National Humanities Center Fellowship Program 2025-2026

The National Humanities Center is now accepting applications for its 2025-2026 Fellowship Program. This prestigious program offers a unique opportunity for scholars to dedicate a year to advancing their research projects, engaging in intellectual exchange with fellow scholars, and rejuvenating their academic pursuits in a supportive and stimulating environment, free from the usual demands of academic life.

Fellows arrive at the National Humanities Center’s airy, glass-and-brick building each year and quickly make themselves at home in their individual studies looking out onto a Carolina pine forest. These roomy offices provide an ideal setting to quietly read, think, and write; and, when Fellows want a change of location, the Center has numerous areas inside and outside the building that are well suited for sitting and working alone or getting together to converse with other scholars.

Stipend

• The stipend amounts awarded are individually determined, according to the needs of the Fellow and the Center’s ability to meet them. The Center seeks to provide half salary with the expectation that the Fellow’s home institution covers the remaining salary. Other grants or institutional support that Fellows will receive during their fellowship may also reduce the amount of the Center’s stipend.

Eligibility

• Applicants must have a doctorate or equivalent scholarly credentials.
• Mid-career and senior scholars are encouraged to apply. Emerging scholars with a strong record of peer-reviewed work may also apply. The Center does not support the revision of doctoral dissertations.
• In addition to all fields of the humanities, the Center accepts applications from scholars in the natural and social sciences, the arts, the professions, and public life who are engaged in humanistic projects.

How to Apply

The Center will begin accepting applications for the 2025–26 academic year on July 1, 2024 with a deadline of October 3, 2024. Fellowship applicants are asked to complete the online application form and to upload the following documents:

• 1,000-word project proposal
• short bibliography (up to two pages)
• curriculum vitae (up to four pages)
• one-page tentative outline of the structure of the project (if the project is a book, provide an outline of chapters; otherwise, give an outline of the components of the project and their progress to date)

Applicants will also be asked to provide names and contact information for three references. References will receive an email prompt inviting them to upload a letter of recommendation on behalf of the applicant. All letters are also due by October 3, 2024.