Earth Systems Science for the Anthropocene (ESSA)

2027 Transdisciplinary Fellowships

The ESSA Transdisciplinary Fellowship initiative supports individual and collaborative research (among two or more graduate students) in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research by providing graduate student stipends and/or research material and travel funds. Proposals that explicitly address the three core values of ESSA (inclusive excellence; diverse knowledge systems; and solutions focus) will be given priority. 

Each ESSA fellow is eligible to receive subsistence funding in the form of a GSA (Graduate Student Assistantship) for two or four summer pay periods or up to $6,000 for non-subsistence costs (all other budget items) administered over 3 months. 

Students are required to either propose a collaborative project, with at least one other graduate student, or to propose partnerships with community members, organizations, or stakeholder groups within and beyond ASU. Proposals involving partnerships with external organizations should budget $1000 to cover remittance to co-researchers or community partners. 

Students selected for this fellowship will be required to participate in a 1 credit Session C course designed to prepare students for participation in co-production, specifically as it relates to co-produced research and development of research in communities. The seminar will meet via Zoom 6 times (each session spanning 1-2 hours) throughout the semester. Additionally, the students will meet independently biweek at a mutually agreed upon time. 

To Apply

Apply by emailing proposal materials to [email protected] no later than 5:00 PM MST on November 8th, 2026.

Application Instructions

For student collaborations, submit (A) one cover sheet per student (B) one proposed research section and (C) budget along with budget justification. The proposal should contain the following components:

A. The 2027 ESSA Summer Grad Fellowship Cover Sheet (1 page per student), which includes:

  • A descriptive title for the proposed research project.
  • Your name and department affiliation, along with those of your collaborator(s).
  • An abstract (250 word maximum) of the proposed research that states the central research questions, approach, and significance of the proposed research. Briefly, describe the inter/transdisciplinary nature of your research proposal. 

B. Proposed Research: a full project description should be no more than 3 pages including tables and figures:

  • Introduction: This section should review the current literature on the proposed topic and provide context for the research question. Please present the research question and/or objectives, incorporating how they apply the ESSA core values.
  • Research approach: A description of the research design, including the methods to be used. We encourage approaches that engage with diverse ways of knowing or exploring research questions that emerge through co-production, approaches that align with the ESSA core values.  
  • External Partnerships (if applicable): Identify the external partner(s) and describe the nature of students’ or an ASU entity’s  relationship with the partner. Describe how the partner will be involved in the research. 
  • Expected Outcomes: A discussion of expected results and/or outcomes of the proposed research. Outcomes can include future results, broader impacts, expected science communication products, and community relationships or partnerships. 
  • Significance: A description of the significance of the proposed work to advancing solutions for problems in the Anthropocene. Applicants are highly encouraged to describe how their research objectives is connected to the ESSA core values and advance the goals of ESSA: https://globalfutures.asu.edu/essa/people/#essa-who-we-are 
  • Literature Cited (no page limit and could be in APA, Chicago or MLA format).

C. Budget and Justification (1 page maximum): Include categories of expenditures and a narrative justification of all requested expenditures. Budgets should include the following categories of expenditures: 

Materials and Supplies, Travel, Publication Costs, Laboratory Fees, Personnel, Community Partner remittance, and Other (please provide details; refer to “Allowable Research Expenses” below). 

  • The budget should be presented as a table with one line devoted to each budget item, unless a GSA stipend is requested. Summer GSA stipend amount is dependent upon your position and school; you do not need to indicate the stipend amount as a line item in your budget. Rather, please clearly indicate if you are requesting a GSA stipend.  
  • In the case that the student requests only two pay periods of GSA stipend, up to $3000 can be budgeted for other expenses. 
  • The budget justification or budget rationale should give details about the amount in each line item. If you are requesting a GSA stipend (up to two pay periods), list all other sources of funding from which you expect to be paid in summer (including number of pay periods and source, such as school TA or advisor GSA), and provide a justification for your request. 

Proposal Review

Proposals will be reviewed by a panel consisting of ESSA faculty, affiliated postdocs, and other ESSA associates (former grad grantees). An award decision will be made and communicated by the beginning of December 2026.  

Reviews will be based on the following criteria:

  1. Contribution of the project to the overall goals of the ESSA initiative and its clear commitment to the foundational values of ESSA.
  2. Intellectual merit: overall quality of the project proposed, and feasibility of the research.
  3. For proposals involving external partnerships: evidence of an existing or developing relationship with the partner and a clear plan for partner involvement in research.
  4. Demonstrated need and rationale of the budget.

Allowable Research Expenses

Research awards may be used for any of the following categories of expenditure:  subsistence or wages for an undergraduate research assistant, materials/supplies, lab analysis, and local travel for fieldwork. Research funds cannot be budgeted for expenses related to coursework at ASU (tuition, course textbooks, etc.) or for conference travel. 

Awardees will work with the ESSA program manager to spend the awarded funds as per their budget. Awarded funds must be spent during the Summer 2026 research period unless an extension is approved in writing with appropriate justification. If the proposal budget includes funds to pay other personnel, you must adhere to ASU Human Resource hiring regulations and must have a faculty member who will approve hours electronically every pay period as required by ASU Human Resources.