curatorial fellowship

These two-year benefit-eligible positions are for those interested in a public history or curatorial career.

Curatorial Fellows are integrated as members of Institute staff and benefit from professional development, portfolio building, networking, and mentorship opportunities. Project outcomes build fellows’ resumes in the museum and library fields while advancing the Institute’s strategic goals.

Curatorial Fellowships are intended for individuals with advanced degrees who are interested in a professional trajectory outside the academy. Both early career and career-changing researchers are encouraged to apply. Scholars from any relevant field with a demonstrated interest in the history of science, broadly defined, will be considered.

As part of their professional development and networking, curatorial fellows participate in relevant seminars at the Institute (approximately ten percent of the fellows’ time), including the Beckman Center’s Work-in-Progress Workshops and Fellows’ Talks.

2026–2028 Curatorial Fellowship

The Institute seeks a Curatorial Fellow to help build, interpret, and share its growing collection of historical materials related to the foundations of molecular biology and the life sciences. We seek a Curatorial Fellow with demonstrated interest in working with archival or oral history collections to help build a robust digitized collection for our signature History of Molecular Biology Collection. The Curatorial Fellow will also receive training through the Institute’s Oral History Training Institute to learn how to conduct new interviews and prepare them for digital publication. The Curatorial Fellow will also work as part of the Museum exhibition team that interprets the 75th anniversary of the double helix discovery (tentatively on display 2027–2028). 
 
The application deadline for this Curatorial Fellowship is January 15. Offers will be made by May 2026, with a start date of September 2026 and an end date of August 2028.