhibition at Governors Island in 2021 and will integrate an environmental humanities and justice framework throughout our programming, including the Museum’s Spring and Fall arts interventions and ongoing lectures and panels. Fellows will be encouraged to propose and help implement new approaches to engaging the public on issues of climate and inequality. 

The Mellon Fellowship is open to all candidates who have received their PhD in the humanities within the last five years and who have experience in climate and inequality. The Fellow will be in residence at the Museum full-time from August 2020 through July 2022, during which period they will become a key member of the Museum’s public engagement team. 

This Fellowship offers the opportunity to receive hands-on immersive experience developing and expanding public engagement strategy for the first museum in the United States dedicated to climate change. The position offers an unprecedented opportunity for Fellows to work at the intersection of climate and justice in a museum setting, supporting our early-stage initiative to meet the rising public demand for pathways into climate engagement and action. 

The fellowship includes a stipend of $63,000 a year, as well as health and dental insurance. Applications are due by March 15, 2020, video interviews will be arranged, and offers will be made by mid-April. Fellows will begin work on August 1, 2020. The Museum offers relocation assistance and a modest research budget to Fellows. 

Responsibilities 

The Post-Doctoral Fellow will support the expansion of the Museum’s engagement of the public on climate change, with a particular focus on the role of the humanities in justice-centered climate programming, through research and exhibition development. Both Mellon Fellows will have the opportunity to develop their public engagement skills and advance the work of an initiative at a formative moment of growth potential. 

After a training program on current best practices in climate communications and the Climate Museum’s approach to pedagogy, engagement, and outreach, with additional topics to be added based on Fellows’ backgrounds, Fellows will begin developing public engagement content and outreach. Their responsibilities will include: 

• Supporting the development of adjacent public programming for the Climate Museum’s 2020 exhibition

• Playing a central role in the planning and executing of the Climate Museum’s 2021 exhibition at Governor’s Island 

• Integrating an understanding of the intersections of climate and inequality throughout the Museum’s work, with a particular focus on developing adjacent public programming around our spring and fall arts interventions and our interdisciplinary programming 

• Conducting ongoing research on best practices for public engagement and outreach concerning the climate crisis and in particular its intersections with issues of inequality and justice 

• Envisioning and proposing new justice-oriented programs for the Museum 

The Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow will collaborate closely with the Mellon Pre-Doctoral Fellow and other members of the Museum’s public engagement team, including our Director, Arts Marketing Coordinator, and Special Assistant for Operations. 

Qualifications 

All applicants must: 

• Be recipients of a PhD degree in the humanities after June 2015 and before June 2020 

• Be able to work from the Climate Museum’s New York City office with periodic visits to Governors Island and other programming locations from August 2020 – July 2022. 

• Have a keen eye toward the role of the environmental humanities in expanding public engagement with climate change 

• Have an academic background informed by historical inquiry and subject-matter expertise in climate, inequality, or both 

• Have a strong orientation towards collaboration 

• Have an ambitious mindset and excellent time management skills 

• Be inclined to kindness and humor under pressure 

Application Process 

Applications are due on March 15, 2020. 

Application materials should include the following: 

• A cover letter detailing why you are a strong candidate and why this would be a good fit for you as well as the Climate Museum 
• A Curriculum Vitae 
• A 2-page single-spaced proposal outlining the public engagement work and research you would propose to conduct at the Climate Museum 
• Names and emails of 2 references who are able to submit confidential reference letters.  References will receive a request from the Museum to email letters of referral to careers@climatemuseum.org with the subject line “Mellon Post-Doctoral Reference Letter for [Your Name]. If you have experience doing public engagement work, or work around climate and/or inequality, one letter of reference should come from a person familiar with that work. 

The Climate Museum highly values diversity and views the climate crisis as a social justice crisis. People of color, indigenous people, people with disabilities, and people who identify as members of the LGBTQIA+ community are particularly encouraged to apply. 

Submit Application

The Climate Museum seeks applications from humanities scholars who wish to engage the public on climate change and inequality to fill a two-year part-time Pre-Doctoral Fellowship funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The Fellowship will be two days a week, running from August 1, 2020 to July 31, 2022 concurrent with a Post-Doctoral Fellowship on climate and inequality also funded by the Mellon Foundation.

The Climate Museum is the first climate-dedicated museum in the United States, working to mobilize the strengths of museum programming for public engagement. Since early 2017, the Museum has been building a practice of engaging the public and making climate solutions accessible through programming across the arts, sciences, humanities, and design. We had a breakout year in 2018, presenting In Human Time, an art exhibition about polar ice loss, deep time, and humanity, and Climate Signals, a citywide public art installation. In 2019, the Museum developed Climate Speaks, an ongoing, citywide, youth climate spoken word program, and Taking Action, a five-month solutions-focused exhibition, closed in late October. 

The Mellon Pre-Doctoral Fellow in Climate and Inequality will integrate an environmental humanities and justice framework throughout our programming, particularly our 2021 and 2022 Spring and Fall arts interventions, as well as ongoing panels and lectures. The Fellow will also support the development of exhibitions at Governors Island. 

The Mellon Fellowship is open to candidates pursuing doctoral degrees in the humanities (ABD) who have experience in climate and inequality. The Fellow will be in residence at the Museum part-time from August 2020 through July 2022, during which period they will become a key member of the Museum’s public engagement team. 

This Fellowship offers the opportunity to receive hands-on immersive experience developing and expanding public engagement strategy for the first museum in the United States dedicated to climate change. The position offers an unprecedented opportunity for Fellows to work at the intersection of climate and inequality in a museum setting, supporting our early-stage initiative to meet the rising public demand for pathways into climate engagement and action. 

The fellowship includes a stipend of $32,000 a year, as well as health and dental insurance. Applications are due by March 15, 2020, video interviews will be arranged, and offers will be made by mid-April. Fellows will begin work on August 1, 2020. The Museum offers relocation assistance and a modest research budget to Fellows. 

Responsibilities 

The Fellow will support the expansion of the Museum’s engagement of the public on climate change, with a particular focus on the role of the humanities in justice-centered climate programming, through research and exhibition development. Both Mellon Fellows will have the opportunity to develop their public engagement skills and advance the work of an initiative at a formative moment of growth potential. Pre-Doctoral Fellows will be encouraged to pursue lines of inquiry at the Museum that coalesce with their dissertation and other research interests, ensuring this Fellowship allows them to continue to advance their ongoing research in the environmental humanities and climate justice. 

After a training program on current best practices in climate communications and the Climate Museum’s approach to pedagogy, engagement, and outreach, with additional topics to be added based on Fellows’ backgrounds, Fellows will begin developing public engagement content and outreach. Their responsibilities will include: 

• Supporting the development of adjacent public programming, such as panel discussions and outreach events, for the Climate Museum’s 2020 exhibition

• Supporting the planning and execution of the Climate Museum’s 2021 exhibition at Governor’s Island

• Integrating an understanding of the intersections of climate and inequality throughout the Museum’s work, with a particular focus on developing adjacent public programming around our spring and fall arts interventions and our interdisciplinary programming 

• Conducting ongoing research on best practices for public engagement and outreach concerning the climate crisis and in particular its intersections with issues of inequality and justice 

The Mellon Pre-Doctoral Fellow will collaborate closely with the Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow and other members of the Museum’s public engagement team, including our Director, Arts Marketing Coordinator, and Special Assistant for Operations. 

Qualifications 

All applicants must: 

• Be enrolled in a humanities doctoral program, having completed their coursework and with an accepted dissertation proposal in the humanities 

• Be able to work two days a week from the Climate Museum’s New York City office with periodic visits to Governors Island and other programming locations from August 2020 – July 2022. 

• Have a keen eye toward the role of the environmental humanities in expanding public engagement with climate change 

• Have an academic background informed by historical inquiry and subject-matter expertise in climate, inequality, or both 

• Have a strong orientation towards collaboration 

• Have an ambitious mindset and excellent time management skills 

• Be inclined to kindness and humor under pressure 

Application Process 

Applications are due on March 15, 2020. Application materials should include the following: 

• A cover letter detailing why you are a strong candidate and why this would be a good fit for you as well as the Climate Museum 
• A Curriculum Vitae 
• A 2-page single-spaced proposal outlining the public engagement work and research you would propose to conduct at the Climate Museum 
• Names and emails of 2 references who are able to submit confidential reference letters.  References will receive a request from the Museum to email letters of referral to careers@climatemuseum.org with the subject line “Mellon Pre-Doctoral Reference Letter for [Your Name]. If you have experience doing public engagement work, or work around climate and/or inequality, one letter of reference should come from a person familiar with that work. 

The Climate Museum highly values diversity and views the climate crisis as a social justice crisis. People of color, indigenous people, people with disabilities, and people who identify as members of the LGBTQIA+ community are particularly encouraged to apply. 

Submit Application

Creative Climate Leadership training courses take place worldwide. They are facilitated by Julie’s Bicycle, a UK charity with almost ten years experience working on environmental issues in the cultural sector, in partnership with cultural and environmental agencies with on-the-ground experience in each location. 

Creative Climate Leadership USA

The next training course will take place at the University of Arizona’s Biosphere 2 research facility from 8th – 14th March 2020. 

It will be delivered in partnership with EcoArts Connections, the University of Arizona-Tucson, and the Colorado European Union Center of Excellence (CEUCE) based at the University of Colorado-Boulder.

The application deadline is midnight, Thursday, January 9, 2020 Eastern Standard Time.

About the Creative Climate Leadership training course

CCL provides a week-long intensive residential program of leadership development, learning and peer-to-peer knowledge exchange delivered through talks, workshops, guest speakers, group and peer-led activity, and new tools, followed by six months of mentorship, and inclusion in an international network of colleagues that supports ongoing action.

Topics will include: historical, scientific and political drivers of climate change; the role of cultural leadership within the global environmental and climate justice movements; leadership for climate action, including personal development and movement building; strategies for managing change; communicating climate change; empowering action; systems theory, and design thinking; interdisciplinary working, and more.

The five-day intensive course will enable artists and cultural professionals to explore the cultural dimensions of climate change, and take action with impact, creativity and resilience.

The week will:

• Explore the role of culture and creativity in responding to climate change and environmental challenges;
• Bring together a range of expert guest speakers to share case studies, research, approaches and practical solutions for environmental sustainability in the cultural sector;
• Enable each participant to develop their leadership and ideas;
• Prepare participants to apply their learning and new skills when they return home, and support ongoing learning and exchange through an alumni network.

Participants will access ongoing mentorship and a global network of practitioners following the training, to support with the development or expansion of a self-initiated “legacy project” which applies CCL learning to real-world contexts, including commissions, campaigns, organizational change, and strategy and policy development, among other activities and events.

Who the course is for

The course is aimed at artists and cultural professionals and we welcome applications from all creative disciplines and art forms. We will also consider applicants from organisations that work directly with the cultural sector, such as networks, associations, funding bodies and policymakers.

We are looking for people who:

• Recognise climate change as an urgent challenge, and are passionate and driven to enable change.
• Want to have an influence beyond their individual organisation/artistic practice.
• Have a vision for what they’d like to change and can demonstrate potential to lead.
• Have the desire to advocate for and ability to articulate the importance of culture in responding to this issue.
• Are interested in challenging conventional ideas about leadership.

Logistical details

Dates:

• Sunday 8th March 2020 – participants arrive at Biosphere 2
• Monday 9th to Friday 13th March 2020 – training course
• Saturday 14th March 2020 – departures and panel at the Tucson Book Festival

Language: The course will be conducted in English.

Location: The Creative Climate Leadership course will take place in Biosphere 2, one of the world’s most unqiue facilities dedicated to the research and understanding of global scientific issues.

Cost: The course costs $2,000, which includes tuition, lodging and food for six days and nights, and ongoing mentoring and membership of the CCL Alumni network. Participants are expected to pay for their own transportation.

Financial support: We have a limited number of scholarships available to support people who would otherwise be unable to attends. There is an opportunity to request this financial support at the application stage.

Apply

Click here to start your application.

To see a preview of the application questions, click here.

The application deadline is midnight, Thursday, January 9, 2020 Eastern Standard Time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Click here if you have a question, or contact ccl@juliesbicycle.com.

Previous CCL Training Programmes

CCL was piloted in 2017 through a Creative Europe funded programme, with training taking place in the UK and Slovenia, co-facilitated with PiNA, a sustainable development NGO working in Slovenia and across the EU.

Top Image: Journey of the Private Moon in the Arctic Magdalena fjord, by Leonid Tishkov (2010).