APPLICATION FOR 2021-2022
The Center's Science and Innovation Fellowship supports the dissertation research of advanced Harvard doctoral students whose work aligns with the Center’s mission, which is to drive science-based innovation that achieves breakthrough outcomes for children facing adversity. Students from the biological and social sciences (e.g., HMS, T.H. Chan, GSAS) as well as Harvard’s professional schools (e.g., HKS, HLS, HBS, and HGSE) are eligible to apply.
Candidates should have excellent academic records and defined research interests related to early childhood health, learning, and behavior. Priority will be given to candidates whose work aligns with the Center’s mission, crosses disciplinary boundaries, and offers promising new thinking in support of the healthy development of children and their families.
Browse the Center's Science section to explore topics of interest relevant to our mission. Examples of domains of research that have been supported include but are not limited to: Reducing or buffering effects of stress on caregiving or early childhood development, building resilience and promoting protective factors in early childhood, investigating gene-environment interactions and implications for early childhood health, learning, and behavior.
Because the fellowship experience is designed around a cohort model that prioritizes development of a learning community, fellows are expected to participate in person at all fellowship activities, which take place monthly over the course of the fellowship year (September 2021-June 2022).
Each prospective applicant is asked to identify a Harvard faculty mentor whose responsibilities include providing input on the fellowship year work plan and helping to identify an interdisciplinary group of university faculty to provide feedback at the fellow’s capstone academic roundtable presentation. There is an expectation that significant progress will be made on the fellow’s research during the year; specific benchmarks will be determined individually with input from the faculty mentor. Your mentor will need to be an on-site Harvard professor to maximize engagement and participation for the duration of the fellowship year.