Robert E. Shope International Fellowship in Infectious Diseases Frequently Asked Questions

1. Question: Is the fellowship open to non-U.S. citizens?
   Answer: Non-U.S. citizens are welcome to apply as long as they are sponsored by an accredited U.S. or Canadian institution. However, the primary goal of the Shope Fellowship is to encourage research on tropical diseases, particularly arthropod-borne viral diseases. 


2. Question: How long is the overseas requirement?
   Answer: The Shope Fellowship does not have a specific requirement for the duration of the project. Selection of a recipient is based on the quality of the proposal submitted; not the duration of the project.


3. Question: Are only post-doctoral fellows eligible for this fellowship or are junior faculty eligible, as well?
   Answer: Eligible applicants are full-time post-doctoral fellows (PhD, DVM, MD degrees or the equivalent) with positions at accredited U.S or Canadian institutions studying any tropical infectious disease in arbovirology and/or emerging tropical infectious diseases.  If the junior faculty member is also a post-doctoral fellow doing research in this field, then he/she will qualify.


4. Question: What expenses do the award funds cover?
   Answer: The award is made to the applicant’s home institution and is intended to offset costs associated with travel, living and research expenses. It does not cover institutional overhead.


5. Question: In any given year, what percentage of proposals are arbovirus proposals as opposed to non-arbovirus proposals?
   Answer: In terms of ratio of arbovirus to non-arbovirus applications, the ratio is about 2 to 1.


6. Question: Are applications with multiple, shorter trips to the tropics eligible?
   Answer: The purpose of the Shope Fellowship is to facilitate longer term studies in the tropics. As such, an application that proposes a longer term in-country component will be scored more competitively than a proposal with multiple, shorter-term overseas components. 


7. Question: Is an application eligible if the IRB approval is pending?
   Answer: Yes, an application can be submitted with letters from the home and overseas institutions indicating that IRB approval is pending.