Current Opportunities

Greenwall Foundation: Faculty Scholars Program in Bioethics

The Greenwall Faculty Scholars Program in Bioethics is a career development award to enable junior faculty members to carry out innovative bioethics research. Harvard may put forward one nomination for this funding opportunity.

NIH Superfund Hazardous Substance Research and Training Program (P42 Clinical Trial Optional)

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Superfund Research Program SRP) funds university-based and small business grants on basic biological, environmental, and engineering processes to find real and practical solutions to exposures to hazardous substances. Harvard may put forward one application from its University area and the Wyss Institute for this funding opportunity

Rita Allen Foundation Scholars

The Rita Allen Foundation Scholars program supports research scientists in the early stages of their tenure-track careers. Harvard may put forward one nomination for this funding opportunity.

Searle Scholars Program 

The Searle Scholars Program supports the independent research of outstanding early career scientists in the biomedical sciences and chemistry. Harvard may put forward three nominations for this funding opportunity.

Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs

The Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) strive to transform health care for service members and the American public through innovative and impactful research.

Smith Richardson Foundation Strategy and Policy Fellows Program

The Smith Richardson Foundation Strategy & Policy Fellows program provides funding for early career scholars and policy thinkers to research and write a book. 

Bellagio Center Convening Program

The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center on the shores of Lake Como in Italy facilitates the conduct of one-week meetings designed to develop and implement breakthrough solutions to the world’s greatest challenges.

Health Resources in Action (HRiA): Smith Family Awards Program for Excellence in Biomedical Research

The Smith Family Awards Program for Excellence in Biomedical Research aims to launch the careers of newly independent biomedical researchers with the ultimate goal of achieving medical breakthroughs.

French Institutes for Advanced Study (FIAS) Fellowship Programme

The FIAS Fellowship Programme invites applications from outstanding scholars and scientists to develop their innovative research projects during a residency in one of seven IAS locations. Initiated in 2020, the Fellowship Programme will now run until the 2029-2030 academic year. Fellowships are open to all disciplines in the Social Sciences and the Humanities (SSH) and to all other research fields interfacing with these areas.

NEH Curriculum Development and Landmarks of American History and Culture

The Curriculum Development: Western Civilization program supports formal education by strengthening the teaching and study of the humanities at institutions of higher education by developing or enhancing programs, resources, or courses that explore, interpret, and preserve the diversity of human cultures, ideas, and practices, past and present. The Landmarks of American History and Culture and Summer Institutes ("Landmarks and Institutes") program supports humanities education through professional development for K-12 teachers and higher education faculty members.

Russell Sage Foundation: Visiting Scholars

The Russell Sage Foundation’s Visiting Scholars Program provides a unique opportunity for select scholars in the social, economic, political and behavioral sciences to pursue their data analysis and writing while in residence at the foundation’s headquarters in New York City.

Social Science Research Council: Just Tech Fellowship

The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) Just Tech Fellowship supports rigorous, original, and community-grounded work that addresses pressing questions about how technology shapes society and public life

Social Science Research Council: Innovation in Religion and Spirituality Seed Grants

The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) Innovation in Religion and Spirituality Seed Grants program seeks to support research on processes of religious and spiritual change.

John Templeton Foundation Grants

The John Templeton Foundation supports interdisciplinary research and catalyzes conversations that inspire awe and wonder. The Foundation prioritizes funding for initial projects in its areas of interest: Character Virtue Development, Individual Freedom & Free Markets, Life Sciences, Mathematical & Physical Sciences, Public Engagement, and Religion, Science, & Society. Starting in 2026, the Foundation's Intelligence Venture will award over $60 million in grants focused on questions surrounding how we understand the nature, purpose, and future of intelligence

Russell Sage Foundation: Core Research Grants

The Russell Sage Foundation (RSF) funds social science research that extends the methods, data, and theories of the social sciences as a means of better documenting and understanding the nation’s most pressing social, political, and economic problems. 

• Research priority programs accepting LOIs: Behavioral Science and Decision Making in Context (BSDMC); Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration (REI); Immigration and Immigrant Integration (III); and Implications of the 2023 Supreme Court Decision to Ban Race-Conscious Admissions at Colleges and Universities for Educational Attainment and Economic Mobility (SCD23) 

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation: Humboldt Research Fellowships

The Humboldt Research Fellowship program allows outstanding scientists and scholars to spend extended periods of time conducting research in Germany. 

Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWF) Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease (PATH) Grants

The Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease (PATH) program provides opportunities for assistant professors to bring multidisciplinary approaches to studying human infectious diseases.

Burroughs Wellcome Fund: Climate Change and Human Health Seed Grants

Climate Change and Human Health Seed Grants promote growth of new connections between scholars, practitioners, educators, and/or communicators working to understand, spread the word about, and mitigate the impacts of climate change on human health. This program will end with this July 2026 deadline. 

Simons Foundation: Synthetic Plant Biology

The Synthetic Plant Biology program is intended to support research that applies engineering principles and techniques to advance our understanding of how plants function.

Foresight Institute Fellowship

The Foresight Fellowship is a year-long program supporting early-career scientists, engineers, and innovators to supercharge their ability to advance technological progress.

Social Science Research Council (SSRC) LEGO Foundation Fellowship

The LEGO Foundation Fellowship supports researchers with a clear line of inquiry related to children’s thriving.

Russell Sage Foundation: Sheldon Danziger Pipeline Grants

The Sheldon Danziger Pipeline Grants Competition seeks to support early-career scholars and promote diversity by prioritizing applications from scholars who are underrepresented in the social sciences and/or employed at under-resourced colleges and universities.

Russell Sage Foundation: Core Research Grants

The Russell Sage Foundation (RSF) funds social science research that extends the methods, data, and theories of the social sciences as a means of better documenting and understanding the nation’s most pressing social, political, and economic problems. 

• Research priority programs accepting LOIs: Social, Political and Economic Inequality (SPEI); Future of Work (FOW); and Implications of the 2023 Supreme Court Decision to Ban Race-Conscious Admissions at Colleges and Universities for Educational Attainment and Economic Mobility (SCD23) 

Harvard Climate Entrepreneurs Circle

The Climate Circle offers world-class coaching, legal counsel, warm connections to industry leaders, and a peer group of Harvard founders who are all working on innovative solutions to tackle climate change.

Manuscript Workshop Grants for Tenure-Track Arts & Humanities Faculty

To support the career development of its tenure-track faculty, the Division of Arts & Humanities makes available to eligible tenure-track faculty members small grants of up to $3,000 to support travel and other expenses associated with bringing experts to Harvard to review and offer guidance on their in-progress manuscripts or artworks.

Center for Hellenic Studies Grants

Offers fellowships to scholars working on the ancient Greek world in all its varieties, for example, in fields of archaeology, art history, epigraphy, history, literary criticism, philology, philosophy, pedagogical applications, reception, and interdisciplinary studies. Awards are up to $5,000 for students and $9,000 for faculty, and are meant to support curriculum development, travel, internships, and/or allowable research-related expenses. 

Impact Labs Public Service Leaves

Public Service Leaves provide funding to enable Harvard faculty to take a leave to work in government or a nonprofit organization.

Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (WCFIA) Grants for Faculty Conferences

The Weatherhead Center provides logistical and organizational support for conferences, as well as financial assistance, to bring scholars and practitioners to Harvard from around the country and the world to participate with Harvard faculty in conferences and workshops designed to advance analytical research.

Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (WCFIA) Research Incubation Fund

The Weatherhead Center has earmarked, annually, three awards of $30,000 to support the development of faculty research proposals that are intended to be submitted to major outside funding agencies or foundations (the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and various private foundations).

Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (WCFIA) Small & Medium Grants for Faculty Research Projects

Each year the Weatherhead Center awards a limited number of small and medium grants for faculty research projects to conduct research relating to the core interests of the Center.

Salata Institute Seed Grant Program in Climate and Sustainability

The Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability at Harvard University solicits proposals for funding under its Seed Grant Program in Climate and Sustainability. Funding will be available for 1) Early-stage research in climate change and sustainability, 2) New project funding, 3) Interdisciplinary research in climate change and sustainability involving new collaborations, 4) Workshop funding, and 5) Early-stage interdisciplinary research on quantifying health outcomes after solutions or interventions in climate change mitigation.

Dumbarton Oaks Grants and Fellowships

The Dumbarton Oaks grants and fellowships programs award over 150 appointments annually in the expanded fields of Byzantine, Garden and Landscape, and Pre-Columbian Studies. Residential fellowships for an academic year, semester, or summer are awarded in all three areas of study to scholars from around the world.

Arnold Arboretum Awards

The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University promotes and supports research consistent with its mission to discover and disseminate knowledge of the plant kingdom. To foster both independent and collaborative work, the Arboretum offers fellowships and awards to students, post-doctoral researchers, and professionals of the biological and horticultural sciences.

Tenure-Track Faculty Synergy Semesters and Faculty Research-Semester Leaves in International Affairs

The Center believes that one of the most important forms of support for faculty members is the opportunity for a sustained period of research. Each year the Center considers proposals from Weatherhead Center Faculty Associates for awards that provide salary support for one-semester faculty leaves to conduct research relating to the core interests of the Center.

Center for American Political Studies (CAPS) at Harvard University Faculty Grants

Allows Harvard faculty affiliates of CAPS to apply for discretionary grants up to $5,000 for research on U.S. politics. Priority is given to junior faculty.

Dependent Care Fund

Provides financial assistance to Harvard Ladder Faculty who would like to travel for a professional event that will advance their academic careers, and who also have childcare or adult dependent care obligations.

Division of Social Science Manuscript Workshop Grants for Tenure Track Faculty 

Available to tenure track faculty with primary appointments in the FAS Division of Social Science who are in their 2nd to 6th year of residence. These grants support travel and other expenses associated with bringing experts to Harvard to review and offer guidance on in-progress manuscripts.

Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies: Faculty Conference Grant 

Conference grants offer up to $10,000 for faculty members planning to organize a conference on a theme related to China studies, or with significant participation by China scholars. 

Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies: Faculty Course Development Grant 

Intended to support faculty working on new undergraduate and graduate courses in or related to China studies. Applications for up to $5,000 will be considered.

Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies: Faculty Research Grant

Research grants support applications from Harvard faculty or preceptors for small research grants on Chinese studies of up to $5,000. 

Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies: Faculty Workshop Grant

Workshop grants support Harvard faculty or postdoctoral scholars proposing to organize a book workshop or one-day workshop for discussion of a topic in Chinese studies. The maximum award for a workshop grant is $5,000.

FAS Faculty Aide Program

The Faculty Aide Program (FAP) supports undergraduate students to work closely with a Harvard-affiliated faculty member as a Research Assistant. Faculty members benefit from cost-sharing the wages paid to the student with the Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (URAF).

FAS Professional Development Funds 

Reimbursement for professional development activities undertaken by tenure-track faculty as scholars and teachers.

FAS Tenure-Track Publication Fund

Provides assistant and associate professors in the FAS and SEAS supplemental research funds to assist with costs related to scholarly publications, including but not limited to include research assistance, publication subsidies, copying, word processing, obtaining translations or illustrations, or creating footnotes or indices.

FAS Tenured Publication Fund

Intended to provide aid to tenured professors in the FAS and SEAS with funds to assist with costs related to scholarly publications; for example, expenses associated with indexing, obtaining digital images, securing copyright permissions, and modest subventions requested by not-for-profit publishers.

Harvard China Fund: (Re)engage with China Grant

Funding opportunity of up to $20,000 for faculty members to make short visits to China with the goal of reestablishing academic connections and exploring collaboration with Chinese institutions and partners.

Harvard China Fund: Research Assistant (RA) Grants

Up to $5,000 for Harvard faculty to hire a research assistant. 

Harvard China Fund: Small Grants for other academic activities

Small grants with a maximum of $10,000 to cover costs for academic needs related to China studies, including honoraria for manuscript readers, subscriptions, and other academic activities.

Harvard Data Science Initiative (HDSI): Faculty Special Projects Fund 

This Fund is intended to support one-time data science opportunities for which other funding is not readily available.

Harvard University Center for the Environment (HUCE) Faculty Grants for Exploratory Research

Supports preliminary explorations of significant environmental issues that show promise for further scholarship.

Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS) Mindich Encounters with Authors Conference Series

Opportunity for IQSS faculty affiliates to present a major work still in progress. IQSS pays all conference expenses ($10,000 maximum), arranges invitations, and provides necessary administrative and staff support.

Institute for Quantitative Social Science (IQSS) Extraordinary Claims, Extraordinary Evidence

Through uniquely tailored support—including high-level data expertise, infrastructure, and funding—IQSS helps social science tenure-track faculty collect the extraordinary evidence required to challenge leading scientific, political, or cultural assumptions, and move the scientific community’s dominant position the farthest distance.

Mind Brain Behavior (MBB) Community Connect Grants

For graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty interested in organizing an event that includes or benefits part of the Mind Brain Behavior Interfaculty Initiative. This could be for a one-time event like a hosted speaker, gathering, or interdisciplinary workshop, or for recurring events such as journal clubs or faculty interest groups. 

Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ) Wetmore Colles Fund

Awards provide funding to MCZ personnel (at least one MCZ faculty-curator, postdoctoral fellow, graduate student, or staff) as senior or lead author to support publication-related activities, in furthering dissemination of research.

Open Gate Grants

Provides funding for activities at Harvard University that benefit LGBTQIA2S+ students, faculty, staff, and alums. Open Gate supports a wide variety of requests, all in furtherance of scholarship, understanding, or celebration, in the fields of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.

Solar Geoengineering Research Program (SGRP)

Harvard faculty members may apply for grants to develop new directions in their research related to solar geoengineering. These grants aim to support innovative research across a variety of disciplines to evaluate solar geoengineering as a potential means to address climate change.

Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (WCFIA) Canada Program Funding For Harvard Faculty, Departments, and Schools

Support for research on a Canadian topic, or hosting short-term visiting scholars, policy practitioners, and public figures who are engaged in US/Canadian comparative topics.

Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (WCFIA) Discretionary Grants

Faculty Associates may apply for discretionary grants for research relating to the core interests of the Center. This research focuses on international, transnational, global, and comparative national issues and may address contemporary or historical topics, including rigorous policy analysis, as well as the study of specific countries and regions outside the United States.

Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (WCFIA) Dissemination of Publications for Tenure-Track Faculty

Once per year, tenure-track faculty may request that the Center circulate copies of their published or unpublished work to as many as ten scholars in their research area. The Center will defray the cost of the purchase of the publications and pay for the mailings.

Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (WCFIA) Grants for Faculty-Led Seminars

Funding for faculty-led seminars which may benefit the general Harvard community or small groups of scholars to discuss research relating to the core interests of the Center. This research focuses on international, transnational, global, and comparative national issues and may address contemporary or historical topics, including rigorous policy analysis.

Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (WCFIA) Grants for Tenure-Track Faculty Book Manuscript Conferences 

Provides every Faculty Associate who is an assistant or associate professor the opportunity to hold a conference for an in-progress book manuscript. The purpose of these conferences is to gather expert assistance to critique and review texts still in draft.