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Legal Studies Graduate Fellows Program

Aims

The Legal Studies Graduate Fellows Program aims to:

  • Enrich your understanding of research topics, design, and methods in law and society;
  • Develop your ability to discuss and evaluate the research of others;
  • Assist you in preparing for the dissemination of your research.

Legal Studies Graduate Fellows agree to attend meetings with graduate student peers, research workshops hosted by Legal Studies, and presentations of fellows’ work in a seminar-style setting through the course of the year. To maintain cohort unity among the fellows, all fellows should generally expect to be in residence and not away conducting research/fieldwork. 

Benefits

  • Scholarly exchange. Fellows will present and discuss their research at five workshops held during the academic year. Fellows will give and receive feedback with the view to developing, submitting, or presenting a research paper or journal article.
  • Professional development. Topics like grant writing, interdisciplinary publishing, and going on the job market will be discussed. 
  • Research stipend. Fellows will receive up to $750 for research-related expenses or conference travel/registration fees associated with presenting their work in law and society, typically at the Law and Society Association conference or regional law and society workshops. 

Legal Studies

This one-year program supports UCSC graduate students engaged in research in the interdisciplinary field of law and society.

Legal Studies Graduate Fellows are doctoral students from a range of disciplines whose work engages with socio-legal studies, broadly construed, including:

  • The development and effects of legal systems and institutions (U.S. and non-U.S.), including immigration, citizenship, education, crime, punishment, the environment, property, and rights
  • Law in relation to social issues, social movements, and change
  • Law as it relates to culture, narrative, and the lived experience of different groups
  • Law as it relates to borders, colonialism, and hierarchy
  • Law and aesthetics, the relationship of visual studies/media to legal apparatus
  • Rights (civil, human, etc.) and issues of inequality and injustice 
  • Legal history in the US or other countries
  • Comparative perspectives on law, institutions, and society
  • Conceptual and theoretical foundations and critiques of law (e.g., critical race, feminist, queer)

Responsibilities

  • Participation. Fellows must participate in all fellows’ workshops during the academic year, present their work at least once and serve as a discussant at least once. Fellows are also expected to attend and participate in the regular Legal Studies Workshop.
  • Peer mentoring. Provide verbal feedback to other fellows on their work at the workshop and written comments within a week of their research presentation.
  • Evaluation. Submit a brief (1 to 2 pages) research report within 30 days of the end of the fellowship period that reflects on your fellowship, what you learned, and how the funding was used.
  • Acknowledgement. Acknowledge the UC Santa Cruz Legal Studies Program or Legal Studies Graduate Fellowship in written work that develops with assistance from this program.

Convenors:

Prof. Jackie Gehring, Legal Studies Program 

Prof. Mark Fathi Massoud, Politics Department and Legal Studies Program

 

Application:  

Please upload this application form PDF alongside the other required documents to the Google form submission page.

 

Applications due 5pm Friday March 5, 2021