Scholars

MCPS regularly hosts visiting fellows for varying periods of time, ranging from a few weeks to an entire year. The intellectual life of MCPS is greatly enriched by visitors from around the globe who bring fresh perspectives and questions, often reflecting their experience in a diversity of fields and schools of thought.

Visiting fellows are expected to participate weekly in the activities of at least one of the Center’s research groups (BIG, EMIG, FIG, PIG, SoBIG, or the CtrDG) and to attend the Friday afternoon SST colloquium talks as well as special MCPS lectures. In addition, visitors are welcome to join graduate seminar courses, including courses taught by faculty in the Department of Philosophy, Program of History of Science, Technology, and Medicine, and other departments and programs. The University of Minnesota has a number of strengths in the sciences and in areas relevant to science and technology studies. MCPS fellows are encouraged to explore the activities of research groups throughout the University.

Visiting fellows are provided office space in Heller Hall, library privileges, and internet access to a number of journals and index services. MCPS can help visitors arrange to live ahead of time and provide other administrative assistance to make sure visits are intellectually exciting, productive, and fun. At this time, MCPS cannot provide stipends for visiting fellows. But we can offer a lively and stimulating intellectual environment.

What former fellows have to say about being a visiting fellow:

Joseph Madison (visiting graduate student Fall 2018)

Hector Salas, Professor at the School of Management, National University of Mexico (UNAM) (visited during research leave in fall 2007, summer and fall 2008, 2016–2017)

"For academics like myself, who work within the relatively little trodden field of philosophy of social science, MCPS offers a broad and rich experience for the visiting fellow in search for the state of the art in philosophy of science. The SST lectures, co-sponsored by the Center and science departments of the University of Minnesota, is a very active program that allows the visitor to be in contact with the findings of research in the philosophy of different sciences that is currently being carried out by the faculty of leading universities in this subject. Likewise, the research seminars where work in progress is discussed, as well as informal meetings with members of the faculty and visitors to talk about specific topics are particularly enlightening; finally, courses on the philosophy of science or epistemology where students have backgrounds in philosophy or in science, permit a visiting scholar to gain an extensive view of those subjects. What I value most of my stay at MCPS last Fall and led me to return this year, besides being in contact with wonderful people, was the unique opportunity of getting acquainted with the research that philosophers of science are currently undertaking in different countries as well as with the present state of knowledge in the discipline."

Marcel Weber, Professor in the Science Studies Program, University of Basel [now University of Geneva] (visited on a Swiss Science Foundation fellowship during the 2006–2007 academic year and as a postdoctoral fellow during the 1997–1998 academic year)

"MCPS is a unique place for international post-doctoral fellows because it provides an ideal environment for pursuing research projects as well as an inside view of the American university system. Postdocs at Minnesota can be sure that their work will be discussed in great depth in the various regular MCPS functions as well as informally (for example, in the wonderful coffee places of Uptown Minneapolis, where even Europeans can feel at home). Nowhere else have I received so much valuable feedback on draft papers and talks from both philosophers and historians of science. The graduate programs in Philosophy as well as in History of Science and Technology provide a great variety of courses that are usually open to postdocs and allow them to broaden their intellectual horizon. Sometimes, postdocs even get to teach or co-teach a graduate course or direct a seminar themselves, which is extremely valuable for the teaching experience. The graduate students are also terrific for social life. Another important part of the Minnesota experience is the great number of world-class scholars who travel to give talks on a regular basis, thus providing a great opportunity for meeting them and for networking. During my time there, I have been able to meet and talk to some of the world's major figures in the history and philosophy of science. It's much easier to catch them there than at conferences or in larger programs."