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Visiting Scholar Awards

Visiting Scholar, Stanford Neurosciences Institute

The Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute seeks to understand how the brain gives rise to mental life and behavior, and to employ that knowledge to enhance human potential and alleviate suffering through applications in medicine, education, law and business.  These goals will be achieved through interdisciplinary collaborations and the exchange of ideas, materials and techniques.  Recognizing that scholars visiting on sabbatical are a key opportunity for collaboration, the Institute offers a Visiting Scholar Award.

Individuals that are interested in becoming a visiting scholar with the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute must have an application submitted by an Institute-affiliated faculty member that has agreed to host the visitor. The Visiting Scholar Award will be granted to up to five prospective visiting scholars per year. The Award grants up to $10,000 per prospective visitor based on merit. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis.

The Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute Visiting Scholar Award is granted to help establish individuals as a new visiting scholar at Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute. As such, only prospective visitors are eligible for this award. Current or reappointed Stanford visitors, or individuals being hosted by faculty not affiliated with Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, are not eligible for this award.

Application

Applications for our visiting scholar program are currently closed. Please stay tuned for further updates.

Applications should be submitted on behalf of the visiting scholar by a Neurosciences Institute-affiliated faculty member who has agreed to host the visitor.

The online Visiting Scholar application fields include:

  • Name, contact information, position and home institution of the visitor
  • Name and contact information of the host faculty member, who must be affiliated with Stanford
  • The departmental contact for the host faculty's department, who will be responsible for requesting and getting approval of the visiting scholar appointment, and for making any necessary arrangements for the guest's visa, travel and housing, and required safety trainings for safe conduct in the lab.
  • Dates and duration of the visit
  • Brief description of why hosting the visitor is valuable to the broader neuroscience community
  • A specific plan of contributions the visitor will make to the Stanford neuroscience community. The plan may include:
    • Presenting public talks
    • Contributions to teaching
    • Student / Postdoc collaborations
    • Other activities with tangible community benefit

In addition, the application must include copy of the visitor's CV.

Please note that visiting scholars and their hosts are required to submit a post-visit report on their research and community activities during their stay at Stanford.

Application evaluation

Please refer to The Research Policy Handbook for University policies and procedures for becoming a visiting scholar at Stanford. Evaluation criteria specific for Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute visitors include:

  1. The visiting scholar should have broad appeal to benefit the Stanford neurosciences community and hosted by Stanford faculty.
  2. Visiting scholars with research interests that bridge a key interface between the basic and clinical neurosciences and (a) engineering, the physical sciences, mathematics and statistics, (b) chemical & molecular biology and genetics or (c) the social sciences, humanities, law, business and education are preferred.
  3. A minimum stay of one month (30 days) at Stanford.
  4. Interaction of the visiting scholar with the broader community through lectures, class appearances, postdoc or student journal club visits, etc. is strongly desired.

Contact

If you have questions about the Visiting Scholar process or requirements, please contact:

Chiara Bertipaglia, PhD
Associate Director of Programs and Training
bertipag@stanford.edu

Emily Elrod
Programs Associate, Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute
eelrod@stanford.edu