Research & Writing
One Real Question
Each fellow takes a question through the year and publishes on it — a long essay for the Dispatch, a policy memo, or a short paper, workshopped with the cohort along the way.
Research & Writing
A year with the club for students who want to do more than attend — research, writing, and convening on the US–India relationship, with the people already doing it.
The US–India century will be written by people who understand both countries from the inside. The Fellowship is how SIPEC helps students become them.The premise of the SIPEC Fellowship
The SIPEC Fellowship is a [year-long / two-quarter] program for a small cohort of Stanford students — [N] each year, across the undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools. Fellows take on a piece of the club's work: a research question, a written argument, or a convening they help design and run from the first email to the closing remarks.
In exchange, they get the thing that is hardest to arrange as a student: proximity. Fellows sit in on preparation for the speaker series and the firesides, meet visiting policymakers and founders outside the formal program, and are paired with a [mentor / advisor] working on India from Washington, Delhi, or the Valley.
No policy background is required, and no particular field is favored. We have taken fellows from economics, computer science, medicine, law, and the humanities. What we look for is a real question and the discipline to chase it for a year.
Research & Writing
Each fellow takes a question through the year and publishes on it — a long essay for the Dispatch, a policy memo, or a short paper, workshopped with the cohort along the way.
Convening
Fellows own a convening: a fireside, a seminar, or a panel at the Stanford India Conference — choosing the speakers, framing the questions, and moderating on the day.
Mentorship
Every fellow is matched with a practitioner or scholar — in policy, investment, technology, or academia — for the year, with [monthly] conversations and an open door afterward.
Any currently enrolled Stanford student — undergraduate, graduate, or professional — who will be on campus for [the full program period]. Applicants need not be Indian, nor have prior policy or economics coursework.
Applications open [DATE] and close [DATE]; shortlisted applicants have a short conversation with the officers in [MONTH]. The cohort convenes in [MONTH] and presents its work at the Stanford India Conference in [MONTH].
Fellows receive [a $X stipend or research fund], support for [conference or field travel], a publication venue on the SIPEC Dispatch, and a standing seat at everything the club convenes.
Roughly [N] hours a week during the quarter, attendance at the [monthly] cohort workshop, one published piece, and one convening carried from idea to execution.
A short form: who you are, the question you want to spend the year on, and one piece of writing or work you are proud of. No recommendation letters.
Start the application →Shortlisted applicants meet two officers for twenty minutes in [MONTH] — less an interview than a first pass at the question you proposed.
Meet the officers →The speaker series, the firesides, and the conference are open to the whole campus. The mailing list is the fastest way to hear about all of it.
Join the mailing list →Commentary, event invitations, and the occasional dispatch on US–India affairs — sent straight to your inbox.