RA

Radcliffe Institute Fellowship

Global

by Harvard Radcliffe Institute

A year-long residency at Harvard for scholars, scientists, artists, and writers to pursue transformative work in an interdisciplinary community.

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Funding

$78,000 stipend + Harvard office and resources

Duration

1 academic year (September to May)

Geography

Global

Eligibility

Open to scholars, scientists, artists, and writers from any country who have a doctorate or equivalent professional experience. Applicants must be able to reside in the Cambridge/Boston area for the full academic year. The program is open to all genders and disciplines.

Application

Annual (applications due in September)

Deadline

September 2026

About This Fellowship

The Radcliffe Institute Fellowship at Harvard University is one of the most coveted residential fellowships in the world, offering an extraordinary year of focused work in the company of a deliberately diverse intellectual community. Each year, approximately 50 fellows — scholars, scientists, artists, and writers from around the globe — come to the Radcliffe campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to pursue projects that push the boundaries of their disciplines.

Fellows receive a stipend of $78,000, a private office or studio at the Radcliffe Institute, access to Harvard University's vast library system and research facilities, and — perhaps most valuably — the daily company of 49 other brilliant minds working across completely different fields. The fellowship community is intentionally designed to spark unexpected connections: a particle physicist might share lunch with a novelist, a documentary filmmaker, and an economist, leading to cross-pollination of ideas that would never occur in disciplinary silos.

The Radcliffe Fellowship traces its roots to the Bunting Institute, established in 1961 as one of the first fellowship programs specifically designed to support women scholars. Today, the program is open to all genders but retains its commitment to advancing underrepresented voices and perspectives. The Institute's emphasis on interdisciplinarity and creative risk-taking has made it a launching pad for some of the most influential scholarly books, artworks, and scientific discoveries of the past several decades.

What You Get

The Radcliffe Fellowship provides an unparalleled combination of financial support, physical resources, and intellectual community at one of the world's great universities.

  • $78,000 stipend for the academic year (September through May)
  • A private office or studio space at the Radcliffe Institute on Harvard's campus
  • Full access to Harvard University's library system — the largest academic library in the world with 17+ million volumes
  • Access to Harvard labs, archives, museums, and research facilities
  • Weekly fellows' seminars where each fellow presents their work to the full cohort for interdisciplinary feedback
  • Housing assistance and community programming including dinners, lectures, and excursions
  • For artists: access to studio spaces, performance venues, and curatorial support for exhibitions
  • Health insurance coverage during the fellowship year

Selection Process

Radcliffe selects fellows through a rigorous peer-review process, with expert committees in each discipline evaluating applications independently before the Institute assembles the final cohort.

  • Applications are due in mid-September for a fellowship beginning the following September
  • Applicants submit a project proposal, CV, work samples (for artists), and letters of recommendation
  • Applications are reviewed by discipline-specific committees of external experts
  • The Institute then assembles the final cohort with attention to disciplinary balance and diversity
  • Approximately 50 fellows are selected each year from over 1,300 applications (roughly 4% acceptance rate)
  • The four fellowship tracks are: Humanities and Social Sciences, Science and Engineering, Creative Arts, and a new Emerging Scholars track
  • Selection criteria emphasize the quality of the proposed project, the applicant's record, and the potential for the fellowship experience to catalyze transformative work

The Fellowship Community

The heart of the Radcliffe experience is the fellowship community itself — a deliberately curated group designed to create productive intellectual collisions across disciplines.

  • The cohort of ~50 fellows includes roughly equal numbers of humanists, social scientists, natural scientists, and creative artists
  • Weekly seminars require each fellow to present their work to the entire community, not just specialists in their field
  • Fellows report that these cross-disciplinary interactions frequently reshape their projects in unexpected and productive ways
  • The Institute hosts additional public lectures, exhibitions, and performances that showcase fellows' work
  • Many lasting collaborations and friendships form during the fellowship year
  • Notable alumni include Jill Lepore, Elizabeth Alexander, Drew Gilpin Faust, and Claudia Rankine

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