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American Council of Learned Societies Fellowships Offer Opportunities for Scholars to Contribute to Social Justice Initiatives and Increase Civic Understanding

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ACLS Fellowship Competitions

Learn more about ACLS fellowship opportunities for early career and senior humanities and social sciences PhDs at www.acls.org


NEW YORK (PRWEB)

The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), which stewards $25 million in fellowships and grants supporting excellence in humanistic scholarship each year, offers a variety of opportunities for both emerging and senior scholars to utilize their knowledge, training, and teaching experience in exciting and innovative new ways.

Upholding a core belief that knowledge is a public good, ACLS hosts a variety of fellowship competitions designed to allow humanities PhDs to apply their analytical, communications, and problem solving capcities to the most pressing issues facing our communities – from the continuing struggle to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, to the roles religion plays in public life, to ever-evolving conversations about immigration, economic disparity, race, and more.

ACLS fellowships are also serving as a lifeline for early career and non-tenured academics currently facing the most challenging academic job market in a generation, providing much needed support systems and community that allow them to continue persuing knowledge during difficult social and economic times. Awards range from $55,000-$75,000 each for 12-month fellowships.


  • The ACLS Leading Edge Fellowship Program, made possible by the Henry Luce Foundation, currently offers recent PhDs in religion, theology, ethics, and related humanities fields one-year posts with nonprofit organizations to pursue publicly engaged projects documenting the impact of COVID-19 on communities and to advance collective understanding of the conditions that helped worsen that impact, such as inequality, increasing precarity, divisive media, and racism. Partners include the Smithsonian National Museum of American History (Washington, DC), Southern Poverty Law Center (Montgomery, AL), Freedom for Immigrants (Oakland, CA), and the American Friends Service Committee (Newark, NJ). Deadline for applications is Monday, November 2, 2020, 9 pm ET. Learn more about the program and qualifications here.

  • The Luce/ACLS Program in Religion, Journalism & International Affairs Fellowships, also made possible by the Luce Foundation, is an innovative program connecting scholars in the humanities and social sciences with journalists and media outlets. Their projects aim to deepen public understanding of the roles religion plays in the most pressing issues faced by societies around the world, from migration and immigration, to politics and economic policy, the environment, gender and sexuality, health and medicine, media and entertainment, and more. Deadline for applications is Wednesday, October 28, 2020, 9 pm ET. Learn more about the program and qualifications here.

  • The Mellon/ACLS Scholars and Society Fellowships, made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, offers opportunities for faculty in PhD-granting humanities departments or programs to engage significant societal questions in their research – on cultural identity, the environment, gender, government, and more – while in residence at locally-based cultural, media, government, policy, and community organizations. Scholars are then encouraged to apply the lessons learned in these experiences toward developing innovative approaches in their classrooms on campus. Deadline for applications is Wednesday, October 28, 2020, 9 pm ET. Learn more about the program and qualifications here.

ACLS welcomes applications from PhDs representing the rich diversity of backgrounds, experiences, perspectives, and academic interests that refelct the world in which we live.

Learn more about all current ACLS fellowship opportunities and how to apply here.

Formed in 1919, the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) is a nonprofit federation of 75 scholarly organizations. As the preeminent representative of American scholarship in the humanities and related social sciences, ACLS holds a core belief that knowledge is a public good. As such, ACLS strives to promote the circulation of humanistic knowledge throughout society. In addition to stewarding and representing its member organizations, ACLS employs its $140 million endowment and $35 million annual operating budget to support scholarship in the humanities and social sciences and to advocate for the centrality of the humanities in the modern world.

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