FAQ: Getty/ACLS Postdoctoral Fellowships in the History of Art

ORCID offers a persistent digital identifier (an ORCID iD) that you as an individual scholar own and control, and that distinguishes you from every other researcher. ORCID is being implemented by publishers around the world. In some countries with centralized funding structures, ORCID is in even greater use than it is in the United States. Ten million researchers have created their own ORCIDs.

Learn more about ORCID at https://orcid.org/.

ACLS is joining higher education organizations and funders in encouraging the use of ORCID, which will strengthen academic infrastructure and our relationships with constituencies throughout the academic world.

The benefits for scholars are numerous: having a persistent ID for applicants and fellows could be helpful to scholars whose scholarly record is attributed differently over time (due to differences between Roman and non-Roman characters or because a scholar’s name changes as a result of marriage, divorce, or transitions in gender identification). Faculty with adjunct or other contract employment also benefit from having a persistent and non-institutionally based identity, since institutions do not follow any standard record-keeping on their public websites.

In future years, we hope to integrate more of an applicant’s ORCID record data into the application process, saving them time and effort. For now, we believe that simply requiring ORCID registration is a great first step.

https://orcid.org/

While it only takes a minute to sign up for an account, we advise applicants for ACLS fellowships and grants to register with ORCID before beginning their online applications.

No, not for the purposes of the current ACLS fellowship and grant competitions. You should control your ORCID privacy settings in the way that makes you most comfortable. You can review ORCID’s full privacy policy at https://info.orcid.org/privacy-policy/.

You are only required to register for the ID; how much information you add to your profile is entirely up to you. You can learn more about the benefits of having and using an ORCID profile at https://info.orcid.org/benefits-for-researchers/.

Getty/ACLS Postdoctoral Fellowships in the History of Art support academic research that draws substantially on the materials, methods, and/or findings of art history. Applications are welcome from scholars who earned their PhDs in art history or in other humanistic fields, such as cultural history, anthropology, and archaeology. The program encourages applications especially from scholars proposing new approaches to art historical scholarship. To be considered, applicants must demonstrate a distinguished record of past achievement and a work plan for the fellowship period that offers the promise that their work will make a substantial and original contribution to the understanding of art and its history.

ACLS does not fund creative work or the performing arts (e.g., novels, films, performance, or musical composition), nor does it fund textbooks or pedagogical projects, or work that deals purely with translation.

Yes, an applicant for this fellowship may also apply to as many fellowship and grant programs as are suitable. However, not more than one ACLS or ACLS-joint award may normally be accepted in any one competition year.

No, your PhD degree must have been conferred by December 31, 2021 to apply for this fellowship in the current competition. If you are a doctoral student, you may be eligible for one of the ACLS dissertation fellowships.

No, your PhD may not have been conferred prior to September 1, 2017. It must have been conferred no later than December 31, 2021.

No, applicants to this program must have completed the PhD degree in art history or a related field.

No, this program welcomes applications from scholars of any nationality or place of residence. Scholars who are citizens of countries other than the United States are especially encouraged to apply, as are scholars who have experience studying, teaching, and/or conducting art historical research in non-US contexts.

Yes, this program welcomes applications from scholars without restriction as to employment. This includes independent scholars, scholars with part-time academic employment, and non-tenure track scholars.

No, Getty/ACLS Postdoctoral Fellowships may not be combined with any other fellowships or grants. Fellows are expected to withdraw their applications from any other fellowship or grant competitions that could provide overlapping support. With prior ACLS approval, fellows may arrange to be hosted by an institution or institutions within the period of the award if such arrangements, for example, allow access to materials necessary for the project. Such arrangements must not include compensation or research/travel funds, nor may they include teaching or other responsibilities that take the fellow away from fulltime research and/or writing.

Yes, the fellowship may be taken in conjunction with sabbatical.

Getty/ACLS Postdoctoral Fellowships cannot be deferred. Fellowship tenure is for the 2023-24 academic year.

No, you will need to start over with a new online application.

This will vary, depending on how much work you have prepared before you begin the application process. Simply filling in the form will probably take an hour if not two, plus you will need to submit your proposal and supporting documents. You will also need to secure referees to write letters in support of your application. We highly recommend that you start the process several weeks before the deadline to get a sense of what is required and start preparing your materials.

No, you may work on it in multiple sessions, though you will need to save your work after you finish each section of the application. Once you have submitted the application, you cannot work on it again.

The deadline to submit completed applications for this fellowship is 9 pm, Eastern Daylight Time, October 27, 2022.

You may estimate the amount you expect to receive, or fill in nothing. You can enter this amount in the section asking you to list other major funding sources to which you are applying for your present research proposal. Please note that if you accept a Getty/ACLS Postdoctoral Fellowship you may not accept any other fellowships or grants with overlapping award periods.

No, your application will be judged as it is at the time of submission.

Notifications and other correspondence are sent via email from “acls.org” addresses. In order to prevent ACLS emails from being blocked, we suggest that applicants and letter writers:

1. Add the relevant ACLS email addresses (e.g., [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected] for letter writers) to their address book or safe senders list.
2. Check spam or junk mail folder for notifications and correspondence, if you are expecting them.
3. In the event that you continue not to receive ACLS emails in either your inbox or spam/junk folder, it may be that your institution (“.edu”) or internet service provider (“.com” or “.net” email) is blocking these emails before they reach you. Please contact the appropriate personnel, e.g., your IT department, so that they may resolve the issue.

Your main priority should be to secure recommendations from referees who can write strong, specific letters on your behalf and can comment in detail on the proposed project. It is understood that applicants to this program likely will rely more on dissertation advisors as advocates than colleagues farther on in their careers. However, reviewers often prefer “arm’s length” letters from scholars who can attest to the significance of your work in the field and have less personal interest vested in your success. It’s good to be able to show that you have placed yourself in the field, not merely in the department or institution where you are employed or did your graduate work. Reviewers sometimes have concerns about letters from colleagues in the same department. Think carefully about who can write the best letters and weigh that against personal connections. In any case, you will want your referees to be tenured scholars.

No, but note that the deadline for reference letters is the same as the application deadline. The system will continue to accept letters for a few days after the deadline and will add them to your application at the earliest possible time, though we cannot guarantee that they will accompany your application in the first stage of review.

You should check online to see if your references have been submitted. If one or more of your letters has not been submitted by the deadline, you may wish to contact the letter writers. If one of your designated referees cannot write the letter, you can ask someone else to write for you and submit the appropriate information on your reference form. However, please note that once the required number of letters has been submitted for your application (regardless of which of your referees submits them), no more will be accepted. Think carefully, then, before requesting replacement letters. You would not want to put a referee in the position of writing a letter for you and then not being able to submit it.

No. ACLS requests that reference letters contain specific elements targeted to this fellowship program. Peer reviewers have expressed strong reservations about letters from dossier services since they are necessarily general and thus less helpful in assessing the merits of the proposed project. This information is particularly crucial for proposals that reach the final round of selection where they are evaluated by multi-disciplinary committees. ACLS understands the demands placed on senior scholars and has sought to moderate that burden by reducing both the required number and the length of reference letters to minimum essential levels.

Proposals will be reviewed in two stages. At the first stage, three established scholars will judge your proposal. These reviewers may or may not specialize in the particular subfield(s) covered in your proposal. The first stage of review determines which applications will go on to the final stage. At that point, applications are reviewed by a panel of scholars whose collective expertise covers a wide range of art historical scholarship.

You must balance the need to make clear the question(s) or problem(s) that the proposed project addresses, and its significance, in ways legible and persuasive to scholars from across the field, while also convincing scholars with closely matched expertise. Be sure to explain any terms that might not be familiar to those outside your subfield.

Yes, writing samples should contain citations where relevant, but they must be included within the 15 double-spaced page limit. Although the writing sample must be in English, citations may be in other languages (with translations provided).

While there is no one model to follow for a successful application and we do not provide examples of proposals that receive funding, you are encouraged to view previous awardees and brief project descriptions here. You may also benefit from reviewing Writing Proposals for ACLS Fellowship Competitions by Christina M. Gillis.

Yes, you may request feedback generated through ACLS’s peer review process by writing to [email protected] with the subject line “Request for feedback –” followed by your full name, e.g. “Request for feedback – Jane Q. Applicant.” Requests for comments from the 2022-23 competition must be received by June 30, 2023.

Due to the number of requests ACLS receives each year, and the work of administering new fellowships each spring, we do not begin processing feedback until the summer, after the competition year is complete. Thank you for your patience.

Please also note that feedback is made available at the discretion of each reviewer. Comments may not be available from every reviewer who assessed your application. We encourage peer reviewers to provide constructive feedback to applicants looking to improve on their ideas or how they express those ideas; comments are not an explanation or rationale for why an application was not selected for an award. Such feedback also is not intended to be directions that, if followed, would lead necessarily to greater success in future competitions. After all, the pool of reviewers changes every year, as does the pool of applications.

The fellowship is awarded to an individual scholar. You may elect to have the fellowship stipend paid directly to you. Alternatively, if you are affiliated with an institution, ACLS can arrange payment through the scholar’s institution upon request. However, institutions may not deduct funds for overhead or indirect costs from the individual’s fellowship. For more information, review Information for Institutional Administrators.

No, the portion of the stipend in excess of your salary may be used for any expenses related to advancing your scholarly project.

No, the fellowship does not cover benefits. Fellows without institutional affiliations may use the $60,000 award stipend on whatever expenses they deem warranted, including (but not limited to) healthcare. For fellows who are affiliated with institutions, ACLS expects that the fellow’s institution will continue to provide the same level of benefits during the award period that they would receive normally.

These funds may be used to cover a wide range of expenses related to the research project, including but not limited to: travel expenses (for research or for attending relevant scholarly conferences); research assistance; research materials (books, equipment, software/licensing fees, reproductions); archival access/permission; scholarly programming such as workshops or speaker series related to their projects, etc. Please note that the fellowship includes a one-week residency at the Getty Research Institute, and that travel to the Institute should be paid for out of these research/travel funds.

The residency at the Getty Research Institute will take place in July 2024, following the end of the fellowship period. Additional details about the residency will be discussed with fellows after awards have been made. Fellows are responsible for booking travel to the Institute, and one purpose of the awards’ research/travel funds is to pay for this travel. The Foundation will cover accommodations.