Program Requirements

  • Applications for the 2026 cohort are due by December 1, 2025, at 5:00pm EST.
  • Host letters and recommendation letters are due by December 10, 2025, at 5:00pm EST (10 days after the application deadline).
  • Candidates for 2026 Environmental Fellowships should have received their terminal degree between May 2022 and August 2026. (Fellows must have filed their dissertation before starting their appointment in September 2026.)
  • Candidates with a doctorate or equivalent in any field are eligible, and they may propose research projects in any discipline. Applicants without a PhD may apply if they have studied in fields where the PhD is not the typical terminal degree. All successful candidates will be able to demonstrate experience performing scholarly research.
  • Candidates who received terminal degrees from Harvard, and post-docs currently working at Harvard are eligible for the fellowship provided their research and host arrangements take them in new directions that are significantly distinct from their PhD research and forge new connections within the University. Harvard candidates should not propose to continue to work with the same professors or lab groups with whom they are currently associated. No candidate should propose to work extensively with their thesis advisor.
  • Each candidate must secure a commitment from one or more Harvard faculty members to serve as a mentor and to provide office or lab space for the two-year fellowship. Faculty members may only host one Environmental Fellow at a time. Faculty members who are not eligible for hosting fellows in 2026 are Paul Moorcroft, Zhiming Kuang, Caroline Buckee, and Satchit Balsari.
  • Harvard is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer.
  • Candidates may have received their degrees at any university in the world. Foreign nationals are eligible for fellowships, though study at Harvard generally requires proficiency in English.
  • Successful candidates should be prepared to commit to work at Harvard for the full two years of the fellowship. This fellowship requires residency in the Cambridge area and any fieldwork trip must be scheduled for the summer or January recess.