Funding

Grants for PhD Students

Grants Supporting Doctoral Study

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)

The program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) or in STEM education. The GRFP provides three years of support for the graduate education of individuals who have demonstrated their potential for significant research achievements in STEM or STEM education. NSF especially encourages women, members of underrepresented minority groups, persons with disabilities, veterans, and undergraduate seniors to apply.

Award: $34,000 stipend to the Fellow & $12,000 cost-of-education allowance to the graduate degree-granting institution per year for 3 years
Application deadline: October 25, 2018

See details here.

Wenner-Gren Wadsworth International Fellowship

The Wadsworth International Fellowships are intended to provide support for students undertaking study leading to a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree at universities where they can receive international-level training in anthropology. These fellowships are available only to students from countries where anthropology is underrepresented and where there are limited resources to send students overseas for training. The award can be used towards travel, living expenses, tuition, income taxes, student fees, insurance, books, research expenses and any other relevant categories of expenditure while studying at the Host Institution.

Annual fellowship: $17,500
Application deadline: March 1

See details here.

Weatherhead Center for International Affairs Foreign Language Study Grants

Foreign language study grants are available to students for summer language-study abroad after their G1, G2, or G3 years. Applicants must show the importance of the foreign language for their research, and the grant must be used for an intensive language program lasting at least six weeks.

Award: Up to $4,000 towards tuition costs & a stipend of $2,500
Application deadline: Febuary 15, 2018

See details here.

Grants Supporting Doctoral Research

NSF Cultural Anthropology Program - Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (DDRIG)

Maximum award: $20,000
Application deadlines: August 15, 2018 & January 15, 2019

See details here.

NSF Biological Anthropology Program - Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (DDRIG)

The Biological Anthropology Program supports multifaceted research to advance scientific knowledge of human biology and ecology, including understanding of our evolutionary history and mechanisms that have shaped human and nonhuman primate biological diversity. Awards may be used to support research activities.

Maximum award: $20,000
Application deadlines: July 20, 2018 & January 22, 2019

See details here.

Wenner-Gren Dissertation Fieldwork Grants

Dissertation Fieldwork Grants are awarded to aid doctoral or thesis research. The program contributes to the Foundation's overall mission to support basic research in anthropology and to ensure that the discipline continues to be a source of vibrant and significant work that furthers our understanding of humanity's cultural and biological origins, development, and variation.

Maximum award: $20,000
Application deadlines: May 1 & November 1

See details here.

Mellon International Dissertation Research Fellowship (IDRF)

The Mellon International Dissertation Research Fellowship (IDRF) offers nine to twelve months of support to graduate students in the humanities and humanistic social sciences who are enrolled in PhD programs in the United States and conducting dissertation research on non-US topics. It will consider applications for dissertation research grounded in a single site, informed by broader cross-regional and interdisciplinary perspectives, as well as applications for multi-sited, comparative, and transregional research. The IDRF program expects fellows to remain at their research site(s) for the full nine- to twelve-month funding period.

Average Award: $21,000
Application deadline: November 7, 2017

See details here.

Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Program (DDRA)

The DDRA Program is designed to contribute to the development and improvement of the study of modern languages and area studies in the US by providing opportunities for scholars to conduct research abroad. Area studies is defined as a comprehensive or multi-disciplinary approach focused on a specific world area or country. Applications for this fellowship may include all major world areas with the exception of Western Europe. In contrast to the Cultural Exchange Fulbright (administered by the Institute of International Education), which is limited to a stay in a single country, the DDRA program is designed for stays in one or more countries.

Award: 6-12 month fellowship covering travel expenses, cost of living allowance, project allowance, & health benefits.
Application deadline: TBA (internal Harvard deadline)

See details here.

Cultural Exchange Fulbright

The Cultural Exchange Fulbright is awarded for study or research abroad. The majority of Fulbright Grants will be reserved for advanced graduate students who, in most cases, will be engaged in research for the doctoral dissertation, but it is also the policy of the Board of Foreign Scholarships that awards be available to other graduate students, graduating seniors, and candidates who wish to further their careers in the creative and performing arts.

Award: Stipend to cover round-trip transportation to host country, room, board, incidentals, health benefits, and some additional costs.
Application deadline: September 18, 2017 (internal Harvard deadline)

See details here.

Harvard Traveling Fellowships

The Committee on General Scholarships and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences invite Harvard graduate and professional schools to nominate candidates for the Kennedy, Knox and Sheldon Traveling Fellowships, the Lurcy Traveling Fellowships, and the Lee Whittinghill Samuelson Traveling Fellowships. These fellowships support a full academic year (September-June) of research or study abroad. They are not available to support project periods of less than an academic year.

Award: $25,000 fellowship
Application deadline: Contact your department for internal deadlines

See details here.

Harvard Graduate Society Merit & Term-Time Research Fellowships

These fellowships allow outstanding GSAS students to focus their time on research, fieldwork, and writing. The award is available to all departments, including the natural sciences. You must have passed Generals and have an approved dissertation prospectus at the time of nomination, or no later than the beginning of the semester when the award is taken. During the semester that the award is held, teaching is restricted to 1/5 (one section).

Maximum Award: 1-semester standard cohort stipend ($13,800 in 2016)
Application deadline: Contact your department for internal deadlines

See details here.

Weatherhead Center for International Affairs Dissertation Writing Grants

The Weatherhead Center will award dissertation writing grants for 2017–2018 to support advanced Harvard graduate students in doctoral programs in the GSAS or in the professional schools. The purpose of the Weatherhead Center Dissertation Writing Grant is to release students from one semester of teaching in order to allow them to fully focus on writing their dissertations without the burden of teaching or other employment.

Award: $13,800
Application deadline: Febuary 15, 2018

See details here.

Leakey Foundation Research Grants

The Leakey Foundation exclusively funds research related specifically to human origins. Priority of funding is commonly given to exploratory phases of promising new research projects that meet the stated purpose of the Foundation. Advanced doctoral students are eligible to apply.

Maximum award: $15,000
Application deadline: July 15 & January 10

See details here.

Harvard Mind, Brain, & Behavior Graduate Student Awards

The Mind, Brain, & Behavior (MBB) Graduate Student Awards are intended to help graduate students better understand MBB-related issues by engaging in interdisciplinary experiences. Whether you are currently involved in interdisciplinary work or are planning to start a new interdisciplinary endeavor, all Harvard graduate students in MBB-related fields are encouraged to apply for funding.

Maximum award: $10,000 (although most awards will not exceed $5,000)
Application deadline: October 16, 2017 & February 5, 2018

See details here.

International Society for Human Ethology Owen F. Aldis Scholarship

The Owen F. Aldis Scholarship Fund was established to support graduate studies in human ethology, defined as the biological study of human behaviour. The goal of the Award is to nurture excellence in human ethology by supporting students who are undertaking empirical research in human behavior, drawing on the repertoire of methods developed in biology and the human behavioral sciences.

Maximum Award: $8,000
Application deadline: January 5, 2018

See details here.

Charles Koch Foundation Dissertation Grant

The Foundation is accepting research grant proposals from current doctoral students who are writing dissertations that investigate free societies and the ideas, values, and institutions that maximize well-being. Proposals will be considered for dissertations across a variety of disciplines that examine foundational, system-level, and applied research questions.

Maximum Award: $5,000
Rolling applications accepted

See details here.

National Geographic Young Explorers Grant

Young Explorers Grants (YEG) offer opportunities to individuals ages 18 to 25 to pursue research, conservation, and exploration-related projects consistent with National Geographic's existing grant programs, including: the Committee for Research and Exploration (CRE), the Expeditions Council (EC), and the Conservation Trust (CT).

Maximum Award: $5,000
Rolling applications accepted. National Geographic recommends that you apply 6-8 months before your fieldwork is due to begin.

See details here.

Harvard Foundations of Human Behavior Funding

Harvard University is establishing a new funding mechanism to support transformative research in the social and behavioral sciences. These research funds provide seed grants. Successful proposals will be those that promise to advance understanding of the social, institutional and biological mechanisms shaping human beliefs and behavior. The funds will be used to support interdisciplinary social science research projects based on innovative experimental or observational designs that make use of sophisticated quantitative methods. Full-time Harvard doctoral students who have completed all coursework and written or oral qualifying exams are eligible.

Maximum award: $5,000
Application deadlines: Midnight on the last day of February, May, August, and November

See details here.

Harvard Graduate Society Predissertation Summer Fellowship

This summer award provides support to outstanding Harvard GSAS doctoral students in the humanities and social sciences for the purpose of summer language study and/or preliminary dissertation research or fieldwork. Preference will be given to goals or projects that help advance the applicant to readiness for developing and implementing the eventual dissertation. It is ordinarily for students in the summer following the G1 year or G2 or G3, and is intended for students still at an early stage in the development of the dissertation.

Maximum Award: $3,000
Application deadline: Contact your department for internal deadlines

See details here.

Weatherhead Center for International Affairs Pre- and Mid-Dissertation Grants

These grants are awarded to Harvard doctoral students who are working on a project related to the core research interests of the Center- research 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. The grants may be used for dissertation-related travel, training, or for the compilation of data sets relevant to the student's research. The mid-dissertation grants are intended for specific research projects, research trips, or special needs that arise for students rather than for general dissertation-writing support.

Award: $3,000-$4000
Application deadline: February 15, 2018

See details here.

Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research

The Lewis and Clark Fund encourages exploratory field studies for the collection of specimens and data and to provide the imaginative stimulus that accompanies direct observation. Applications are invited from disciplines with a large dependence on field studies, such as archeology, anthropology, biology, ecology, geography, geology, linguistics, paleontology, and population genetics, but grants will not be restricted to these fields. Grants are available for doctoral students only.

Maximum Award: $5,000
Application deadline: February 1

See details here.

Conference Grants

Weatherhead Center for International Affairs Graduate Student Conference Grants

The Weatherhead Center offers financial resources for graduate student conferences and workshops at Harvard taking place during the 2016–2017 academic year that relate to 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.

Award: Generally between $500-$1,500
Application deadline: The Center encourages applications by October 1 and February 1, but pending availability of funds, applications are considered on a rolling basis

See details here.

Harvard Graduate Student Council Conference Grant

The GSC Conference Grant supports costs associated with conference attendance for Harvard GSAS students.

Maximum Award: $750
Application deadlines: February 10, 2017 & April 14, 2017

See details here.

Charles Koch Foundation Travel Grants

The Charles Koch Foundation supports research that spurs social progress, well-being, and long-term prosperity. Travel Grants provide funding for travel in support of career development opportunities, such as presenting at a conference, conducting research for a publication, or attending a professional development workshop.

Award: variable
Application deadline: Rolling applications accepted

See details here.

Other Resources for Graduate Grants

The National Endowment for the Humanities provides a number of grants. Check here for specifics.
Harvard GSAS has a large list of additional grants for graduate study & research (e.g. area-specific research grants). These include early graduate study support; summer, research, and travel fellowships; and dissertation completion fellowships. See here for more details.

Grants for Post-Docs & Early Career Researchers

NSF Social, Behavioral, & Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (SPRF)

The National Science Foundation offers postdoctoral research fellowships to provide opportunities for recent doctoral graduates to obtain additional training, to gain research experience under the sponsorship of established scientists, and to broaden their scientific horizons beyond their undergraduate and graduate training. Postdoctoral fellowships are further designed to assist new scientists to direct their research efforts across traditional disciplinary lines and to avail themselves of unique research resources, sites, and facilities, including at foreign locations. The Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) supports research in a broad range of disciplines and in interdisciplinary areas through its Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences (BCS) Division, Social and Economic Sciences (SES) Division, and SBE Office of Multidisciplinary Activities (SMA).

Award: $69,000 fellowship annually for a maximum of 24 months ($54,000 stipend & $15,000 for fellowship expenses)
Application deadline: October 9, 2018; second Tuesday in October, annually thereafter

See details here.

Fulbright Postdoctoral Scholar Award

Fulbright Postdoctoral Scholar Awards are open to U.S. scholars who have recently completed their doctoral degree – typically within the five previous years. Postdoctoral awards are available in STEM fields, the arts, humanities and social sciences. These grants present an excellent opportunity for recently minted scholars to deepen their expertise, to acquire new skills, to work with additional resources and to make connections with others in their fields.

Application deadline: August 1

See details here.

Wenner-Gren Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowship

Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowships provide funding towards the writing-up of already completed research. The fellowship is awarded to scholars who are within ten years of the receipt of their Ph.D. and supports them early in their career when they frequently lack the time and resources to publish.

Maximum award: $40,000
Application deadline: May 1, 2018

See details here.

Harvard Mind, Brain, & Behavior Postdoctoral Fellow Award

This two-year award is intended to fund a postdoctoral fellow (in accordance with NIH stipend guidelines) who wants to examine MBB-related issues through interdisciplinary research and experiences. Note that funding for the second year is conditional upon satisfactory progress at the completion of the first year. Fellow must be sponsored by two Harvard faculty members from different departments or schools.

Award: 2-year fellowship, following NIH stipend guidelines
Application date: December 15, 2017

See details here.

Harvard Foundations of Human Behavior Funding

Harvard University is establishing a new funding mechanism to support transformative research in the social and behavioral sciences. These research funds provide seed grants. Successful proposals will be those that promise to advance understanding of the social, institutional and biological mechanisms shaping human beliefs and behavior. The funds will be used to support interdisciplinary social science research projects based on innovative experimental or observational designs that make use of sophisticated quantitative methods. Harvard post-doctoral fellows and ladder faculty are eligible.

Maximum award: $5,000 for post-docs; $40,000 for ladder faculty
Application deadlines: Midnight on the last day of February, May, August, and November

See details here.

Charles Koch Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship

The Foundation primarily supports research and educational programs that analyze the impact of free societies, particularly how they advance societal well-being. The Foundation invites recent Ph.D.s and doctoral candidates with an expected graduation date of spring 2017 to apply for postdoctoral fellowships. Through these fellowships, we seek to support individuals who are dedicated to pursuing a career in academia and exploring the ideas of free societies and well-being through their research.

Award: Levels of funding vary depending on the location of the fellowship. Competitive two-year stipend awarded to the host institution.
Application deadline: Rolling

See details here.

International Society for Human Ethology Linda Mealey Award

Each year, ISHE gives up to five Linda Mealey awards to junior scientists for new research of high quality in human ethology reported at each biennial Congress. The research will be within the ethological paradigm. Work reporting, or well founded in, direct observation of behaviour will be favoured. Work on non-human species will be considered if clearly relevant to the ethological study of human behaviour. The researcher should have been a graduate student (i.e. not yet having a PhD), when the work reported was carried out, and currently still be a pre doctoral student or post doctoral for less than one year.

Award: $2,000; ISHE membership; financial support for attending ISHE conference or summer school

See details here.

More Postdoctoral Opportunities

Dieter Lukas has compiled a large list of postdoctoral research fellowships in the biological sciences, available here.
The Association of Young Social Learning Researchers compiles relevant early career job postings, available here.

General Grants

Grants for Reseach

NSF Cultural Anthropology Grants

The primary objective of the Cultural Anthropology Program is to support basic scientific research on the causes, consequences, and complexities of human social and cultural variability. Anthropological research spans a wide gamut, and contemporary cultural anthropology is an arena in which diverse research traditions and methodologies are valid. Recognizing the breadth of the field’s contributions to science, the Cultural Anthropology Program welcomes proposals for empirically grounded, theoretically engaged, and methodologically sophisticated research in all sub-fields of cultural anthropology. Senior proposals support individual, team, or collaborative research by scholars who hold a PhD, or other equivalent or appropriate credential.

Award: There is no ceiling on senior proposal budgets, but a typical award rarely exceeds $100,000 per year of the award, including indirect costs.
Application deadline: January 15 & August 15

See details here.

Wenner-Gren Post-Ph.D. Research Grants

Post-Ph.D. Research Grants are awarded to individuals holding a Ph.D. or equivalent degree to support individual research projects. The program contributes to the Foundation's overall mission to support basic research in anthropology and to ensure that the discipline continues to be a source of vibrant and significant work that furthers our understanding of humanity's cultural and biological origins, development, and variation. The Foundation supports research that demonstrates a clear link to anthropological theory and debates, and promises to make a solid contribution to advancing these ideas.

Maximum award: $20,000
Application deadline: May 1 and November 1

See details here.

National Geographic Society/Waitt Grants

National Geographic/Waitt Grants provide funding for exploratory fieldwork that holds promise for breakthroughs in the natural and social sciences. This program funds projects that require venture capital, supporting exceptional projects while foregoing a time-consuming peer-review process. Applicants are not required to have advanced degrees to be eligible for funding, though they will be required to show a commensurate level of expertise and experience. Applicants must have an affiliation with an educational organization or other institution.

Maximum award: $15,000
Application deadline: Rolling

See details here.

Tempelton Foundation Grants

In the charter establishing his Foundation, the late Sir John Templeton set out his philanthropic intentions under several broad headings. These Core Funding Areas continue to guide the Foundation's grantmaking as they work to find world-class researchers and project leaders to share in their pursuit of Sir John’s dynamic, contrarian, forward-looking vision. A number of topics—including creativity, freedom, gratitude, love, and purpose—can be found under more than one Core Funding Area. The Foundation welcomes proposals that bring together these overlapping elements, especially by combining the tools and approaches of different disciplines.

See details here.

Leakey Foundation Grants

The Leakey Foundation exclusively funds research related specifically to human origins & evolution. Priority of funding is commonly given to exploratory phases of promising new research projects that meet the stated purpose of the Foundation.

Maximum award: $25,000
Application deadline: July 15 & January 10

See details here.

Charles Koch Foundation Grants

The Charles Koch Foundation supports research that analyzes the general institutions, ideas, and values that positively impact societal well-being. The best way to find out if your project request is a good match with the goals and vision of the Charles Koch Foundation is to submit an online grant proposal.

See details here.

Grants for Conferences & Workshops

Wenner-Gren Conference and Workshop Grants

Conference and Workshops Grants are available to international scholars to develop anthropological knowledge and debates. In accordance with the mission of the Foundation, priority is given to events that foster the creation of an international community of research scholars in anthropology and advance significant and innovative anthropological research. All conference and workshop grants are made to the organizers of the event, who then use this money to fund their list of partcipants.

Maximum Award: $20,000
Application deadline: June 1 and December 1

See details here.