Harvard Environmental Fellows Program 2027 with a USD 92,000 salary

Harvard pays recent doctorate holders to spend two years on an environmental research project of their own design, working with a faculty host anywhere in the university. The programme is open to anyone with the right degree, whatever their nationality.

What the fellowship pays

The fellowship includes a salary of $92,000 per year, employee health insurance eligibility, up to $2,500 reimbursement for relocation expenses, and a $2,500 annual allowance for travel and other professional expenses. That is a salary rather than a stipend, which matters for how it is taxed and for what it says about the position.

Who can apply

The programme is open to anyone with a doctorate or comparable terminal degree, provided it was awarded inside a fixed window that opens in the spring a few years before the cohort starts and closes in the August the fellowship begins. Check the exact months on the official page, because that window is the real filter: too early and you are out, too late and you cannot start. Around five fellowships are expected in this cohort, joining those chosen the year before to make a group of roughly a dozen scholars.

The subject range is wide

Environmental research here is not limited to the natural sciences. Recipients and hosts may include people with degrees in the sciences, economics, law, government, public policy, public health, medicine, design, and the full array of humanities. What unites them is the relevance of the work to environmental problems, not the department it comes from.

What the committee is looking for

The proposal has to stand on its own. It must represent an independent line of inquiry that clearly extends beyond your doctoral work and beyond your host's ongoing research, which rules out simply continuing your thesis under a new roof. Prior academic and professional achievement counts, but the strength of the proposed project carries the most weight.

Deadline

The application window is open and the application deadline is December 1, 2026. Approach a potential host early: the arrangement with a faculty member has to be in place, and senior academics are slow to answer in the autumn term.