Fellowships

Source: https://aaas.fas.harvard.edu/fellowships Parent: https://aaas.fas.harvard.edu/declaring-concentration-or-secondary-field-0

The next application cycle for the GSAS Professional Fund runs from February 1 through April 30 for funds disbursement on June 1. Please see the GSAS Professional Development Fund webpage for more details. 

Eligible students in the humanities and social sciences are guaranteed a dissertation completion fellowship (DCF) between the G4 and G7 years and must apply for the DCF in advance of the dissertation completion year. Follow the instructions for dissertation completion fellowships and apply by February 13, 2026, at 11:59 p.m.

Graduate Society Summer Predissertation Fellowships are for outstanding Harvard Griffin GSAS doctoral students in the humanities and social sciences conducting summer language study and/or preliminary dissertation research. Students may apply either for a Graduate Society Summer Predissertation Fellowship or a Harvard Summer School Tuition Fellowship in the same year.

Full descriptions of these fellowships are on the Fellowships & Writing Center website, brief descriptions and department deadlines are listed below. 

GSAS uses CARAT for all these fellowships. Students apply directly through CARAT.

I want to remind you about a significant change made last year to the competitions for the Traveling, Merit/Beeuwkes, and Summer Predissertation fellowships.

We also are making two changes to this year’s Merit/Beeuwkes competition. 1) Applications now require only one letter of recommendation, from the student’s advisor. 2) Students who are recipients of Presidential funding are not allowed to apply for the Merit during their graduate career at Harvard.

Students may apply for only one GSAS fellowship per year (the Harvard Traveling Fellowships are not GSAS fellowships).

A.     Harvard Traveling Fellowships (Kennedy, Knox, Sheldon, Samuelson, and Lurcy):These fellowships for dissertation research abroad are jointly sponsored by the Committee on General Scholarships (CGS) and GSAS (Kennedy, Knox, Sheldon) or administered solely by GSAS (Samuelson, Lurcy). Department deadline on November 10, 2025, at 5 pm. Departments may nominate up to fourstudents for this award. Students may apply for this opportunity along with oneof the GSAS opportunities listed below. 

B.     Merit/Term Time and Beeuwkes Fellowships:Dissertation research and writing at the post-prospectus stage. Department deadline on November 10, 2025, at 5 pm.Departments may nominate up to twostudents for this award. Students receiving Presidential funding are not eligible for the Merit/Beeuwkes during their graduate career at Harvard. 

C.     Graduate Summer Awards:Students may apply for one or the other of the options below.

1. Graduate Society Summer Predissertation Fellowshipsareintended for language study and/or preliminary dissertation research at the pre-prospectus stage. If students will have an approved prospectus by the beginning of summer 2026, then they are not eligible to apply for the Summer Predissertation Award.Please remind your students to submit proposals that are three double-spaced pages or less.Department deadline on February 5, 2026, at 5 pm. Departments may nominate up to fivestudents for this award.
2. Harvard Summer School Tuition Fellowshipsfor language study at the Harvard Summer School. Deadline: March 5, 2026, at 12 pm.Students may apply directly through CARAT.

Applicants should be reminded that the Fellowships & Writing Center provides feedback on fellowship essays by submitting them to this intake form and holds workshops on the Merit/Beeuwkes and Traveling fellowships in early October (see our newsletter, On Grants and Prose,for more details). Samples of winning fellowship proposals and further advice on proposal writing are available in a publication, Scholarly Pursuits, available on the GSAS Fellowships & Writing Center website.