Visiting Scholars Program

The Visiting Scholar Program offers comprehensive research, training and professional development opportunities for both junior and senior scholars whose research relates to Russia and/or Eurasia.

Benefits

  • Full access and borrowing privileges to Harvard's library facilities, including electronic resources;
  • Special invitations to visitors-only events and other opportunities;
    • This includes weekly/bi-weekly seminars, professional development workshops, community outings, and more
  • The opportunity to audit Harvard courses; 
    • Auditing is at the discretion of the course instructor
  • In some cases, scholars may receive shared office space at the Davis Center

Note that this position is unpaid and not eligible for Harvard employee benefits. Scholars are provided visa support, if required.

If you are an early-career scholar and seek a funded position, please consider applying to our Postdoctoral Fellowships.  

Eligibility

  • Research proposals must focus on topics related to Russia and/or Eurasia;
    • Eurasia includes the following regions: the Baltics, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia
  • Citizens of all countries are eligible;
  • Both junior and senior scholars are encouraged to apply;
    • Visiting Scholars: ordinarily tenure track faculty or other individuals who are at a senior level in their career
    • Fellows: ordinarily Ph.D. candidates or other individuals at a junior/mid-level in their career; not for individuals who hold a completed Ph.D.
  • Applicants are required to secure external funding independently;
    • Commonly, scholars receive support from their home institutions or through external grant sources such as Fulbright

Note that this position is unpaid and not eligible for Harvard employee benefits. Scholars are expected to be in-residence, and remote fellowships are not possible.

How to Apply

We are accepting applications on a rolling deadline for 2025-2026 until March 31, 2025.

Available Visit Durations & Times

Applicants may opt for a fellowship during following terms:

  • Fall term (September 1 through December 31)
  • Spring term (January 1 through May 31)
  • Both Fall and Spring terms (September 1 through May 31)

Letters of Support for External Funding

If you are seeking a letter of support to secure external funding (e.g., Fulbright, Bolashak, Marie Curie), please allow a minimum of six weeks from the time you submit your initial application to the Davis Center. 

Current Visitors

Learn more about the current academic year's cohort of visiting scholarsfellows, and postdocs.

Related Insights

We’re delighted to welcome scholars from around the world to our campus community. Meet the in-residence visitors who will be joining the Davis Center this academic year.

Join us this fall as journalist and political scientist Yevgenia Albats brings her signature style to conversations with top academics and analysts, probing Russia's impact on international peace and stability.

While Russian-speakers in Latvia are no monolith, recent polling on culpability for the war suggests splits in views along ethnolinguistic lines, writes our visiting scholar Māris Andžāns.

Related Events

Upcoming Event

Join us for an information and Q&A session about applying for postdoctoral fellowships at the Davis Center.

Past Event

Join us for an afternoon of panels and discussion as six of our current visitors present on the work they’ve been doing at Harvard.

Past Event

Three Ukrainian visiting scholars discuss their work on reconstruction from perspectives that include physical planning, human experience, and the trauma of genocide.