The Buffett Institute welcomes applications from faculty across the university. All applicants must secure written permission from their Department Chair and Dean for the fellowship format they choose.

Faculty can apply for a teaching reduction of up to 50%, depending on their teaching load and the requirements of their School. If faculty have accrued leave time in 2024–25, the Buffett fellowship may be used to extend the duration of the leave to a full year, funds permitting. In 2024–25, this fellowship will be a pilot program and terms of appointment are subject to change in future academic years.

• Only full-time faculty members on continuous appointments may apply. Applicants should describe how this proposed leave maps onto their existing leave/leave they are due. 
• Applicants for a teaching reduction may not have been on research leave in the year preceding the fellowship year. 
• Tenure-track applicants are not permitted to hold a fellowship during the year in which they are up for tenure review. Teaching-track faculty are not permitted to hold a fellowship during the year in which they are up for reappointment review. 
• The Buffett will make available a pool of research funds to defray expenses for colleagues travelling internationally. Funds are limited (under $9,000 per recipient) and untenured faculty will be prioritized. 
• Applicants must be eligible for an academic leave and must secure approval/confirmation of eligibility for leave from their Department Chair and Dean before applying. Please be mindful of the leave request deadline in your School, which may precede the Buffett Faculty Fellowship deadline. 

Application deadline: March 5, 2024

Interested faculty should apply via this link by 5 March. Please upload all documents as PDFs and include the following: 

• A cover letter that includes:  
  • A brief, 250-word abstract describing your project  
  • A statement that identifies the teaching reduction for which you are applying and describe how this fellowship would be integrated into your existing leave schedule and any leave you are due 
  • If you are requesting research funds, please also include brief budget that explains where you are travelling and outlines the expenses for which you are seeking funding 

• A research narrative that describes your project. This narrative should be five to eight double-spaced pages and should be written for a general scholarly audience. Proposals should describe the state of the existing scholarship and explain how the proposed research contributes to those ongoing debates. Please indicate the status of the project and the work you expect to accomplish, describing the product/s that will result (e.g. book, articles, reports, databases, policy papers and so forth.)  
• A CV of up to five pages. 
• Written approval from your Department Chair and Dean (email is fine), indicating what teaching reduction the faculty member is approved to apply for. 
• Letters of reference on your behalf from two non-Northwestern faculty. 

Applications are reviewed by three senior faculty members outside Northwestern, drawn from across the disciplines. They will evaluate applications for their scholarly merit, their international and global scope, their research significance, originality, and the quality and clarity of the project proposal.

Please contact Harrington Weihl, Buffett's Director of Research, with any questions. Fellowship decisions will be announced by April 10.