Ethics & Civics Postdoctoral Fellowship

Since its founding in 1986, Harvard University’s Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics has convened scholars and practitioners to confront pressing ethical questions of the time. Building on this tradition, the Center invites applications for the Ethics and Civics Postdoctoral Fellowship. This fellowship is housed in the Research & Design Studio, the Center’s innovation hub, and is designed to help a new generation of thinkers and practitioners translate ethical reflection and scholarship into practical contributions for academia and public life.

The Research & Design Studio (R&DS) is an interdisciplinary network that bridges research and pedagogy. Its current theme and focus are the ethical and political dimensions of disagreement: when it proves productive, how to rebuild a culture of principled disagreement, and how to navigate difference. Through this work, the R&DS seeks to strengthen civil discourse in higher education and public life, bringing together faculty, students, researchers, and practitioners to explore how we can engage across differences more constructively.

The Ethics and Civics Postdoctoral Fellowship seeks to prepare the next generation of scholars to integrate practical ethics and civil disagreement into both their research and teaching as they begin their academic careers. In addition to their individual research projects, fellows will develop pedagogical tools or practices during their time at the Center that can support their future teaching as well as contribute to the overall work of the R&DS and its Community of Practice.

Fellows will work together with R&DS staff to ensure they are able to effectively translate their scholarship into practical outcomes. The fellowship seminar will include opportunities to workshop both fellows’ research and pedagogy projects over the course of the year.

The fellowship is renewable for a second year at the discretion of the Center. We plan to welcome three new and up to three returning fellows each year.

We aim to build cohorts where fellows find valuable intellectual partnerships to support and spur their work. The ideal candidates are those interested in investing time and energy into contributing to the R&DS’s research agenda and pedagogical resource development initiatives and building community with the other fellows in their cohort, while also furthering their own projects. Fellows will receive support from the Center’s research and pedagogy teams to develop their projects for a variety of audiences and to translate their research interests into practical tools and applications.

Fellows may be invited to teach a Harvard class during the course of their appointment.

• Work with the pedagogy team to develop tools or instructional applications related to their research and/or teaching interests.
• Participate in regular seminars with their cohort and others at the Center.
• Engage actively with the Center’s broader programming, which includes public lectures, themed seminars and reading groups, conferences, workshops, and lunch discussions.
• Advance their individual research projects, with the support of the Center’s research team as needed/available.

This is a residential fellowship. Fellows are expected to live in the Boston area and be present at the Center at least three days per week, with at least four working days per week in the area overall. Occasional travel for conferences and other professional commitments is permitted, but Fellows should discuss their plans with the R&DS’s Director of Research and Strategic Initiatives before making a commitment.

The stipend for post-doctoral fellows will be $7,000/month for the 2027-28 academic year, which runs from the start of September to the end of June. We also provide a research allowance of up to $3,000 per academic year for approved expenses directly related to your work, such as travel, books, and research assistance.

Applicants must have completed a doctoral degree no more than three years before the start of the Fellowship year.

Applicants from any discipline or…