Harvard University Environmental Fellows Program 2026 ($90,000 salary)

Deadline: December 1, 2025

Applications are open for the Harvard University Environmental Fellows Program 2026. Harvard University Center for the Environment (HUCE) created the Environmental Fellows program to enable recent doctorate recipients to use and expand Harvard’s extraordinary resources to tackle complex environmental issues. Fellows work for two years with Harvard faculty members in any school or department to form a community of researchers that strengthens connections across the University.

HUCE organizes a co-curricular program to ensure that the fellows get to know each other and each other’s work. All fellows join in biweekly dinners along with Harvard faculty and a speaker from amongst the Harvard faculty. HUCE expects to award approximately five fellowships for the 2026 cohort.

Award

• The fellowship includes a salary of $90,000 per year, employee health insurance eligibility, up to $2,500 reimbursement for relocation expenses, and a $2,500 annual allowance for travel and other professional expenses.

Eligibility

• 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 Ph.D. may apply if they have studied in fields where the Ph.D. is not the typical terminal degree. All successful candidates will be able to demonstrate experience performing scholarly research.
• Candidates may have received their degrees at any university in the world. Foreign nationals are eligible for fellowships, though study at Harvard requires proficiency in English.

Selection Criteria

• Applicant’s prior academic and professional success and their potential contribution to scholarship or practice
  • Project proposals are carefully evaluated by a committee of HUCE faculty. The proposed project should represent an independent line of inquiry, clearly extending beyond the candidate’s PhD work as well as the host’s ongoing research. The relevance of the proposed work for addressing environmental issues, along with demonstration of excellent potential for intellectual achievement, are critical factors in the selection process.  
• The selection committee will select a group of fellows in 2026 who will complement those selected last year, creating a group of approximately a dozen scholars with a diverse set of academic interests, skills, and backgrounds. Recipients—and hosts—may include people with degrees in the sciences, economics, law, government, public policy, public health, medicine, design, and the full array of humanities. Their research topics will be equally varied.
• Harvard candidates: those receiving 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 groups with whom they are currently associated, nor should their proposal be an extenuation of their current work.
• Interdisciplinary research projects are encouraged, although this is not a requirement for the fellowship, and candidates with interests in a single discipline are also encouraged to apply.
• Host’s commitment: Further important considerations are the host faculty member’s enthusiasm for the proposed project and fellow, the host’s ability to mentor the fellow, and their ability to provide office space and a productive work environment.
• Interview: A select group of applicants will be asked to further discuss their proposal over video with the selection committee.

Application

• Complete the online application form by December 1, 2025 at 5 p.m. (ET) and attach the relevant supporting documents as PDFs:
  • curriculum vitae including list of publications;
  • detailed research proposal where applicants should explain their specific reasons for applying to a Harvard residential environmental fellowship (maximum of five pages, references counted separately). Note: While applicants should discuss the proposal with their potential faculty hosts, the final product should clearly be the work of the applicant; and
  • up to three publications/writing samples.
• Three letters of reference, including one from the applicant’s dissertation adviser. NOTE: The ARIeS application system will only send recommendation letter requests via email after the application has been officially submitted. Be in touch with your recommenders in advance so that they can quickly upload their letters after they receive the link. It only takes a few minutes for them to do so. Recommenders will have extra time after the deadline (December 10, 2025) to submit letters.
• A letter of support is also required from the applicant’s host committing to serve as a mentor and explaining his or her commitment to the proposed research, including the provision of office or lab space. Applicants are encouraged to ask their hosts to email letters of reference as PDFs or, if necessary, as Word documents attached to the emails. Hosts also have extra time after the deadline (December 10, 2025) to submit letters and should send them directly to the attention of Cayla Jett at the Center at [email protected].

Click here to apply

For more information, see FAQ and visit Environmental Fellows Program.