2027 Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program
Apply to Internal Competition // Limit: 2 (one tenured scholar and one untenured scholar) // Tickets Available: 2
Limiting Language
University presidents may nominate one tenured and one untenured scholar. Untenured includes both tenure-track faculty who have not yet achieved tenure, and those who are not on a tenure track.
Program Overview
Since 2015, the Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program has supported high-caliber scholarship and research in the social sciences and humanities that address important and enduring issues confronting our society.
The 2026 Class of Andrew Carnegie Fellows marked the third year of the program’s focus on building a body of research focused on political polarization. The Andrew Carnegie Foundation, formerly Carnegie Corporation of New York, committed up to $18 million to this effort over the three-year period, helping Americans understand how and why our society has become so polarized and what can be done to strengthen social cohesion. Political polarization is characterized by, but not limited to, factors such as threats to free speech, the decline of civil discourse, disagreement over basic facts, and a lack of mutual understanding and collaboration. Each fellow receives a grant of up to $200,000 to support their two-year research project, enabling them to devote significant time and resources to their work.
For the next three years, beginning with the 2027 cohort, we are broadening the focus beyond domestic perspectives to explicitly ask what the U.S. can learn from the experience of polarization in other countries. We are seeking proposals that address the relationship between populism and polarization, how other democracies have resisted or reversed polarization, and the conditions that determine whether polarization dissipates or accelerates into systemic violence. These conditions may include but are not limited to civic culture, social cohesion, access to information and a healthy information environment, economic opportunity, trust in and the effective functioning of public institutions, and the rule of law. A few of the things we would like to learn from the next cohort of fellows are:
- What has been the relationship between populism and polarization in other countries?
- How have some countries managed to avoid polarization?
- What can we learn from countries that have stepped back from polarization, such as South Africa, Colombia, and Northern Ireland?
- Under what conditions has polarization escalated into political violence?
- Under what conditions has polarization taken root/accelerated/declined in other countries?
The criteria for selection prioritize the originality and potential impact of the proposal, as well as the capacity to communicate the findings to a broad audience. The fellows are selected by a distinguished panel of jurors, chaired by Dame Louise Richardson, president of the Andrew Carnegie Foundation, and comprising scholars and academic and intellectual leaders from some of the nation’s most prominent educational institutions, foundations, and scholarly societies.
The Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program is a continuation of the mission of the Andrew Carnegie Foundation, founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1911, to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding. Today the foundation works to reduce political polarization through philanthropic support for the issues that Carnegie considered most important: education, democracy, and peace.
Eligibility
The Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program is open only to citizens or legal residents of the United States who have been nominated by the head of an institution designated by the Andrew Carnegie Foundation. Candidates must have a PhD, hold a terminal degree, or be a high-level professional working outside of academia. Along with presidents, chancellors, and provosts of universities, nominators include heads of independent research institutes and learned societies, leaders of some of the nation’s preeminent think tanks, and directors of academic presses, as well as editors of leading newspapers and magazines. All nominators must include in their letter of nomination two to three sentences on the institution’s internal candidate selection process. Individuals may not apply for the Fellows Program via self-nomination. 2027 begins a new three-year cycle of the fellowship. If you were a candidate in 2026 or any previous year, you are eligible to apply again — only once — between 2027 and 2029.
The Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program prohibits a fellowship winner from accepting a fellowship of equal caliber or at a comparable level of funding that overlaps the same timeline as the Carnegie fellowship, especially awards that have specific time requirements. However, smaller grants and project support are acceptable on a case-by-case basis.