About Berkman’s Fellowship Program

Berkman Center fellowships provide the opportunity for innovative thinkers and changemakers to hone and share ideas, find camaraderie, and spawn new initiatives. The program aims to encourage and support fellows in an inviting and rigorous intellectual environment, with community activities designed to foster inquiry and collaboration. Together fellows actively participate in exchanges through a weekly fellows hour, various online media, fellows-run working groups, and a wide-range of events and interactions. With Berkman faculty, students, staff, and other affiliates, fellows help to develop and advance Berkman Center projects, and learn and teach through courses, curricula and diverse gatherings.

Much of what makes the fellowship program rewarding is created each year by the fellows themselves to address their own interests and priorities. These innovative, entrepreneurial, collaborative ventures – ranging from goal-oriented to experimental, from rigorous to humorous – are what ensure the dynamism of the fellows, the fellowship program and the Berkman community.

Fellows are essential to the Berkman Center as nodes of intelligence, insight, energy, and knowledge-sharing. From their diverse backgrounds and wide-ranging physical and virtual travels, fellows bring fresh ideas, skills, passion and connections to the Center, and from their time spent in Cambridge help build and extend new perspectives and initiatives out into the world.

About Berkman Fellowships

An appointment that defies one-size-fits-all description, each Berkman fellowship carries a unique set of opportunities, responsibilities and expectations. All fellows engage issues related to the fairly limitless expanse of Internet & society issues, and are committed to the intellectual life of the Center and fellowship program activities. Some fellows work as researchers directly on Berkman Center projects.  Other fellowships consist of independent work, such as the research and writing of a manuscript or series of papers, an event, or the development and implementation of a project or a study on issues related to the Berkman Center’s areas of inquiry. Each Berkman fellow develops and coordinates their fellowship workplan with the Center’s directors and staff.

Fellowship terms typically run the course of the academic year, roughly from the beginning of September through the end of May. In some cases, particularly with project fellowships, the period of appointment does not align with the US academic year. In some instances, fellows are re-appointed for consecutive fellowship terms.

Most Berkman fellows work out of the greater-Boston area and spend a significant amount of time at the Berkman Center.  There are many desks and workspaces available for flexible use at the Berkman Center, though few fellows are given their own permanent desk or office.   We endeavor to provide comfortable and productive spaces for fellows to work, even if it is not the same space each day. Fellows are welcome to host small meetings and gatherings at the Center and on the Harvard campus.

Stipends, Benefits, and Access to University Resources

Stipends and all other administrative determinations are made on case-by-case basis, depending on factors including need, capacity, and available resources, the latter of which are in short supply. In all cases, the Berkman staff will endeavor to ensure that fellows have the necessary resources to make their fellowships successful.

Stipends: A fully stipended Berkman fellow receives $48,000. At present, very few Berkman fellows receive full stipends, and almost all of those who do are working directly and primarily on one of Berkman's funded projects. Some fellows receive partial stipends based on the nature of their responsibilities and their relation, relevance, and application to Berkman’s funded projects. Most fellows receive no direct funding or stipend through the Berkman Center, but rather have obtained funding through other means, such as an outside grant or award, a home institution, or other forms of scholarship.

Benefits: Fringe benefits do not routinely accompany Berkman fellowships. Fellows must make their own housing, insurance, childcare, and transportation arrangements.

Office Space: Most Berkman fellows work out of the greater-Boston area and spend a significant amount of time at the Berkman Center.  There are many desks and workspaces available for flexible use at the Berkman Center, though few fellows are given their own permanent desk or office.   We endeavor to provide comfortable and productive spaces for fellows to work, even if it is not the same space each day. Fellows are welcome to host small meetings and gatherings at the Center and on the Harvard campus.

Access to University Resources: A Harvard ID is a key into many of Harvard’s resources, including access to the Harvard library network (including checkout privileges and access to the University’s e-resources), the ability to purchase University health insurance, and the ability to purchase Harvard gym membership.  At present, we are not able to routinely provide Harvard IDs to fellows, though some IDs are issued based on need, funding, and other administrative reasons.  Berkman fellows bringing their own funding via scholarships or other financial support have the opportunity to pay the University appointment fees necessary to issue an ID. Physical access into Langdell Library (the Harvard Law School Library) can be arranged for all Berkman fellows, and fellows are able to acquire a Special Borrower Card for privileges with the Harvard College Libraries. Berkman fellows wishing to audit classes at Harvard University must ask permission directly from the professor of the desired class.