Research Fellowship Grant Proposal
A Founding Investment in the Future of Support for a Green Economy
Hazel Henderson Center
10 Carrera Street, St. Augustine, FL 32084
Executive Summary
The Hazel Henderson Center seeks grants for its Research Fellowship Program, an initiative that places researchers at the intersection of sustainability, ethical economics, systems thinking, and social innovation. The program welcomes fellows across the full arc of a research career — including college and university students, doctoral candidates, post-doctoral scholars, mid-career professionals, faculty, and independent scholars. Located at Hazel Henderson's former home in St. Augustine, Florida, the Center provides research fellows with a rare and intellectually rich environment in which to pursue original research aligned with the defining challenges of the 21st century.
The Research Fellowship Program offers fellows dedicated time and space to pursue independent research projects, often connecting to some of the Center's core focus areas — among them: technology and production; employment, work, and migration; trade, finance, debt, and information; peacebuilding and the impacts of militarization; pollution and resource depletion; consumption patterns and global culture; and social and institutional restructuring.
Fellows draw upon the Center's extraordinary intellectual resources — including a living library of more than 5,600 books, publications, and 1,000+ journal issues — alongside the archives, professional networks, and programmatic community of the Center itself.
Grant funding supports fellowship stipends, program coordination, research materials, facilities, and evaluation across the inaugural program period. These resources allow the Center to recruit and support research fellows and build the operational foundation for a program of lasting scholarly and practical significance.
The cost of supporting a research fellow is presented as a single, all-inclusive lump sum covering the fellow's stipend, accommodations, library and archival access, program coordination, mentorship and network connections, and all associated operating costs:
One-Week Fellowship — $2,030 — supports one researcher for one week in residence, with multi-week arrangements available at $[X,XXX] per additional week
One-Month Fellowship — $8,120 — supports one researcher for a month-long fellowship, the program's deepest level of immersion
Statement of Need
The challenges Hazel Henderson identified decades ago have become defining crises of the twenty-first century. Climate change, economic inequality, environmental degradation, technological disruption, and the erosion of institutional trust demand solutions that cross traditional disciplinary and sectoral boundaries. These interconnected problems require not only new policies and technologies, but a new generation of scholars equipped with systems-level thinking, cross-sector networks, and the intellectual grounding to imagine and build alternatives.
Researchers at every career stage — from college students forming their first research questions, to mid-career professionals seeking to ground their practice in deeper inquiry, to post-doctoral scholars and senior academics shaping the research agendas that will define their fields — need environments that expand rather than narrow their thinking. The settings in which researchers work shape not only what they study, but how they think and who they collaborate with. Yet research opportunities that genuinely integrate interdisciplinary sustainability research with real-world networks, living archives, and practitioner communities remain rare.
Most research positions are housed within single disciplines, departments, or professional silos, limiting the cross-sector dialogue that complex global challenges demand. Fellowship models that offer immersion in an intellectually rich, mission-driven environment — one that bridges academia, practice, and public life — are largely inaccessible to students, professionals, and independent scholars alike.
The Hazel Henderson Center is uniquely positioned to fill this gap. Its physical setting, intellectual legacy, living library, and national network of sustainability and social innovation leaders create conditions that few institutions can replicate. The Research Fellowship Program makes these resources accessible to emerging scholars at the moment when such an environment can most decisively shape the trajectory of their work.
About the Hazel Henderson Center
The Hazel Henderson Center carries forward the legacy of Hazel Henderson (1933–2022) — ecological economist, futurist, syndicated columnist, author, and a founding voice of the global sustainability movement. For more than five decades, Henderson challenged conventional economic thinking and championed renewable energy, socially responsible investing, ethical markets, corporate accountability, and quality-of-life indicators that move beyond Gross Domestic Product.
The Center operates from Henderson's former home in St. Augustine — a property that served for four decades as a gathering place for scholars, entrepreneurs, investors, educators, journalists, and systems thinkers exploring new approaches to economics, sustainability, governance, and social innovation. Following Henderson's passing, trustees, advisors, collaborators, and community partners established the Center as a nonprofit institution committed to preserving and activating her intellectual legacy. Through leadership residencies, educational programming, research initiatives, strategic convenings, and community partnerships, the Center cultivates the ideas, relationships, and practical tools needed to address the defining challenges of this century.
The Center's key assets include:
A living library of more than 5,600 books and 1,000+ journal issues — described in full in the Engagement with the Living Library and Archives section below
Archives preserved through academic partnerships, including the University of Missouri
Residency accommodations, a research library, collaborative gathering spaces, a workshop room, kitchen, outdoor areas, a pool, and parking
An experienced leadership team and Strategic Foresight Advisory Committee with deep expertise in sustainability, ethical finance, education, and community development
Close relationships with Ethical Markets Media and its globally recognized Research Advisory Board, connecting the Center to a broad international network of practitioners, investors, academics, and public-sector leaders
The Hazel Henderson Center is a Florida not-for-profit corporation and a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. EIN: 41-2894661.
The Place
St. Augustine is the oldest continuously inhabited European-founded city in the United States, and the Center sits inside that living history. Its historic district is compact and fully walkable — cobblestone streets, Spanish colonial architecture, Flagler College's gilded halls, and the Castillo de San Marcos, standing guard over the bay since 1672. Within a short walk of the Center: waterfront seafood restaurants, neighborhood wine bars, art galleries, and dining that draws on four hundred and fifty years of layered culinary history. The Atlantic beaches are fifteen minutes away.
This isn't incidental to the program — it's central to it. Hazel chose this home deliberately, and every fellow who comes here experiences a version of what she built her life's work around: a place where big thinking and genuine hospitality coexist.
Project Description
Program Overview
The Hazel Henderson Center Research Fellowship Program provides researchers at all stages of their intellectual and professional journeys with structured, immersive research fellowships at the Center's St. Augustine campus. Fellowships range from intensive short-term engagements to extended stays of up to four weeks, with the possibility of multi-visit arrangements for fellows engaged in longer-term projects. The program serves researchers whose work advances sustainability, ethical economics, regenerative development, social innovation, democratic governance, or related fields — often connecting to some of the Center's core focus areas.
Who May Apply: Types of Research Fellows
The Research Fellowship Program is intentionally open to a broad range of researchers. Rigorous, mission-aligned inquiry takes place not only in universities, but also in professional practice, public service, journalism, and independent scholarship. Fellowship categories include:
College and University Students — Undergraduate and graduate students pursuing honors theses, capstone projects, master's research, or doctoral dissertations — for example, an environmental economics graduate student analyzing quality-of-life indicators as alternatives to GDP, or an undergraduate honors student studying circular economy models in coastal communities
Doctoral Candidates — Doctoral candidates conducting dissertation research that draws on the Henderson Collection — for example, a candidate in political science examining the history of socially responsible investing through Henderson's archival correspondence
Post-Doctoral Scholars — Recent doctoral graduates who completed their doctoral degree within the past five years and are developing independent research agendas — for example, a post-doctoral researcher in systems science building on Henderson's frameworks to model workforce transitions in renewable energy economies. The five-year eligibility window applies only to this category and does not apply to college students, mid-career professionals, or any other category of researcher
Early-Career and Established Faculty — University and college faculty pursuing research projects, sabbatical studies, or new interdisciplinary directions — for example, a business school professor developing a curriculum and companion study on ethical markets and stakeholder capitalism
Mid-Career Professionals — Practitioners from finance, policy, business, nonprofit leadership, and other sectors undertaking applied research — for example, an impact-investment analyst studying the evolution of ESG standards, or a city sustainability director researching regenerative development strategies for mid-sized municipalities
Independent Scholars, Authors, and Journalists — Researchers, authors, and journalists working outside traditional institutional settings — for example, an author writing on the economics of peacebuilding, or an investigative journalist examining global consumption patterns and supply chains
Senior and Emeritus Researchers — Senior and emeritus scholars, retired public servants, and accomplished practitioners synthesizing career-spanning insights — for example, a retired diplomat documenting lessons from resource-conflict mediation for a book on peace economics
Applicants from other backgrounds whose proposed research aligns with the Center's mission are also welcome to apply. Fellowships may be awarded to individuals or small research teams, including intergenerational and cross-sector collaborations.
Goals and Objectives
During the grant period, the Center aims to:
Finalize the research fellowship structure, application process, selection criteria, and program protocols
Recruit and support research fellows whose projects align with the Center's mission areas
Provide each fellow with full access to the Center's living library, archives, gathering spaces, and peer and practitioner networks
Connect fellows with members of the Center's Strategic Foresight Advisory Committee, Ethical Markets Research Advisory Board, and broader network of sustainability and social innovation leaders
Integrate fellows into the Center's ongoing public programming, workshops, and community convenings where relevant
Produce a program report at the close of the grant period capturing outcomes, fellow project summaries, and recommendations for future development
Fellowship Structure
Each research fellowship is tailored to the fellow's project and professional development goals, while drawing on shared program elements. Upon arrival, each fellow meets with Center leadership to clarify research objectives, identify relevant library and archival resources, and map connections to the Center's network. Shared program elements include:
Dedicated workspace and full access to the Center's living library of more than 5,600 books and 1,000+ journal issues, together with its archival collections
Structured introductions to Center advisors, practitioners, and network members whose expertise is relevant to the fellow's research
Participation in at least one public-facing activity — workshop, roundtable, community dialogue, or public presentation — connected to the fellow's work
Documentation support to capture, summarize, and disseminate research progress and findings produced during the fellowship
A closing debrief conversation with Center leadership to assess outcomes, identify next steps, and inform program learning
Fellowships are available to individuals and small research teams. The program particularly welcomes fellows at a stage of their work when sustained immersion, access to interdisciplinary resources, and connection to practitioner networks would meaningfully advance their research.
Engagement with the Living Library and Archives
A distinguishing feature of the Research Fellowship Program is the access it provides to the Hazel Henderson Collection — a living library rather than a static archive. The collection encompasses more than 5,600 books and publications, more than 1,000 journal issues, and an extensive archive of Henderson's own research, correspondence, and organizational records. Materials span sustainability, ecological economics, ethical finance, systems thinking, future studies, environmental policy, social innovation, governance, and human development.
Research fellows are encouraged to engage actively with the collection — not only as a reference resource, but as an intellectual interlocutor. Henderson's own annotated volumes, working papers, and archival correspondence offer unique insight into the development of ideas that shaped the global sustainability movement. Fellows whose projects draw directly on Henderson's writings or archival materials are supported in that work by Center staff and, where relevant, by partners at the University of Missouri, where additional Henderson archives are preserved.
Participant Selection
Research fellows are selected through an open application process reviewed by a committee of Center leadership and advisors. Applicants may come from any of the researcher categories described above — college and university students, doctoral candidates, post-doctoral scholars (who must have completed the doctoral degree within the past five years), faculty, mid-career professionals, independent scholars, and senior researchers — and each applicant proposes a specific research project to be advanced during the fellowship. Applications are evaluated relative to the applicant's career stage: a student proposal is assessed against expectations appropriate to student research, and a professional or senior scholar's proposal against correspondingly higher expectations. Selection criteria include:
Strength, clarity, and scholarly significance of the proposed research project
Connection to some of the Center's core focus areas and its broader mission
Demonstrated potential for community impact and public engagement
Degree to which the fellowship environment — the living library, archival collection, practitioner network, and interdisciplinary community — would meaningfully advance the applicant's work
Commitment to interdisciplinary approaches and cross-sector collaboration
The Center is committed to building a diverse and inclusive program and actively recruits across academic disciplines, career stages, geographic backgrounds, and institutional affiliations, including scholars without traditional university support.
Evaluation and Learning
The Center assesses program effectiveness through participant surveys administered at the midpoint and conclusion of each fellowship, structured debrief conversations with each fellow, and documentation of research outputs and project milestones. Outcomes are compiled in a program report at the close of the grant period, capturing lessons learned, fellow project summaries, and recommendations for program growth. This learning directly informs the Center's strategic planning and future funding proposals.
Organization
The Hazel Henderson Center is guided by an experienced leadership team with expertise in sustainability, education, nonprofit management, ethical finance, and community development:
Dr. Carol Spalding, Co-Trustee
Beth Binns, Managing Director and Co-Trustee
Dr. Paula Seymour, Director of Innovative Studies Programs
Mara Zepeda, Director of HH Legacy Initiatives
Jan McAlpine, Director of Development
Tommy Maletta, Editor, Ethical Markets
The Center also benefits from the guidance of its Strategic Foresight Advisory Committee, whose members include Leslie Danziger, Elsie Maio, Vicki Robin, former U.S. Representative Claudine Schneider, and Jean Gaddy Wilson. A broader network of advisors and collaborators contributes expertise across environmental stewardship, architecture, education, finance, governance, entrepreneurship, and systems change.
The Center's close relationship with Ethical Markets Media and its internationally recognized Research Advisory Board provides research fellows with access to a global network of practitioners, investors, academics, and public-sector leaders — significantly extending the professional development and collaborative opportunities available beyond what any single institution can offer.
Conclusion
The Hazel Henderson Center Research Fellowship Program offers researchers — from students to seasoned professionals and scholars — something rare: a place where rigorous research meets a living intellectual legacy, where disciplinary boundaries give way to the interconnected systems that shape our world, and where the ideas that once helped launch a global movement continue to inspire new generations of thinkers and changemakers.
Hazel Henderson spent more than five decades demonstrating that economic thinking could be reimagined — that the measures we use to define success shape the futures we build. The Research Fellowship Program carries that conviction forward, equipping the next generation of scholars with the resources, relationships, and grounding they need to do their most important work.
Grant support from you will enable the Center to launch this program, welcome its inaugural cohort of research fellows, and build the operational foundation for a program of lasting scholarly and public impact. We are grateful for your consideration and invite you to reach out with any questions, to request a full program prospectus, or to schedule a conversation with Center leadership about how your support can make this work possible.
Funding Options
The cost of supporting a research fellow is presented as a single, all-inclusive lump sum covering the fellow's stipend, accommodations, library and archival access, program coordination, mentorship and network connections, and all associated operating costs:
One-Week Fellowship — $2,030 — supports one researcher for one week in residence, with multi-week arrangements available at $[X,XXX] per additional week
One-Month Fellowship — $8,120 — supports one researcher for a month-long fellowship, the program's deepest level of immersion
The Center welcomes support structured in any of the following ways:
Full Program Sponsorship — A sole funder providing full support for the entire program budget, covering a cohort of five fellows
Fellowship Sponsorship — A single funder sponsoring one research fellowship — one-week or one-month — at the level of their choice
Collective Funding — A funder collaborative or co-funders contributing collectively toward a pooled fund supporting multiple fellowships across a season
Funders providing full program sponsorship or fellowship sponsorship will be recognized as the named supporter of the program or of individual fellowships. All contributors are acknowledged in program communications, the closing program report, and public dissemination of fellowship outcomes, in accordance with each funder's recognition preferences.
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