Cultivating the Pioneers of a Fluid Discipline
To ensure the long-term vitality and integrity of Oceanic Psyche studies, the Atlantic Institute has launched two competitive fellowship programs: the Post-Doctoral Neptune Fellowships and the Graduate Trident Scholars. These programs are designed to identify and nurture the most promising early-career researchers from a wide array of backgrounds, providing them with the funding, mentorship, and unique experiential training needed to become the field's next generation of leaders. Unlike traditional fellowships, selection prioritizes not only academic excellence but also demonstrated interdisciplinary curiosity, ethical sensitivity, and a capacity for immersive, reflective practice.
Program Structures and Unique Offerings
Both fellowships share a core structure but differ in scope and duration.
- Neptune Post-Doctoral Fellowships (2 years): Awarded to recent PhDs from any relevant discipline, these fellows provide a stipend, research budget, and dedicated workspace at the institute. Their core requirement is to pursue an original research project that bridges at least two fields (e.g., marine biology and poetry, neuroscience and anthropology). Uniquely, each Neptune Fellow must also complete a 'Sea-Practicum'—a month-long supervised immersion aboard the Psyche Discoverer or at a field station, not as a passive observer but as a participating crew member, learning the embodied language of the sea.
- Trident Graduate Scholars (3 years): For outstanding doctoral students, this program offers full tuition coverage, a living stipend, and a joint supervision model. Each Trident Scholar has a primary advisor from their home university and a co-advisor from the institute's senior staff, ensuring their dissertation contributes to the core mission. Scholars participate in a yearly, week-long 'Transdisciplinary Bootcamp' at the institute, engaging in intensive workshops on topics like phenomenological methods, marine ethics, and scientific storytelling.
Both cohorts come together quarterly for symposia, forming a tight-knit intellectual community.
Current Fellow Spotlights
The inaugural cohort, now in their second year, exemplifies the program's ambition. Dr. Lena Shore (Neptune Fellow), a former naval architect with a PhD in Cognitive Science, is developing a 'Hydrodynamic Theory of Thought,' modeling how fluid dynamics principles might describe the flow of ideas and emotions in groups. Her research involves simulating mental processes with fluid tanks and interviewing sailors about collective decision-making in storms. Koana Malani (Trident Scholar), a PhD candidate in Indigenous Studies and Ecology, is documenting and analyzing traditional Pacific navigation chants not just as wayfinding tools, but as complex psychological technologies for maintaining orientation, morale, and cosmic connection during long voyages. Her work involves sailing with contemporary wayfinders and recording their subjective experiences.
The Long-Term Vision: A Sea Change in Academia
These fellowship programs are an investment in the future of knowledge itself. By supporting scholars who can think across the artificial divides of academia, we aim to produce a generation of researchers equipped to tackle the complex, intertwined challenges of the 21st century—climate change, mental health crises, interspecies relations. Graduates of these programs will not only populate university departments but also NGOs, policy think tanks, artistic communities, and clinical practices, spreading an ocean-informed perspective. The ultimate goal is to make the interdisciplinary, ethically-grounded, and experientially-rich approach of Oceanic Psyche studies a model for how we can cultivate deeper, more respectful ways of knowing our world. We are not just training researchers; we are training navigators for the uncertain seas of the future, individuals whose minds are as adaptable, connected, and profound as the ocean they study.