Fellowships

The Ash Center selects fellows in a highly competitive process that brings scholars, practitioners, and political leaders to the School for one-year term appointments with a host of opportunities to pursue independent research projects, enhance their professional skills, and network with their peers. Fellowships are offered through all three program areas of the Center: the Rajawali Foundation Institute of Asia, the Democratic Governance Program, and the Government Innovations Program.  

In addition to individual research pursuits, fellows audit classes, attend regular research seminars, meet with faculty and students, and contribute to the overall academic life of the Center. For more on the Center’s numerous fellowships, including application requirements, selection criteria, and funding availability, please visit the individual fellowship programs below for additional information.  

The Ash Center also makes available significant resources for students, including supporting a number of different student fellowships.  For more information on the Ash Center’s support for students, including student fellowships, please visit our student support page. 

China Public Policy Postdoctoral Fellowships
The Ash Center’s China Public Policy Postdoctoral Fellowship Program offers two postdoctoral fellowships in the field of contemporary Chinese public policy to recent Ph.D.s of exceptional promise.

Democracy Postdoctoral Fellowships
The Ash Center’s Democracy Fellowships program aims to support doctoral and postdoctoral scholars in research related to democratic governance. This two-year academic fellowship is for students with completed dissertations in the fields of political theory, political philosophy, sociology, political science, law, or history.

Democracy Doctoral Fellowships
The Ash Center awards dissertation research fellowships to HKS Ph.D. candidates or other Harvard University students in related fields. Proposals on issues of democracy in “hard places”; citizen participation; government innovations at the regional and local level, and questions specific to South-East Asia are especially encouraged.

Harvard University Carnegie Corporation Centennial Fellowships
The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (HKS) invites social scientists affiliated with universities in the Arab world to submit applications for fellowships in Fall 2015.

Democracy Visiting Fellowships
Faculty, doctoral, and postdoctoral students serve as Democracy Visiting Fellows for varying tenures throughout the academic year at the Ash Center. The Center supports academic scholarship focused on its core research areas, including innovations in public participation and political participation in non-democracies.

Indonesia Research Fellowships
The Harvard Kennedy School Indonesia Program offers fellowships to support Indonesian students and scholars participating in degree courses and executive education programs at Harvard or conducting research on public policy in Indonesia.

New World Fellowships
Established in 1998, the New World Fellows Program encourages the next generation of prominent Chinese leaders to develop their professional skills and interact with international leaders of similar seniority and experience, as well as distinguished Harvard faculty, before returning to their positions of responsibility in the Chinese government.

Rajawali Fellowships
The Rajawali Fellows program allows individuals the freedom to pursue independent research projects, with the help of the Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia at Harvard Kennedy School, along with other Harvard resources.

Innovations in American Government Program Fellowships
The Program on Innovations in American Government invites distinguished scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to pursue research on issues relating to innovation in American government. Individuals are invited to apply for Innovation Program fellowships by program faculty. 

Program on Crisis Leadership Fellowships
The Program on Crisis Leadership (PCL) offers fellowships to academics and senior practitioners conducting research on issues relating to emergency preparedness, crisis response, and disaster recovery. Individuals are invited to apply for the fellowships by program faculty.

The Technology and Democracy Fellowship  
The Technology and Democracy Fellowship is part of an Ash Center initiative to explore technology’s role in improving democratic governance—with a focus on connecting to practice and on helping Harvard Kennedy School students develop crucial technology skills.

Initiative on History and Public Policy Postdoctoral Fellowship
The Initiative on History and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, based at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, will award one post-doctoral fellowship for the 2017-18 academic year to an outstanding junior scholar who is engaged in cutting-edge historical research that is informed by, or seeks to influence, contemporary public policy.

Initiative on History and Public Policy Doctoral Fellowship 
The Initiative on History and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School, based at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, will award up to three non-stipendiary doctoral fellowships for the 2017-18 academic year to outstanding doctoral students who are engaged in cutting-edge historical research that is informed by, or seeks to illuminate, issues of contemporary public policy.