Mahindra Humanities Center Postdoctoral Fellowships

We are currently updating our call for applications for 2014-15. Please check this page in late August for more information about the upcoming application season.

Applicants for 2013-14 fellowships must have received the Ph.D. after May 2010. Applicants without the Ph.D. must demonstrate that they will receive the Ph.D. in or before August 2013. Applications must be completed by November 15, 2012.

Fellowships will be awarded to support projects that share the Center’s commitment to interdisciplinarity and internationalism. The Center welcomes applications from all fields within the humanities and the allied social sciences. Despite the great diversity among humanities disciplines, they are joined in their commitment to the spirit of informed and independent interpretation—for individuals and groups—as a process crucial to making judgments about the relationship between facts and values. The Mahindra Humanities Center has taken on the role of exploring this important ethical and epistemological dimension of the humanities.

Fellows will be joined at the Center by postdoctoral fellows from Germany, who will be coming as part of a collaboration between the Mahindra Humanities Center and the Volkswagen Foundation. Fellows are expected to be in residence at Harvard for the term of the fellowship.

Fellows will receive stipends of $60,000, individual medical insurance, moving assistance of $1,500, and additional research support of $2,500.

Application Instructions

The online application can be found here. In addition to biographical and professional information, applicants are asked to submit:

1. A curriculum vitae.

2. A detailed statement of the research project (1,000-3,000 words) that provides a detailed description of what the applicant proposes to do during the fellowship year.

3. One chapter- or article-length writing sample (no longer than 40 pages).

4. Three letters of recommendation. Recommendations may be those included in the applicant’s placement dossier, but they must specifically address the proposed research project. Letters should be uploaded to the electronic application.

5. A $35.00 application processing fee in the form of a check made out to Harvard University. Applicantion fees cannot be submitted electronically. Please mail your $35 application fee in the form of a check made out to Harvard University to:

Shannon Mackey
Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard
12 Quincy Street
Cambridge, MA 02138

Please contact Shannon Mackey with questions about applying for a fellowship.

VOLKSWAGEN FOUNDATION POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS
Sponsored by the Volkswagen Foundation

The Volkswagen Foundation sponsors several fellowships at the Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard. These fellowships are intended to give young German scholars the opportunity to take advantage of Harvard's libraries, archives, and other facilities, thereby providing opportunities for research and interdisciplinary exchange. Fellows will be able to strengthen their research knowledge and profile in a specific field of the humanities in an international perspective. Fellows are expected to be in residence at Harvard for the term of the fellowship.

Applicants should have finished their Ph.D. with outstanding results two or three years (maximum five years) before. The selection of the fellows will be jointly organized by the Foundation and the Mahindra Humanities Center in a two-step procedure.

Further information about Volkswagen Foundation Fellowships at the Mahindra Humanities Center can be found here.