The Center and Student Fellowship
The Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics is an interdisciplinary research program at Harvard Law School dedicated to the scholarly research of important issues at the intersection of law and health policy, including issues of health care financing and market regulation, biotechnology and intellectual property, biomedical research, and bioethics. The Student Fellowship Program is designed to support closely-mentored student research in these areas. For more information on our recent fellows and their work, see our website and check out profiles of some of our past Fellows in the PFC Spotlight.
Eligibility
The student fellowship program is open to all Harvard graduate students who will be enrolled at the University during the fellowship year and who are committed to undertaking a significant research project and fulfilling other program requirements. Although the fellowship is open to all graduate students, including those in one-year programs, we encourage those who are in multi-year programs to wait until after their first year to apply.
Requirements
All student fellows will have the following responsibilities:
Writing Requirement
Student fellows will conduct independent research projects designed to lead to publishable articles in their fields. Fellowship papers must be single-authored. Fellows are expected to produce at least one such paper by the end of the academic year, with various deadlines for drafts throughout Fall and Spring. Papers written in connection with the fellowship can be used to satisfy the law school’s third-year written work requirement or other optional writing credit by prior arrangement with and final approval of a faculty advisor who has agreed to supervise a fellow’s work for this purpose. For Harvard Law School students: HLS policy prevents us from paying a stipend to students who receive academic credit for their fellowship paper; HLS students who elect to receive academic credit for work completed as part of the fellowship must forego the stipend. Satisfaction of writing requirements or granting credits at other Harvard schools will depend on the policies of each school/program; it is up to the student fellow to manage this process.
Please note: The purpose of the writing requirement is to provide student fellows with a year-long mentored writing process. While a student may apply to the Directors to change their research topic after the fellowship has begun, changing topics can negatively impact our ability to support student projects. It is at the discretion of the Center Directors to permit such a change.
Blogging Requirement
Student fellows will be expected to post on the Petrie-Flom Center’s blog, “Bill of Health,” at least once every other week during the Fall and Spring semesters and during Winter term, with four passes available for the full academic year. Topics are self-determined; posts are subject to final approval by the Petrie-Flom Center, and are usually 800–1200 words.
Curricular Component
Student fellows are required to enroll in the Health Law Policy and Bioethics Workshop at HLS. The workshop is intended to provide student fellows with opportunities to interact with leading scholars in the fields of health law and policy, with the expectation that these interactions will further enhance and inform their research and academic development. The Workshop will meet during the Fall semester on Mondays from 5 to 7pm. Fellowship awardees will have priority enrollment.
Presentations and Events
Student fellows will be expected to present their research to Center affiliates during lunch sessions in the Spring semester. Student fellows may be asked to assist with panels and conferences organized by the Center, including organizing and reporting on events for Center publications.
These requirements are non-negotiable. Student fellows must fulfill all requirements in order to remain in the fellowship and receive the stipend.
Resources
In addition to close mentorship, the Center will award each fellow a $1,500 stipend, paid at the end of the academic year once all fellowship requirements (including submission of an acceptable paper) are completed. Note that some schools/programs, including Harvard Law School, will not allow students to receive both academic credit and a stipend; in such cases, fellows must choose either academic credit or the stipend.
Fellows may be eligible to request additional funding to cover reasonable costs associated with their research projects (e.g., copying, publications, conference fees, travel).
Please note: Student Fellowship stipends are considered taxable income. Students are responsible for self-reporting stipends to the IRS when they file their taxes. Since this income is self-reported, Harvard Law School will not provide any tax documentation. For more information see the Harvard University Office of the Comptroller’s guidelines.
Application
To accommodate graduate students in one-year programs, fellowship applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until Friday, August 4, 2017. Notifications of awards will be made by August 18, 2017, to enable enrollment in the Workshop.
To apply, email the following to petrie-flom@law.harvard.edu:
- Your curriculum vitae;
- A proposal describing the research and writing project you intend to pursue (1500-word maximum); and
- A digital copy of your most current transcript (which need not be official).
The most successful research proposals will describe an idea and novel contribution, rather than simply a topic of interest. We recognize that students will be applying from a range of disciplines, which we strongly encourage; thus, we will account for a student’s field and typical standards for work in their discipline when evaluating applications.
For further questions, contact Justin Leahey, Project Coordinator, jleahey@law.harvard.edu, 617-496-4662.
