Sharing CSIDNet Fellowship “Ask Me Anything” FAQs and Resources

The fellowship focuses on climate-sensitive infectious diseases (CSID), but many infectious diseases are chronic and we are open to exploring these connections.

While there are many different types of communities, we use the term in the sense of a “community of practice,” which often looks like a group of people who share a common interest, profession, or passion and actively engage in sharing ideas and experiences to learn from each other and improve their skills.

No. We are looking for applicants who will be based in the location where they have strong kinship and relational ties since they will be growing place-based community. We expect fellows will be hosting in-person and hybrid events as part of their community-building activities.

Yes, community-building experience from any sector will be considered relevant, even if it’s not directly related to CSID.

Publications are not required for the fellowship, but candidates are welcome to highlight relevant publications in their resume.

Yes, part-time arrangements may be worked out for the right candidates.

We are interested in supporting fellows with a wide range of lived and training experiences. Most important is showcasing how you connect your prior experiences to the interests of CSID Network, in particular, how do your experiences support the growth of a diverse and interdisciplinary community of practice working on developing open source tools related to climate sensitive infectious diseases.

Expressions of interest are due by November 4, 2024. These will all be reviewed by a committee of 3 people (Angela Okune, Gemma Turon, and Isabel Fletcher) who will create a shortlist of 8 – 15 applicants. These shortlisted applicants will be invited to submit a full application which will be due by January 6, 2025. A selection committee of active CSID Network members will review the full applications. Selected applicants may be scheduled for a panel interview in January and asked for references. Final candidates will be determined by the end of February and submitted to the advisory committee for approval. Due diligence processes and paperwork will happen in March and fellows are expected to begin in April 2025.

Anyone based in regions heavily affected by Climate-Sensitive Infectious Diseases (CSID) with strong ties to the region is eligible to apply. The “location” field in the application is an open text field so you can use it to justify and explain. That said, we are specifically focusing on expansion in the following macro-regions: Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, South-East and Central Asia, and the Pacific islands.

No.

A standard wellness benefit stipend will be offered to all fellows. During the paperwork processes in March 2025, we will discuss with each fellow how they would like it to be distributed.

We are not actively planning for the next cycle yet. We will use the learnings from this current cycle to tweak, improve and hopefully run future cycles.

Yes. This is where the creativity of the fellow will shine through in terms of what they propose to do. We do not want a fellow to just hole up and do this work alone by themself. So the question is – how do you build software, conduct research in community? How do you do propose to do this work with others? We are looking for the ability to transfer technical knowledge into communities and vice versa. Looking for the ability to engage in two way communication with the community.

This depends on the fellow. Fellows are expected to be self-directed and will develop their own work plan at the start of the fellowship. A typical week may involve a combination of on-the-ground community-building activities (e.g. in person meetings, co-working sessions), technical work, collaboration with other fellows, and mentorship sessions.

We are looking for fellows to demonstrate creativity and an understanding of what is needed to build and grow their place-based CSID community on the ground. We want fellows to test and iterative on the most effective ways to share and co-build CSID knowledge in their communities. Don’t feel like you have to fit a mold, be bold with your creative ideas!

Stipend payments can be arranged flexibly, such as monthly, in discussion with the fellows.

Yes, the fellowship is expected to run from April 2025 through March 2026.

Yes, the collaborative committee will offer mentorship and support from experts with diverse regional and topic expertise, including community gathering, data handling, and equitable community growth. At the start of the fellowship program, we will co-design and develop the mentorship support and programming that the selected fellows desire to ensure that it is customized for their needs and desires.

Yes, travel support will include assistance with visas and necessary documentation, as well as fully covering the cost of traveling to the network’s annual meeting and other associated costs for all fellows.