Ethics & Civics Postdoctoral Fellowship

About this position

Since its founding in 1986, Harvard University’s Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics has convened scholars and practitioners to confront pressing ethical questions of the time. Building on this tradition, the Center invites applications for the Ethics and Civics Postdoctoral Fellowship. This fellowship is housed in the Research & Design Studio, the Center’s innovation hub, and is designed to help a new generation of thinkers and practitioners translate ethical reflection and scholarship into practical contributions for academia and public life.

The Research & Design Studio:

The Research & Design Studio (R&DS) is an interdisciplinary network that bridges research and pedagogy. Its current theme and focus are the ethical and political dimensions of disagreement: when it proves productive, how to rebuild a culture of principled disagreement, and how to navigate difference. Through this work, the R&DS seeks to strengthen civil discourse in higher education and public life, bringing together faculty, students, researchers, and practitioners to explore how we can engage across differences more constructively.

Community & Collaboration:

The Ethics and Civics Postdoctoral Fellowship seeks to prepare the next generation of scholars to integrate practical ethics and civil disagreement into both their research and teaching as they begin their academic careers. In addition to their individual research projects, fellows will develop pedagogical tools or practices during their time at the Center that can support their future teaching as well as contribute to the overall work of the R&DS and its Community of Practice.

Fellows will work together with R&DS staff to ensure they are able to effectively translate their scholarship into practical outcomes. The fellowship seminar will include opportunities to workshop both fellows’ research and pedagogy projects over the course of the year.

The fellowship is renewable for a second year at the discretion of the Center. We plan to welcome three new and up to three returning fellows each year.

Fellowship Expectations:

We aim to build cohorts where fellows find valuable intellectual partnerships to support and spur their work. The ideal candidates are those interested in investing time and energy into contributing to the R&DS’s research agenda and pedagogical resource development initiatives and building community with the other fellows in their cohort, while also furthering their own projects. Fellows will receive support from the Center’s research and pedagogy teams to develop their projects for a variety of audiences and to translate their research interests into practical tools and applications.

Fellows may be invited to teach a Harvard class during the course of their appointment.

Ethics & Civics Postdoctoral Fellows will:

• Work with the pedagogy team to develop tools or instructional applications related to their research and/or teaching interests.
• Participate in regular seminars with their cohort and others at the Center.
• Engage actively with the Center’s broader programming, which includes public lectures, themed seminars and reading groups, conferences, workshops, and lunch discussions.
• Advance their individual research projects, with the support of the Center’s research team as needed/available.

Residency Requirement:

This is a residential fellowship. Fellows are expected to live in the Boston area and be present at the Center at least three days per week, with at least four working days per week in the area overall. Occasional travel for conferences and other professional commitments is permitted, but Fellows should discuss their plans with the R&DS’s Director of Research and Strategic Initiatives before making a commitment.

Eligibility:

Applicants must have completed a doctoral degree no more than three years before the start of the Fellowship year.

Applicants from any discipline or professional field will be considered. Those who have previously held a yearlong residential Fellowship at the Center are not eligible; this limitation does not apply to former Undergraduate Fellows or former Graduate Fellows. The Research & Design Studio works over the course of the academic year, and is open to all applicants who meet the above criteria, regardless of citizenship.

Please note that advanced language skills in both written and spoken English are required for Fellows at the Center. Fellows are expected to discuss and/or present their work in English and are encouraged to participate in informal discussions with faculty and students with related interests. Application materials, including writing samples, should be in English.

If offered a fellowship, non-native English speakers who cannot demonstrate their proficiency through (1) completion of a degree from an English-speaking institution of higher education or (2) satisfactory TOEFL or IELTS scores will be contacted by the Center staff to arrange for further evaluation as needed.

Stipend:

The stipend for post-doctoral fellows will be $7,000/month for the 2027-28 academic year, which runs from the start of September to the end of June. We also provide a research allowance of up to $3,000 per academic year for approved expenses directly related to your work, such as travel, books, and research assistance.

Application Requirements:

To apply, interested candidates must complete an online form and upload several documents through Harvard’s ARIeS portal. Requested information and documents will include:

• Brief cover letter stating your background and interest in the Ethics & Civics Postdoctoral Fellowship
• Curriculum Vitae
• Research proposal (up to 1,000 words), to include:
• A description of the central project you hope to pursue during your fellowship year. Please include its goals, methods, and potential impact
• Discussion of how your work connects to the themes of the Research & Design Studio. What specific outputs or contributions (e.g., research, teaching tools, public engagement projects) you anticipate producing by the end of your fellowship
• How you envision engaging with other fellows and contributing to the collaborative cohort environment
• A lesson plan or example of a teaching activity you've used while teaching a course (or that you might like to use) that integrates ethics, civics, and/or civil discourse principles in the classroom or other educational setting.
• Recent writing sample representative of your work
• Unofficial transcript for graduate work
• Names and contact information for 3 references (Please note: no letters will be accepted at this stage. Please prepare your references for the possibility that we will reach out to them for their assessment of your work. In that case, they will be asked to submit a letter and complete a form within a short turn-around period.)

The deadline to submit an application is November 15, 2026 , with decisions likely to be announced in March 2027. Please note that the application form will be saved automatically while in progress, but no edits or alterations will be allowed once you have submitted the application. Please direct questions regarding this application process to ethics_fellowships@fas.harvard.edu .