For a robust list of Harvard's internal funding opportunities, please see  here .

I want to visit an archive or library and/or fund my sabbatical leave.

Fellowships or grants that are portable and tenable anywhere.

• American Antiquarian Society: Hench Post-Dissertation Fellowship
• Brown University: John Carter Brown Library Research Fellowships

• The Clark: Fellowships
• Dumbarton Oaks: Fellowships
• The Huntington Library: Fellowships
• Institute for Advanced Study: School of Historical Studies Membership
• Institute for Advanced Study: School of Social Science Membership
• Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies: Visiting Research Fellowships
• Luce/ACLS Program in Religion, Journalism and International Affairs: Fellowships
• National Gallery of Art: Senior Fellowships
• National Humanities Center: Fellowships
• New York Public Library Schomburg Center: Scholars-in-Residence Program
• The Newberry Library: Long- and Short-Term Fellowships
• University of Texas at Austin Harry Ransom Center: Research Fellowships in the Humanities

Fellowships that support or require international travel and/or residency.

• American Academy in Rome: Rome Prize
• Asian Cultural Council: Individual Fellowship Program
• Luce/ACLS Program in China Studies: Fellowships
• Luce/ACLS Program in Religion, Journalism and International Affairs: Fellowships
• The Rockefeller Foundation: Bellagio Center Residency Program
• Villa I Tatti: The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies: Fellowships

I want to combine digital technology with the humanities, create a website with humanities content, or preserve a collection and/or make it easier for people to access.

• British Library Endangered Archives Programme: Research Grants
• National Endowment for the Humanities: Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections

I want to develop or put on an exhibition or cultural program for the public or engage in community revitalization.

• Alfred P. Sloan Foundation: Public Understanding of Science, Technology, & Economics
• The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation: Humanities Program
• MAP Fund: Grants
• Mass Humanities: Project Grants
• National Endowment for the Humanities: Dialogues on the Experience of War
• VIA Art Fund: Grants

• Alfred P. Sloan Foundation: Public Understanding of Science, Technology, & Economics
• Asian Cultural Council: Individual Fellowship Program
• MAP Fund: Grants
• The Rockefeller Foundation: Bellagio Center Residency Program
• Somerville Arts Council: Artist Fellowships
• Sundance Institute: Documentary Fund
• VIA Art Fund: Grants

I am a recent PhD looking for a fellowship opportunity.

• American Academy of Arts & Sciences: Visiting Scholars Program
• American Antiquarian Society: Hench Post-Dissertation Fellowship
• Asian Cultural Council: Individual Fellowship Program
• Council on Library and Information Resources: CLIR Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
• Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard University: Postdoctoral Fellowships

Asia Center Faculty Grants

Deadline: October 30, 2017

Award Amount: Up to $20,000 for research and travel; Up to $50,000 for conferences

Research and travel grants support Harvard faculty research and travel on any topic related to East, South, or Southeast Asia. Preference is given to projects that involve more than one country or region of East, South, or Southeast Asia and/or that approach the topic from more than one discipline. Applications submitted by multiple faculty members are encouraged.  

Conference grants support conferences organized by Harvard faculty in pairs or small groups. Topics must involve more than one country or region of East, South, or Southeast Asia and must approach the topic from more than one discipline. Preference will be given to faculty who collaborate across more than one School. 

China Fund Faculty Grants Program

Deadline: November 15, 2017

Award Amount:  Up to $60,000 for conference grants and $50,000 - $100,000 for research grants

David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies: Faculty Grants

Deadline: November 1, 2017

Award Amount: varies by award type; see details

Dean's Competitive Fund for Promising Scholarship

Deadline: October 11, 2017

Award Amount: $5,000 - $50,000

Eligible Applicants:  FAS and SEAS assistant, associate and tenured faculty. Professors-in-residence and Professors of the Practice are also eligible.
 

The Dean's Competitive Fund for Promising Scholarship is a targeted program that provides funding in the following categories:

• Bridge funding, to allow faculty to continue work on previously funded research that does not currently have external funding. Faculty who apply in this category should demonstrate that efforts have been made or will be made to obtain new external funding;
• Seed funding, to encourage faculty to pursue exciting new research directions that might not yet be ready to compete in traditional funding programs; and
• Enabling subventions, to provide small funds to purchase (or upgrade) critical equipment. Applicants for such funds must have no existing startup funds on which they could draw for this purpose.

The FHBI provides seed grants to support transformative research in the social and behavioral sciences. Successful proposals will be those that promise to advance understanding of the social, institutional and biological mechanisms shaping human beliefs and behavior. Funds will be used to support interdisciplinary social science research projects based on innovative experimental or observational designs that make use of sophisticated quantitative methods. The fund also supports seminars, conferences, and other research-related activities.

This fund provides support for the improvement of existing undergraduate courses or the creation of new ones. These courses should be innovative or improved in some distinctive way (new pedagogical approaches, the development of intensive writing assignments or public speaking components, etc.). Preference is given to proposals involving courses central to the overall undergraduate program (e.g. a new course in General Education) or to concentration needs (e.g. introductory courses in a concentration or those required by closely related fields, tutorials or junior seminars, etc.). Ordinarily, one course per applicant will be supported in any given year. Successful applicants must intend to offer the course on a regular basis. OUE can also offer small sums of money for one-time special opportunities that would enhance a specific course, such as a guest lecture, performance, or short field trip.

Provost Fund for Interfaculty Collaboration

Deadline: November 30, 2017

Award Amount: Up to $25,000 

This fund promotes engagement and collaboration on topics and activities of mutual intellectual interest that connect faculty with other faculty members and/or students across multiple Harvard Schools. The Provost has limited funds to support a variety of projects, including but not limited to cross-School interdisciplinary course support, working groups, and small-scale conferences.

To be eligible for support, the designated faculty leader(s) must hold primary Harvard faculty appointments at the rank of Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor, and the project must engage faculty and/or students from at least two Harvard Schools. Priority will be given to applicants who have not previously received funding from the grant. Colleagues from outside Harvard may be included as well.

Publication Funds for FAS Tenure-Track and Tenured Faculty

Deadline: October 23, 2017

Award Amount: up to $18,000

The Exploratory Seminars program  provides funding to scholars, practitioners, and artists for collaboration in an interdisciplinary exploration of early-stage ideas. Our program encourages intellectual risk taking as participants gather in an intensive seminar setting to explore new fields of research and inquiry. Seminars are usually one or two days in length and are held at the Radcliffe Institute with all logistical arrangements handled by Radcliffe staff. 

Candidates are evaluated on the basis of scholarly excellence; quality and originality of project design; and active commitment to helping women and girls through service in their communities, professions, or fields of research. Applicants must be U.S. citizens of permanent residents. The tenure of the award is one year.

OSP Deadline: not required for grants awarded directly to individuals

Sponsor Deadline: November 15, 2017

Award Amount: $6,000 over an eight-week grant period

The Endangered Archives Programme offers a number of grants every year to individual researchers world-wide to locate vulnerable archival collections, to arrange their transfer wherever possible to a suitable local archival home, and to deliver digital copies into the international research domain via the British Library.

The specific focus of this program is upon archives relating to the pre-industrial stages of a society's development, normally located in countries where resources and opportunities to preserve such material are limited.

Brown University

John Carter Brown Library Research Fellowships

OSP Deadline: not required for grants awarded directly to individuals

Sponsor Deadline: December 1, 2017

Award Amount: $2,100 per month (Short Term Fellowships); $4,200 per month (Long Term Fellowships)

The Clark (in Williamstown, MA) offers between ten and sixteen residential Fellowships each year. National and international scholars, critics, and museum professionals are welcome to propose projects that extend and enhance the understanding of the visual arts and their role in culture.

 

Given the intense competition for fellowships, The Clark does not normally make awards to those who have received their PhD within the last four years. There is no citizenship requirement for this opportunity. The tenure of the award is for one to ten months. 

Council on Library and Information Resources

CLIR Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

OSP Deadline: not required for grants awarded directly to individuals

Sponsor Deadline: December 29, 2017

Award Amount: varies by sponsoring institution

Types of fellowships offered:

Fellowship Program

OSP Deadline: not required for grants awarded directly to individuals

Sponsor Deadline: November 1, 2017; February 1, 2018 (Mellon Fellowships)

Award Amount: $21,000 (Junior Fellow); $35,000 (Fellow); $17,500 stipend plus housing allowance of $3,000/month (Mellon Fellowship) 

 

The Library (located in Washington, D.C.) offers residential fellowships in three areas of study: Byzantine studies (including related aspects of late Roman, early Christian, Western medieval, Slavic, and Near Eastern studies), Pre-Columbian studies (of Mexico, Central America, and Andean South America), and Garden and Landscape studies. Applicants may apply for the following fellowship types:

• Junior Fellowships: for degree candidates who at the time of application have fulfilled all preliminary requirements for a PhD or appropriate final degree and will be working on a dissertation or final project at Dumbarton Oaks under the direction of a faculty member at their own university;
• Fellowships: for scholars who hold a doctorate or appropriate final degree or have established themselves in their field and wish to pursue their own research; 
• Summer Fellowships: for Byzantine, Pre-Columbian, or Garden and Landscape scholars on any level of advancement beyond the first year of graduate (post-baccalaureate) study;
• Mellon Fellowships in Urban Landscape Studies: offered by the Garden and Landscape Studies program, and intended for scholars and designers to pursue research on the history and current conditions of urban landscapes. Please note the deadline for this fellowship opportunity is February 1.

There is no citizenship requirement for this opportunity. The tenure of the award is for one or two terms.

OSP Deadline: November 9, 2017

Sponsor Deadline: November 17, 2017

Award Amount: see details below

OSP Deadline: November 21, 2017

Sponsor Deadline: December 1, 2017

Award Amount: see details 

The "Security, Society and the State" research program targets new security-related issues that are prime examples of the post-Cold-War era but have been largely neglected in mainstream research. The program is intended to encourage junior scholars to pursue unconventional research agendas that are nonetheless crucial, while providing senior scholars with the opportunity to focus intensively on work in progress for a limited period. Moreover, the objective is to combine basic theoretical research with concepts that are applicable to present-day political issues of security policy.

These fellowships are intended to support an academic year of research and/or writing by early career scholars for a project that will make a substantial and original contribution to the understanding of art and its history. The ultimate goal of the project should be a major piece of scholarly work by the applicant. ACLS does not fund creative work (e.g., novels or films), textbooks, straightforward translation, or pedagogical projects. 

The fellowships are portable and are tenable at the fellow's home institution, abroad, or at another appropriate site for the work proposed. Awards also will include a one-week residence at the Getty Research Institute (in Los Angeles, CA) following the fellowship period. Getty/ACLS Postdoctoral Fellowships may not be held concurrently with other fellowships and grants, though they may be combined with sabbatical. Tenure of the award must encompass the entirety of the 2018-19 academic year, during which fellows must devote themselves to full-time research and writing. There is no citizenship requirement for this opportunity.

OSP Deadline: not required for grants awarded directly to individuals

Sponsor Deadline: November 1, 2017

Award Amount: $33,000

The  Howard Foundation awards a limited number of fellowships each year for independent projects in selected fields, targeting its support specifically to early mid-career individuals who have achieved recognition for at least one major project. Fellowships will be awarded for 2018-19 in Sculpture and the History of Art and Architecture.

Fellowships are portable and tenable anywhere. The tenure of the award is one academic year. Applicants must be U.S. citizens.

 

The Huntington Library

Fellowships

OSP Deadline: not required for grants awarded directly to individuals

Sponsor Deadline: November 15, 2017

Award Amount: up to a maximum of $50,000

The Huntington (San Marino, CA) will award over 150 fellowships for the academic year 2017-2018. These fellowships derive from a variety of funding sources and have different terms. Recipients of all fellowships are expected to be in continuous residence at the Huntington and to participate in and make a contribution to its intellectual life.

 

The Huntington is an independent research center with holdings in British and American history, literature, art history, and the history of science and medicine. Within the many general fields contained within the library's holdings, there are many areas of special strength, including: Middle Ages, Renaissance, 19th- and 20th-century literature, British drama, Colonial America, American Civil War, Western America, and California. The Art Collections contain notable British and American paintings, fine prints, photographs, and an art reference library. In the library of the Botanical Gardens is a broad collection of reference works in botany, horticulture, and gardening. 

The tenure of these awards is  1 to 12 months; the Library offers a variety of fellowships, all with differing durations and award amounts. There are no citizenship requirements;  exceptions include the three long-term fellowships funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, which requires recipients be either U.S. citizens or foreign nationals who have been in the U.S. for three years preceding application. 

Institute for Advanced Study

Institute for Advanced Study

This initiative is designed to connect Japan scholars from the U.S., Southeast Asia, and Japan in order to enhance their collective scholarship through collaborative projects and exchanges, as well as to advance Japanese Studies in these three regions. The Japan Foundation hopes that Japan scholars and students from all three regions and across many disciplines will benefit mutually from the creation of scholarly networks and the sharing of Japanese Studies resources, research methodology, and practical collaborative work. Projects will be based at U.S. institutions with strong existing or developing Japanese Studies programs, in order to share the wealth of Japanese Studies resources present in the U.S., and to establish and/or strengthen connections with individuals and institutions in Southeast Asia and Japan.

Each year, the Kroc Institute's Visiting Research Fellows Program brings outstanding scholars focused on peace research to the University of Notre Dame for a semester or a full academic year. The Institute particularly seeks scholars who will actively integrate their research with ongoing Kroc research initiatives. The Kroc Institute seeks applications for Visiting Research Fellows for 2017-18 in the following areas:

• Gender and Conflict/Peacebuilding
• Conflict-related Migration and Diaspora Communities 
• Peace Studies (open)

The Mahindra Humanities Center invites applications for one-year postdoctoral fellowships in connection with the Center's Andrew W. Mellon Foundation seminar on the topic of migration and the humanities. The migration "crisis" makes it imperative for humanists to reflect on the foundational concepts and values of our disciplines in addressing the representation of others as they are recognized in the norms of cultural citizenship. The issues the seminar will explore include: the ethics of hospitality; modes of cosmopolitanism; negotiation of cultural "differences" under duress; the role played by interpretation and cultural translation in enhancing processes of social integration.

MAP Fund
Grants

MAP supports original live performance projects that embody a spirit of deep inquiry. The MAP Fund is founded on the principle that exploration drives human progress, no less in art than in science or medicine. In particular, MAP is interested in supporting artists that question, disrupt, complicate, and challenge inherited notions of social and cultural hierarchy across the current American landscape. As an anti-racist organization that does not support cultural appropriation, or oppressive project language, structures, or content, MAP supports artists who are trying to offer alternative artistic and social paradigms.

Mass Humanities

Project Grants

Project grants support public programming in the humanities in Massachusetts, including but not limited to humanities based civic conversations; public lecture, conference, and panel discussion; reading and discussion programs; film and discussion programs; museum exhibitions and related programming; theatrical productions with post- or pre- performance discussion; oral history projects; walking tours; audio projects; film pre-production and distribution; websites; and content-based professional development workshops for teachers. In general, Mass Humanities prioritizes funding projects that engage those whose contact with humanities programming is limited, and programming that responds to the current theme, Negotiating the Social Contact. 

National Endowment for the Humanities

Collaborative Research Grants

• research that significantly adds to knowledge and understanding of the humanities;
• conferences on topics of major importance in the humanities that will benefit scholarly research; and
• archaeological projects that emphasize interpretation, data reuse, and dissemination of results.

Sponsor Deadline: November 2, 2017

Award Amount: up to $100,000

 

As a part of its current initiative,  Standing Together: The Humanities and the Experience of War, NEH offers the Dialogues on the Experience of War program. The program supports the study and discussion of important humanities sources about war, in the belief that these sources can help U.S. military veterans and others to think more deeply about the issues raised by war and military service. The humanities sources can be drawn from history, philosophy, literature, and film, and they may and should be supplemented by testimonials from those who have served. The discussions are intended to promote serious exploration of important questions about the nature of duty, heroism, suffering, loyalty, and patriotism.

The program awards grants that will support:

The discussion programs can take place on college and university campuses, in veterans' centers, at public libraries and museums, and at other community venues. Most of the participants in the discussion programs should be military veterans; others, such as men and women in active service, military families, and interested members of the public, may participate as well.

Please note: This is a limited submission opportunity.  In response to this opportunity, Harvard University, as a single institution, may put forward up to three (3) proposals to the NEH. Please contact Erin Hale ([email protected]) if you are interested in applying.

1. Faculty from at least two separate departments or schools at a single institution must collaborate to devise new curricular arrangements; and
2. Projects must include provisions for high-impact student engagement activities that relate directly to the topic(s) of the linked courses. These activities could include individual or collaborative undergraduate research projects; opportunities for civic engagement; or a structured experience with community-based, project-based, or site-based learning. Community organizations and cultural institutions can play key roles in this regard.

Scholarly Editions and Translations grants support the preparation of editions and translations of pre-existing texts of value to the humanities that are currently inaccessible or available in inadequate editions. Typically, the texts and documents are significant literary, philosophical, and historical materials; but other types of work, such as musical notation, are also eligible.

Projects must be undertaken by at least one editor or translator and one other collaborating scholar. These grants support full-time or part-time activities for periods of one to three years.

Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections (SCHC) helps cultural institutions meet the complex challenge of preserving large and diverse holdings of humanities materials for future generations by supporting sustainable conservation measures that mitigate deterioration, prolong the useful life of collections, and support institutional resilience: the ability to anticipate and respond to natural and man-made disasters.

This award supports the publication of scholarly books on European civilization before 1700 in the areas of music, theater, cultural studies, or French or Italian literature. Applicants must document that their projects have been accepted for publication and provide detailed information regarding the publication and the subvention request.  The purpose of this award is to enable the publication of works of the highest quality either:

Once these criteria are met, preference will be given to publications that:

These grants provide support to artists to do their work. Fellowships are awarded in the following disciplines: cultural heritage, dance/theater, film/video, literature, interrelated media, music, and visual arts. Awarded fellows also complete a community benefit component to give back to the community. Community benefit work may take the form of a dancer conducting a movement class for seniors or a painter working with the high school painting and decorating class. Individual artists who are residents of Somerville at the time of applying and did not receive a Fellowship award in 2016 or 2017 are eligible.

Terra Foundation for American Art

Academic Workshop & Symposium Grants

OSP Deadline: December 1, 2017

Sponsor Deadline: December 8, 2017

Award Amount: up to $25,000

The Terra Foundation for American Art actively supports projects that encourage international scholarship on American art topics, as well as scholarly projects with focused theses that further research of American art in an international context. Academic program funding is available for in-person exchanges such as workshops, symposia, and colloquia that advance scholarship in the field of American art (circa 1500-1980) that take place:

Additionally, the foundation welcomes applications for international research groups. Such groups should involve 2 to 4 faculty members from two or more academic institutions, at least one of which must be located outside the United States. Groups should pursue specific research questions that will advance scholarship and meet in person two or more times.

Grants

OSP LOI Deadline: October 20, 2017

Malkiel Scholars Award

OSP Deadline: November 21, 2017

Sponsor Deadline: December 1, 2017

Award Amount:  $17,500 stipend ($10,000 to be used for summer research support and $7,500 for research assistance during the academic year)

The Nancy Weiss Malkiel Scholars Award Program supports junior faculty whose research focuses on contemporary American history, politics, culture, and society, and whose service addresses the need for a more inclusive, responsive academic culture on their campus for peers and students. Eligible applicants must be tenure-track faculty who have passed their third-year review or their institution's equivalent.   

For assistance, please contact:

Paige Belisle

Research Development Officer

[email protected] | 617-496-7672

To see previous Arts and Humanities Funding Newsletters, please visit our email archive.