Scholarship Overview

The Harvard Academy Scholars Program is a scholarship available for outstanding international scholars who will be pursuing a Master's or a PhD program in any of the social science disciplines. The scholarship is awarded at the start of their academic careers whose work combines excellence in a social science discipline with a command of the language and knowledge or expertise of countries or regions outside of the United States and/or Canada. Their scholarship should span traditional disciplinary divisions and elucidate comparative, transnational, or domestic issues, past or present.

These scholars are provided with the needed support and funds to enable them undertake robust research projects and skills development in their chosen fields and areas.

Host Institution(s):

The host institution is Harvard University, USA.

Level(s)/Fields(s):

A master's or a PhD degree in the following areas;

  • Africa Studies
  • Anthropology
  • Asia Studies
  • Central Asia Studies
  • East Asian Languages and Civilizations
  • Eastern Europe Studies
  • Economics
  • Ethnic Studies
  • Geography
  • Government
  • History
  • History of Science—outside of the US and/or Canada
  • Inner Asian and Altaic Studies
  • International Relations
  • Latin American and Iberian Studies
  • Law
  • Middle East Studies
  • Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
  • Political Economy and Government
  • Political Science
  • Psychology
  • Public Policy
  • Russia Studies
  • Slavic Languages and Civilization
  • Social Policy
  • Social Studies
  • Sociology
  • South Asia Studies
  • Southeast Asia Studies
  • Ukraine Studies
  • Western Europe Studies
  • Women, Gender, & Sexuality—outside of the US and/or Canada

Scholarship Value:

The Academy Scholars receive an annual stipend of $75,000.

Eligibility:

  • The Academy Scholars Program is open to scholars from all countries and citizenships who have recently completed or are nearing completion of a PhD or equivalent doctoral program (DPhil and SJD included) in the social sciences.
  • The Academy Scholars Program is not a degree-granting program. If you have not recently completed or are not currently enrolled in a PhD or equivalent doctoral program in the social sciences, you are not eligible to apply for the Academy Scholars Program
  • If you have completed a PhD program, the PhD completion date must be within two years of the August 1, 2023, start date. For applicants applying for the September 23, 2022, deadline, you must have completed you PhD after July 31, 2020.  
  • PhD candidates nearing dissertation completion must be able to submit degree conferral documentation issued by their university registrar’s office by June 30, 2023, for an August 1, 2023, start date.
  • Individuals who hold or have completed another Harvard postdoctoral fellowship are not eligible to apply.
  • Finalists must be available for a personal interview on our December 2, 2022, interview date. The Harvard Academy will pay for travel and hotel accommodations for the finalists to interview in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

Application Instructions:

The application instructions include following;

  • Applications can be submitted online at the portal
  • The completed application will include;
    • Curriculum vitae (CV) or resume; including list of publications
    • Research proposal (2000 words maximum); including intellectual objectives and planned methodological and disciplinary work
    • One scholarly writing sample (e.g., PhD dissertation chapter or peer-reviewed academic journal article); only ONE sample may be submitted and it must be in English
    • A copy of your PhD program transcript
    • Three letters of recommendation (uploaded through the online application)
  • All application materials must be submitted by the deadline of September 23, 2022

Official website

Website link