Humane Studies Fellowships (HSF) are awarded to full-time graduate students embarking on liberty-advancing careers in ideas. Moreover, the fellowships support study in a variety of fields, including economics, philosophy, law, political science, history, and sociology. Awards are up $15,000 and fellowship winners may re-apply for each year of their studies. Since its inception, the Institute for Humane Studies awarded more than $6.5 million to nearly 1800 promising grad students!
The fellowships connect winners to a support network to guide them through a successful career in academia. Fellowship winners become preferred candidates for IHS invitation-only programs such as our Career Development Seminars, which help students think strategically about how to succeed in academia, our Colloquia that discuss and refine the fellows’ research, and our Summer Graduate Research Fellowship, which is a non-residential research and writing program that provides participants with the opportunity to complete a publishable scholarly article.
HSF is open to full-time and prospective graduate students, including law students. Exceptional candidates with an evident intention of advancing liberty through other intellectual activities, such as teaching, policy analysis, and law, will also be considered.
Specific Eligibility Criteria
IHS considers applications from individuals who will be full-time graduate students during the next academic year and who have a clearly demonstrated research interest in the intellectual and institutional foundations of a free society.
Applicants are evaluated based on three primary criteria:
- Relevance of work to the advancement of a free society
- Academic or professional performance
- Potential for success in chosen field
All applicants will be considered without regard to race, gender, religion, national or ethnic origin, citizenship, or disability. Although IHS considers applications from outside the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, fellowships are generally awarded to applicants who live or study in those countries.