Fellowships & Grants

The American Council of Learned Societies began awarding fellowships and grants to individual scholars in 1926. Since then, ACLS has sought to meet the needs of an ever-changing academy and meet new challenges faced by scholars, whether early-career, independent, established educators, those working within the administrative ranks, and those forging paths in public-facing research.

ACLS Fellowship & Grant Programs

ACLS supports individual scholars and scholarly teams around the world in their pursuit of research that advances knowledge in the humanities and interpretive social sciences.

Explore Current Opportunities for Support

HBCU Fellowship & Grant Program

Supporting the scholarship of humanities and social sciences faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowships

Supporting innovative approaches to dissertation research in the humanities and interpretive social sciences

ACLS Digital Justice Grants

Providing resources for projects that diversify the digital domain, advance justice and equity in digital scholarly practice, and contribute to public understanding of racial and social justice issues

The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Buddhism Public Scholars

Placing recent recipients of the PhD in professional positions at museums, libraries, and publications that present and interpret knowledge of Buddhist traditions

Scholar Spotlight

Video Interviews with ACLS Fellows and Grantees

David Sterling Brown F’21

David Sterling Brown F’21 shares his Mellon/ACLS Scholars and Society Fellowship experience and his new book Shakespeare’s White Others

Prithi Kanakamedala F’21

Mellon/ACLS Community College Faculty Fellow Prithi Kanakamedala F’21 discusses her research on Brooklyn abolitionists

Ned Benton G’22 & Judy-Lynne Peters G’22

ACLS Digital Justice Grantees Ned Benton G’22 and Judy-Lynne Peters G’22 discuss their work on the Northeast Slavery Records Index

“It is important to bridge the scholarly gap, as well as the gap that exists in terms of access to resources, networks, and archives between academic communities in the Global North and the Global South.”

Parjanya Sen F’23 shares his research on the links between Tibet and colonial Bengal, as well as his perspective as a scholar from Kolkata, India.

Support for Scholars Before and Beyond the Award

ACLS continues to provide valuable professional development resources for both applicants and awardees beyond the award period. We regularly host office hours sessions and webinars during the application period to answer questions and provide technical assistance to prospective applicants. Current and past awardees also participate in ACLS professional development workshops and convenings, including dissertation workshops for Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellows and Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist Studies awardees; roundtable discussions and panels on topics including public-facing scholarship and mentorship for Luce/ACLS Fellows in China Studies; and an annual career seminar for ACLS Leading Edge Fellows. 

Fellows in Focus

All Recent Awardees

Elevating the Voices of Black Womxn and Girls

Leading Edge Fellow Amber Reid F’23 uses her humanities PhD as a research analyst at the Afiya Center in Dallas, TX.

Innovating Dissertation Methods

2023 Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellows share their pathbreaking research methods and fellowship experiences.

Researching Uyghur Dispossession and Terror Capitalism

Luce/ACLS Fellow in China Studies Darren Byler F’21, G’14 shares his research on Uyghurs and other minoritized groups in Northwest China.

Supporting Scholars at HBCUs

Trushna Parekh F’24, Lamon B. Lawhorn G’24, and Ana Lucia Araujo F’24 share their research and the impact of the ACLS HBCU Faculty Fellowship and Grant Program.