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Programs
Fellowships

Sidney MacDonald Russell Family Graduate Fellowship

Fellowship

Application Deadline
April 14, 2026
Award Amount
Up to $5,000 per award

These fellowships support UC Berkeley graduate students of high distinction involved in the study of emerging and neglected infectious diseases. Research areas include basic science, discovery of effective treatments, diagnostics, and vaccines, as well as policy, law, and economics in national or global health. Students conduct research in both laboratory settings and in the communities of disease-endemic countries worldwide.

Applications are open for 2026 - 2027 CEND Fellows. Submit one fellowship application to be considered for all CEND fellowships.

Eligible Applicants

Masters and doctoral students in any discipline, including life sciences, chemistry, engineering, environmental sciences, math and information sciences, and public health who are engaged in research related to neglected and/or emerging diseases are eligible for the fellowship. To apply, you must be mentored by a CEND-affiliated investigator.

 

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Upload required documents

Please upload all required documents for this fellowship. Documents must be clearly labeled.

  1. Curriculum Vitae (Max 2 pages)
  2. Current Research: Project background, aims, methods, and technical and health significance (1 page)
  3. Professional Development Proposal (½ page)
  4. Budget: All expected expenses related to professional development costs. This can be for a side research project or software/equipment/reagents not funded through your PIs lab, travel to a conference or for a research exchange, etc. (½ page)
  5. Recommendation from a faculty mentor (1 paragraph)
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(all file types ok)
You can also paste a Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive link below

Add any additional notes

Please let us know anything that is important about you or your application that might fall outside of this standard format.

Submit Application

When you have competed all of the above steps, please submit your application.

You will receive a confirmation email of your application and the documents you have submitted. if you do not receive a confirmation email, please contact us.

If you’d like to make a change or add additional materials, reply back to the confirmation email.

Evaluation

Evaluation will be based on technical merit, the relevance of the project to emerging and neglected infectious diseases, and the alignment of the proposed project with the student's academic goals.

As part of the application, you must develop a brief research proposal with the guidance of one or more faculty mentors at UC Berkeley (or UCSF if you are a UC Berkeley PhD student completing dissertation research at UCSF). Applications will be reviewed by a panel of CEND faculty members.

Research proposals should clearly identify the fellow’s role in the project (as distinguished from the roles of faculty mentors or members of the lab), the specific objectives of any time spent abroad, the deliverables expected by the end of the fellowship, and distinguish between work completed at UC Berkeley versus abroad. Students are encouraged to spend time in lower- and middle-income countries when it aligns with their research goals.

For all inquiries about this Fellowship or to add additional documents or make changes - please reach out to:
cend@berkeley.edu