Stanford University Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law welcomes applications from pre-doctoral students at the write-up stage and from post-doctoral scholars working in any of the four program areas of democracy, development, evaluating the efficacy of democracy promotion, and rule of law.
Pre-doctoral fellows must be enrolled currently in a doctoral program or equivalent through the time of intended residency at Stanford and must be at the dissertation write-up (post course work) phase of their doctoral program. Post-doctoral fellows must have earned their Ph.D. within 3 years of the start of the fellowship, or plan to have successfully defended their Ph.D. dissertations by July 31, 2027.
In addition to our regular call for applications, CDDRL invites applications for two named fellowships.
The Gerhard Casper Fellow in Rule of Law for 2027-28 - We welcome research on any aspect of rule of law, including judicial politics, criminal justice, and the politicization of judicial institutions. We are an interdisciplinary center; candidates from any relevant field (i.e. the social sciences, law) are welcome to apply. The Gerhard Casper Fellow will be part of CDDRL’s larger cohort of pre- and postdoctoral fellows. Interested applicants should apply through the CDDRL fellowship application portal via SlideRoom and indicate that they would like to be considered for the Gerhard Casper Rule of Law Fellowship.
The Jan Koum Israel Studies Fellow for 2027-28 - We welcome research on any aspect of modern Israel, including Israeli politics, constitutionalism, economics, society, diplomacy, and international affairs. We are an interdisciplinary center; candidates from any relevant field (i.e., the social sciences and law) are welcome to apply. This is a 9-month, residential fellowship. The Jan Koum Israel Studies Fellow will be part of CDDRL’s larger cohort of pre- and postdoctoral fellows. Please apply through the regular CDDRL fellowship application and indicate that you would like to be considered for the Jan Koum Israel Studies Fellowship.
The Center expects to award two or more fellowships for the 2026-2027 academic year.
More information on the application and the guidelines to apply can be found at our website at https://cddrl.fsi.stanford.edu/cddrl-pre-doctoral-and-postdoctoral-fellowships.