The STARS Fellowship program began in 2016 as a follow up to the World Bank-led Agriculture in Africa: Telling Myths and Facts project. At the time, the Structural Transformation of African Agriculture and Rural Spaces (STAARS) program was launched as a response to 1) promote research project creation and leadership by early-career researchers from African institutions, 2) use rich, publicly available datasets, like the Living Standards Measurement Study – Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA), to answer important, policy-relevant research questions. From 2020 to 2024, the program expanded to also include a team-based program sponsored by the USAID Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Policy Research, Capacity and Influence, the Structural Transformation of African and Asian Agriculture and Rural Spaces (STAAARS+), opening eligibility for teams from South and Southeast Asia.

Today, the STARS program builds on and encompasses the successes of both the STAARS and STAAARS+ programs, supporting early-career researchers from any low and lower-middle income country to pursue rigorous, policy-oriented research.

STARS research broadly encompasses topics relating to the structural transformation of agriculture and rural economies in low and lower-middle income countries. More specifically, topics include:

• Dynamics of agricultural inputs use, technological change, and productivity growth.
• Rural factor (e.g. credit, labor, land) and product market performance.
• Agri-food systems and value chains.
• Food security, nutrition, health, and education linkages.
• Poverty dynamics, risk management, and resilience against shocks.
• Sustainable natural resources management.

Early-career researchers selected as STARS Fellows in 2026 will advance rigorous, policy-oriented research on productivity and income growth, asset accumulation, rural employment, and risk management in agriculture and rural spaces and in the agri-food value chains that connect rural producers to urban consumers.

The STARS program spans 15 months, beginning at the time of selection in April 2026 and ending with the delivery of final outputs in June 2027. Each selected Fellow is matched with at least one primary mentor – drawn from faculty, senior research staff, or affiliate researchers at Cornell or CGD – as well as a more junior peer mentor. Mentorship and collaboration begin immediately after selection, starting with a series of launch workshops that bring together Fellows, mentors, and STARS leadership.

Following these initial workshops, Fellows engage in regular remote collaboration with their mentors through weekly or biweekly virtual meetings. Throughout this period, they also participate in training workshops scheduled at key stages of the research process. These workshops are designed to support professional development and strengthen technical skills, with potential topics including coding and data management, reproducible research practices, technical writing, presentation skills, time management, grant writing, navigating peer review, and research ethics.

As part of the program, Fellows spend three weeks at Cornell in October-November 2026 and, if their main mentor is based elsewhere, at the mentor’s home institution. During this visit, Fellows work intensively on their research project, participate in feedback workshops, deliver a public seminar, and take part in network-building activities.

Following the visit, Fellows continue regular engagement with their mentors to progress their research paper. The program provides several opportunities for peer-to-peer and external feedback prior to final submission in June 2027.

Prospective STARS Fellows are invited to develop proposals in the following thematic areas for empirical work on low- and lower-middle income countries:

1. Dynamics of agricultural inputs use, technological change, and productivity growth
2. Rural factor (e.g., credit, labor, land) and product market performance and links to urban markets
3. Agri-food systems and value chains, their performance and evolution
4. Food security, nutrition, health and education linkages
5. Poverty dynamics, risk management and resilience against shocks
6. Sustainable natural resources management
7. Gender and marginalized groups

Proposals should use existing data, such as the Living Standards Measurement Study – Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS–ISA), Demographic and Health Surveys or similar high-quality datasets.

• Early career researchers, either Ph.D. students in their final year prior to degree completion or those who completed their Ph.D. no earlier than 2020.
• Familiarity with and demonstrated access to data sets in your research proposal. STARS does not provide funding for new data collection.
• Strong working knowledge of appropriate software, typically Stata and/or R, and an interest in quantitative analysis of high-quality data sets. Knowledge of Stata and/or R will be assessed at the finalist stage.­
• Priority given to:
  • Researchers who have earned at least one degree from an institution in a low- or lower-middle income country[1][2]
  • Researchers planning to work professionally in low- and lower-middle income countries in the future
  • Proposals relating to one or more of the research themes indicated above
  • Qualified female researchers

[1] Based on current World Bank designations.
[2] Applicants ordinarily resident in comprehensively sanctioned countries, including Iran, Cuba, Syria, North Korea and certain regions of Ukraine are ineligible for selection.

Fellows will receive funds to cover travel and participation in a three-week visit to Cornell University and their mentor’s home institution. The remainder of the research coordination and professional development training will occur virtually. Fellows are expected to commit significant time to the mandatory research and capacity development activities. A modest honorarium will be provided to each Fellow. No salary support is available; STARS does not cover the scholar’s time allocated to this research. A letter of support from the candidate’s current advisor/supervisor/manager is required, explicitly indicating that adequate work time will be made available for full participation in the program, if selected.

Dates are subject to change, but general timing should be consistent. Items in italics denote in-person events during the Fellows’ visit to the U.S. All other events are virtual.

Applicants must prepare a maximum 2500-word research proposal, which motivates the selected research issues and objectives, outlines data sources and proposed methodology, and contains a convincing plan for completing the project by June 30, 2027. Projects that propose to use data that are not publicly available must provide documentation that they already have access to those data. All proposals should be prepared in English.

All proposals will be peer-reviewed by experts from Cornell and/or CGD. Shortlisted applicants will be required to attend a short, virtual interview with the STARS leadership team and potential mentors and complete a Stata/R assessment to assess their qualifications in using statistical software necessary to carry out their proposed work. More details will be provided to shortlisted candidates at the time of notification.

The deadline to submit a research proposal is January 16, 2026 at 11:59 PM New York time. Applicants should submit their completed proposals via the STARS online application link. Accepted applicants will be notified by early April 2026 and are expected to begin remote collaboration with their mentor and be prepared to join launch activities immediately upon acceptance. Any questions about the application process or program should be directed to stars-fellowship@cornell.edu.

Application Details:

For your application to be considered, you will be required to submit the following via the online application form. Please submit the research proposal, CV, letter of support, and data use authorization (if applicable) as a ZIP folder or merged PDF file within the form.

1. Applicant information questions
2. Research overview questions
3. Research proposal (2500 words max)
   1. Title of the proposed research
   2. Targeted country(-ies)
   3. Introduction and motivation that includes clear statement of research objectives and hypotheses
   4. Description of data source(s) and any prior experience working with the proposed data
   5. Proposed methodology
   6. If applicable, summary of any preliminary results
   7. Proposed timeline for the research (not included in the 2500 words)
   8. Bibliographic references (not included in the 2500 words)
4. Current curriculum vita (CV) or resume
5. Letter of support from applicant’s current supervisor, clearly indicating that the applicant will be granted time to work on this project, if selected
6. If proposing to use data that are not publicly available, a letter or other documentation from the data steward(s) indicating that the applicant will have access to the data to use in the proposed project

Question: Do I need a Ph.D. to apply?

Answer: The STARS Fellowship is aimed at early-career Ph.Ds. You must have either completed your Ph.D. in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 or be in your last year (all but dissertation, no more required coursework) of completing your Ph.D. program.

Question: Can I use primary data in my proposed study?

Answer: The STARS Fellowship program does not fund primary data collection. If you have already collected the data or have separate funding for this collection, you can apply so long as data will be collected by the time (or near) the Fellowship begins, April 2026.

Question: Can I only use LSMS data for the proposed study?

Answer: No, you are not limited to using only LSMS datasets. Other high-quality datasets are acceptable, so long as you demonstrate permission to use them (if not publicly available).

Question: I am not an applied economist. Can I still apply?

Answer: You do not need to be an economist to apply, however successful proposals will be within the scope of the STARS research themes (see RFP details) and demonstrate the applicants’ ability to work with high-quality datasets and econometric analysis methods.

Question: I am not currently employed. Do I still need a letter of support from a supervisor?

Answer: No, if you are currently unemployed, you do not need a letter of support. If you are in your last year of your Ph.D. program, a letter of support from your supervisor is required.

Question: What statistical software(s) do I need to know?

Answer: Applicants must indicate familiarity with at least one statistical programming language. Typically, this is Stata, R, or Python. Finalists will be administered a virtual assessment to assess their knowledge of their programming language of choice.

Question: I don’t currently reside in my home country or the country I received by degree(s). Can I still apply?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Which countries receive priority?

Answer: Applicants having earned at least one degree from the following low- and lower-middle income countries will receive priority.

Current countries classified as low- and lower-middle income by the World Bank include: Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Dem. Rep, Congo, Rep., Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Arab Rep., Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Haiti, Honduras, Gambia, The, Guinea-Bissau, India, Jordan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kyrgyz Republic, Lao PDR, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Micronesia, Fed. Sts., Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Rwanda, Samoa, São Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vietnam, West Bank and Gaza, Yemen, Rep., Zambia, Zimbabwe