National Security Fellows Program 

The NSPC offers fellowships for doctoral students within the broadly defined fields of international security and defense policy. The program prepares fellows for success in both academic and non-academic careers.

Benefits

• Two fellows each semester will be relieved of their teaching obligation to provide time for policy-relevant research and engagement with NSPC programming and projects.
• Each fellow will receive a designated workspace in the NSPC offices for the duration of their doctoral programs.
• Fellows will have access to ongoing NSPC policy projects and researchers. Each fellow will engage with the NSPC directors to develop research and career objectives.

This program accepts applications from students in the humanities, social sciences, and hard sciences. This could be an opportunity for those in the humanities to apply critical thinking and writing skills to current policy problems and explore a potential career in government service. Students from the hard sciences will bring their skills to bear on real-world issues in defense innovation, emerging technologies, and non-traditional domains. Social scientists will hone their skills across various research methodologies and current global issues. Regardless of discipline, our National Security Fellows will gain the tools, real-world experience, and policy relevance to broaden the impact of their research and expand their career opportunities.

Eligibility

All UVA PhD students, regardless of major, are eligible to apply for our internship program.

Application Process

Applications for the 2023-2024 class will be available in March 2023. Applicants should be prepared to submit a one-page statement of work and a CV to Professor Philip Potter at pbp2s@virginia.edu. The deadline for proposals is in early April 2023. All applications will be acknowledged by email.

To learn more about our past and current fellows, click here.