American School of Prehistoric Research Junior Fellowship

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The American School of Prehistoric Research (ASPR), which supports research and education in Old World prehistory, is pleased to announce the Final date to receive applications for 2026 ASPR Junior Fellowships: postdoctoral research fellowships at Harvard University for recent PhDs who are pursuing independent research on Old World prehistory. ASPR Junior Fellows are invited to offer one course in the second year of their appointment in a Harvard department of their choosing, but otherwise are expected to conduct independent research.

They may not take courses for credit or teach more than one course per year, and they are expected to be in residence at Harvard during the academic year when not conducting fieldwork. Currently, there will be two ASPR Junior Fellows in each cohort, each for an appointment of two years with the possibility for extension to a maximum of three years.

As a result, applications for ASPR Junior Fellows may not be offered every year. During 2026/2027 the stipend for ASPR Junior Fellows will be $80,000 with full benefits, and they will receive a research stipend of $20,000/year. The appointment will begin on July 1st, 2026.

Eligible candidates can be of any nationality but must be at an early stage of their scholarly career doing research that focuses on Old World prehistory. Ordinarily ASPR Junior Fellows will have received their PhD just prior to the start of the fellowship. Degree recipients should be less than three years past the PhD at the time the fellowship commences.

ASPR Junior Fellows will be affiliated with one or more academic departments at Harvard and will be assigned a faculty mentor, ordinarily but not necessarily in the departments of Anthropology or Human Evolutionary Biology R Junior Fellows are expected to be young scholars with a proven record of high quality, original, independent research. They will be chosen by the Program Board of the American School of Prehistoric Research.

Prior to applying, candidates are encouraged to communicate with appropriate members of the faculty at Harvard with similar research interests.

Applications include a research proposal no longer than 1000 words describing the research they would like to pursue while an ASPR Junior Fellow, and a CV that outlines previous scholarship and other qualifications. Candidates should also solicit two letters of recommendation that include an assessment of the candidate’s work and promise. The candidate is also requested to provide transcripts of both undergraduate and graduate records, and 1-3 samples of independent work such as published papers.

All application materials must be submitted by January 25, 2026. Questions can be emailed to Clara Alexander (calexandervard.edu), Dan Lieberman (danliebvard.edu), or Rowan Flad (rfladvard.edu).

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Required fields are indicated with an asterisk (*).

• * Who from the Harvard faculty do you hope to work with as a mentor during your Fellowship period?

  (Open Ended Question)