Visiting Fellows Program

The Harvard-Yenching Institute will host its final cohort from the Visiting Fellows Program in the 2017-2018 academic year. The termination of the Visiting Fellows Program is in effect for the 2018-19 academic year.

For doctoral students who are interested in a research stay at HYI, other opportunities are now available. Thanks to the Field Development Training Program, plus the recently-introduced joint PhD fellowship programs with several Asian partners, the Institute will continue to host a substantial number of doctoral students from multiple Asian countries each year.

Overview

This program provides advanced Ph.D. candidates at our partner institutions an opportunity to conduct dissertation research at Harvard University for one academic year (12 months). Applicants do not have to be working on Asian studies topics to be eligible. However, preference is given to those in East Asian Studies whose research would benefit from the resources of the Harvard-Yenching Library. Successful applicants join researchers at the Harvard-Yenching Institute, and have access to all Harvard University libraries.

Terms and Conditions

The Visiting Fellows program is exclusively for individuals at our partner institutions in Asia, and candidates must be nominated through their university’s foreign affairs or international office. The program is only open to citizens of Asian countries. The selection criteria include academic training, quality of research proposal, and depth of subject knowledge, originality of the proposal as well as feasibility of conducting the research at Harvard and match with a Harvard faculty member. Fellows are provided with a monthly stipend and individual medical insurance coverage while at the Institute.

Eligible Fields

Fields of research in the humanities and social sciences to be considered are:

  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Area and International Studies
  • Art and Architectural History
  • History (including economic and legal history)
  • Linguistics
  • Literature
  • Media and Film Studies
  • Philosophy
  • Politics
  • Sociology
  • Study of Religion
  • Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies

Scholars in the fields of Economics, Education, Geography, Law, Psychology, and Public Administration may be considered, but must check with the Institute before submitting applications. Applicants do not have to be working on Asian studies topics to be eligible.