Princeton Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts: Humanities and Social Sciences Grant

The Princeton Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts offers interdisciplinary fellowships in humanities and related social sciences. Open to diverse applicants, the program emphasizes innovative scholarship and teaching, with postdoctoral fellows conducting research while teaching at the University. The Society fosters a collaborative community, creating opportunities for intellectual exchange and growth, particularly welcoming underrepresented backgrounds and ensuring a rich diversity of perspectives in academia.

The Princeton Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts seeks to support innovative interdisciplinary approaches to scholarship and teaching in the humanities and humanities-related social sciences. Each year, the Society chooses a new cohort of postdoctoral Cotsen fellows, who are appointed for three year terms to conduct research and to teach in a home department, often also a program, at the University. The thirteen Cotsen fellows are joined by Princeton faculty members who participate in the Society as faculty fellows. Meeting regularly for formal and informal discussion, seminars, lectures, and reading groups, the fellows in the Society pursue new knowledge and understanding within and across disciplines and aim to advance intellectual exchange across the University community.
From its beginnings, the Society has been committed to building a community of postdoctoral fellows and faculty with a great diversity of backgrounds, experiences and perspectives, and to creating a collaborative environment for inquiry, debate, and groundbreaking scholarship. Its array of open and discipline-focused fellowships has included a fellowship in LGBT Studies (since 2005, generously supported by the Fund for Reunion/Queer Princeton Alumni) and a fellowship in Race and Ethnicity Studies (since 2006, with support of Princeton's President and Dean of the Faculty). For all fellowships, the Society welcomes a diverse and international pool of applicants.
Open Fellowships in the Humanities and Social Sciences
These fellowships are open to applicants in all disciplines represented in the Society of Fellows. The fellowships' responsibilities include both research and teaching, one course each semester in the first and second years, one course in the third year. The fellows will either participate in team-taught courses or offer self-designed courses in the host department and/or an interdisciplinary program. In addition, fellows normally take on some advising in their specialty or related research areas.

Eligibility

Successful candidates must fulfill all requirements for the Ph.D., including filing of the dissertation, by June 15, 2026. Applicants may be considered for more than one fellowship category pertinent to their research and teaching.

Ineligibility

Applicants who already applied to the Princeton Society of Fellows may not apply a second time.We therefore recommend that applicants wait to submit an application until they have completed a substantial portion of the dissertation (at least half).Candidates for/recipients of doctorates in Education (Ed.D. or Ph.D. degrees), in Jurisprudence, the DMA, and candidates for/recipients of Ph.D. degrees from Princeton University are not eligible to apply.