FAQs

There are no strict formatting requirements for the application materials. We recommend the following lengths and guidelines:

• Cover Letter: approximately 2 pages
  The cover letter should provide an overview of your academic background, research interests, and scholarly trajectory. Briefly describe what you study, your dissertation or current research, and the projects you hope to pursue next. You may mention your primary supervisor, other faculty or collaborators you work with, and relevant publications, awards, fellowships, fieldwork, or research travel. Applicants should also explain why the Weatherhead Scholars Program and Harvard would be a good fit, including any faculty, research groups, centers, or programs at Weatherhead or Harvard with which they may be interested in engaging.
• Research Statement: approximately 2 pages
  The research statement should provide a more detailed account of your research. It should describe your central research questions and arguments, the contribution of your work to the relevant literature, your methodology, sources or data, and the broader significance of the research. Applicants should also discuss their current and future research agenda, particularly the work they hope to undertake during their time at Harvard. Where relevant, this may include plans for publications, a book project, fieldwork, data collection, or the development of a new research project.
• Curriculum Vitae: approximately 2–3 pages
  The CV should provide a clear overview of your academic and professional record, including education, appointments, publications, presentations, awards and fellowships, research experience, and other relevant scholarly or professional activities.
• Dissertation Abstract: 1–2 paragraphs
  The dissertation abstract should be brief and provide a clear summary of the dissertation, including its central research question, argument, methodology or approach, and primary contribution. Applicants who have not yet completed their dissertation may submit a summary of the project in its current form. It does not need to be the final abstract that will appear in the completed dissertation.

After you submit your application in the ARIES portal, the system will automatically email your references with a request for their letters and the deadline for submission. We typically reach out in the shortlist stage if we notice an application is missing a letter. There is no need to email us to confirm receipt of the letters.

No, you may only hold one fellowship while part of the Weatherhead Scholars Program. Fellows are not permitted to accept or hold other concurrent fellowships during their appointment.

The Weatherhead Scholars Program is unable to extend or renew appointments beyond one year, but you are welcome to independently explore opportunities across Harvard University.

Scholars and fellows are offered shared office space (typically 4-5 per office) at 1727 Cambridge St in Cambridge, adjacent to the Weatherhead Center's main space at the Center for Government and International Studies (1737 Cambridge St., second floor). Each person will have access to a printer/copier/scanner. If needed, the Program will provide the use of a monitor that can be connected to a personal laptop.

Scholars and fellows are all eligible to be assigned an undergraduate Research Assistant throughout the duration of their appointment; students are paid by the Weatherhead Center, at $17/hr for 5-10 hours/week. Research Assistants must be Harvard College students in residence/in Massachusetts. 

At this point, we are not offering additional travel grants for participation in events and conferences.

Because the deadline for grant applications often precedes the Weatherhead Center’s application deadline as well as the time when candidates are notified, we are able to write conditional letters in support of grant applications. That is, we write a letter of invitation to the Program and specify that the offer depends on receiving funding and earning acceptance into the Weatherhead Scholars Program. The grant applicant must apply separately to the Weatherhead Scholars Program. 

There are three types of applicants:

1. Faculty (Scholars) from other universities who wish to spend sabbatical leave at the Weatherhead Center pursuing research. Visiting faculty must have a PhD and must hold tenured or tenure-track positions at another institution, from which they will be on leave during the time that they are at Harvard.
2. Postdoctoral researchers who have received their PhDs in the last three calendar years, or who will have defended by the start of their academic appointment.
3. Practitioners (Fellows) with a strong scholarly bent who wish to spend a year conducting a research project connected to a core interest of the Weatherhead Center.  Practitioners do not need a PhD to be eligible.

The Weatherhead Scholars Program supports the visa application process for international scholars. Please visit the Harvard International Office (HIO) website for more information.

Scholars must be in residence for a minimum of four months; these four months should be primarily in the fall and spring terms while classes are in session. We do not recommend that scholars spend most of their time in residence during the summer months, as most faculty and students are away from campus from June to August.

Participants are required to be in residence for a minimum of four months, and ideally for one academic year. All participants must be in residence while Harvard classes are in session. For full academic year participants, this means being present from late August (for orientation) through early December, and from late January through mid May. Scholars and fellows are also expected to participate in relevant Weatherhead Center events and to contribute to some of the Center’s many other intellectual activities, including the research clusters; and to engage with the undergraduate and graduate student communities.

Each scholar/fellow is asked to present their research in a closed seminar setting as part of the Weatherhead Scholars Program Seminar series, generally held on Thursday afternoons. You are free to use your 75-minute session as you wish: to present a polished research project; to practice a conference presentation, job talk, or book launch; or to seek feedback about a nascent research idea. 

The Harvard International Office website offers helpful tips on finding housing in the Greater Cambridge area.

Postdocs who are interested in Harvard housing should submit an application to Harvard University Housing before May 1. 

Visiting scholars and practitioners are ineligible for Harvard housing, but may wish to utilize the Harvard Off-Campus Housing website to facilitate their search.

Fees associated with the program:

• Postdoctoral fellows do not pay a fee, and some stipendiary funding is available.
• Standard program administrative fee for academic year for practitioners (Fellows) = $25,000; or $12,500 for a single semester.
• Standard program administrative fee for academic year for visiting faculty (Scholars) = $10,000; or $5,000 for a single semester. 

Some exceptions for extenuating circumstances can be made on a discretionary basis. 

With the exception of some available funding for postdoctoral fellows, participants are expected to secure their own funding from sabbatical salary or external grants. They will cover their own living expenses and may be assessed a program administrative fee. The cost of living varies, depending on the type of accommodation. There is a range of apartments in the Cambridge area, including apartments through the Harvard housing office. Please note that there is a May 1 deadline to apply for Harvard housing.