Evasion Lab

Call for 2023-2024 Fellows

Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and housed by the Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies at the University of Toronto, this Sawyer Seminar is a research collective committed to thinking the underside of surveillance. Directed by Professors Kevin Lewis O’Neill and Kamari Clarke, this Seminar focuses on the themes of data, law, and finance—to consider how institutions and individuals (for better, for worse) make themselves illegible and thus ungovernable. We gather scholars, writers, artists, and activists in order to amplify their work through fellowships, forums, and public events.

Fellowship Details

Our Fellows program will provide $3,000 CAD in research project support for up to 16 remarkable scholars. Fellows will be primarily PhD candidates and early career scholars. In addition to financial support, Fellows will have network-ing and professional development opportunities including co-developing a workshop with their cohort. Expenses are eligible from July 1, 2023 to June 31, 2024.

Fellowship Terms

  • Attend a monthly meeting of the 2023-2024 Fellows cohort, either in person or online.
  • Work with the Fellows cohort to develop different elements of the Seminar’s programming. 
  • Contribute to the growth and development of the Sawyer Seminar, both through formal events and independently.

How to Apply

Send the following to Professor Kevin Lewis O’Neill at kevin.oneill@utoronto.ca

  • Curriculum vitae (PDF)
  • A brief statement detailing how your research engages with the theme of evasion (approx. 300 words)

Materials must be submitted by 11:59 pm EST on June 1, 2023.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies, and the Evasion Lab are strongly committed is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from racialized persons/persons of colour, women, Indigenous/Aboriginal People of the Americas, persons with disabilities, LGBTQQIP2SAA persons, and others who may contribute to the further diversification of ideas.

The Collective

Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies
University of Toronto

Oceans Lab
University of Michigan

Center for Mexico and Central America
Columbia University
Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy
University of California, Los Angeles
Latin American and Caribbean Centre
London School of Economics 
Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios sobre Desarrollo
Universidad de los Andes
Department of Anthropology
Columbia University
Center on Transnational Policing
Princeton University
Evasion Lab

The Evasion Lab is a research collective committed to thinking the underside of surveillance.