Overview
The Harvard Radcliffe Institute Fellowship is one of the most respected residential research fellowships in the United States, hosted by the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Each year, the Institute selects around 50 fellows from a wide range of disciplines, career stages, and countries to spend nine months pursuing independent research, scholarship, or creative work in an interdisciplinary community. For the 2027 cohort, the program continues its tradition of supporting both early-career researchers and established experts, offering a level of financial and institutional support that removes much of the uncertainty associated with self-funded academic work.
What sets the Radcliffe Fellowship apart from many postdoctoral opportunities is its emphasis on cross-disciplinary exchange. Fellows are not isolated in their own departments; instead, they work alongside historians, scientists, artists, and policy researchers, often finding that conversations outside their own field shape their projects in unexpected ways. This structure has made Radcliffe a launching pad for books, exhibitions, and research programs that go on to have influence well beyond the fellowship year itself.
Scholarship Details
Selected fellows receive a stipend of $78,000 for the nine-month appointment, along with a package of additional benefits designed to cover the practical costs of relocating to Cambridge for an academic year. This includes healthcare assistance, a childcare fund for fellows relocating with families, a housing fund, a relocation fund to offset moving costs, and a further $5,000 specifically earmarked for research or project expenses such as materials, travel, or specialized equipment.
The fellowship is not renewable — it is designed as a single, intensive nine-month period of focused work rather than an ongoing appointment. This structure reflects the Institute's model: rather than funding long-term positions, Radcliffe aims to give a rotating cohort of scholars a concentrated period of support at a pivotal moment in their research or creative careers.
Eligibility Requirements
Eligibility is split into two tracks with different publication thresholds. Applicants in the humanities, social sciences, and creative arts must hold a doctorate or the appropriate terminal degree in the field of their proposed project, completed at least two years before the fellowship begins, and must have published either a monograph or at least two articles in refereed journals or edited collections. Applicants in science, engineering, and mathematics must also hold a relevant doctorate completed at least two years prior, and are expected to have published at least five articles in refereed journals — the Institute notes that most successful science and engineering applicants have considerably more than the minimum.
Beyond these formal requirements, the selection committee places significant weight on diversity across many dimensions: discipline, career stage, race and ethnicity, country of origin, gender and sexual orientation, and ideological perspective. Fellows are expected to demonstrate a track record of excellence balanced with collegiality and creativity, since the fellowship year involves substantial engagement with a shared intellectual community rather than solitary work alone. Applicants may apply as individuals, or as collaborative teams of two to three people working on a joint project — an option that is relatively unusual among fellowships of this caliber and reflects Radcliffe's interest in supporting genuinely collaborative research.
