Dumbarton Oaks Fellowships 2027–2028: $25,000–$35,000 Plus Housing for a Full Year of Byzantine, Pre-Columbian, or Garden and Landscape Research in Washington, D.C.

Dumbarton Oaks Fellowships 2027–2028: $25,000–$35,000 Plus Housing for a Full Year of Byzantine, Pre-Columbian, or Garden and Landscape Research in Washington, D.C.

Dumbarton Oaks is one of the quietest but most generous places in American scholarship. A Harvard University research institute set on a historic estate in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., it hands a small number of scholars each year something that is increasingly rare: uninterrupted time, a world-class library, a stipend, a place to live, and a community of peers working in the same specialized fields. For the 2027–2028 academic year, applications for its residential Fellowships and Junior Fellowships are due by November 1, 2026. If your research sits inside Byzantine Studies, Pre-Columbian Studies, or Garden and Landscape Studies, this is one of the strongest residential funding options in the humanities.

This guide explains exactly what the fellowship provides, who qualifies, how the application works, and how to make your proposal competitive. Where a detail is not yet confirmed for the 2027–2028 cycle, this guide says so plainly rather than guessing.

Key Details at a Glance

What the Fellowship Offers

The core award is a stipend plus a residential support package. A Fellow receives $35,000 for the full academic year; a Junior Fellow receives $25,000. If you are awarded a single term rather than the full year, the stipend is prorated accordingly.

Money is only part of the value. The support package is built to remove the day-to-day friction that usually eats into research time:

• Housing. Fellows are normally offered campus housing on or near the Dumbarton Oaks estate. If the institute cannot provide accommodation, it may offer a housing allowance instead. Applicants from the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area are generally not offered housing, on the assumption that they already live within commuting distance.
• Weekday lunch. Fellows are provided lunch on weekdays, which sounds minor but reinforces the shared, collegial rhythm of the institute — meals are one of the main ways fellows meet and talk across fields.
• Health insurance. Fellows may enroll in the Dumbarton Oaks fellows’ health insurance plan.
• Travel. Pre-arranged and pre-paid air or rail travel to and from Washington is available when other funding is not.
• Visa support. For international Fellows on a J-1 visa, Dumbarton Oaks reimburses the J-1 visa fee (this reimbursement does not extend to J-2 dependents).

The less tangible benefit is the setting itself. Dumbarton Oaks holds specialized research libraries, rare books, image and object collections, and the famous historic gardens. For scholars in these three fields, the concentration of primary and secondary material in one place is difficult to match anywhere else. You are also embedded in a cohort of fellows and visiting scholars, plus the institute’s regular seminars, lectures, and colloquia.

The Three Fields of Study

Dumbarton Oaks is unusual in being organized around three distinct programs rather than a single broad discipline. Your application must fit clearly within one of them:

• Byzantine Studies — the history, culture, religion, art, archaeology, literature, law, and material culture of the Byzantine world and its neighbors, broadly construed across the late antique and medieval eastern Mediterranean.
• Pre-Columbian Studies — the art, archaeology, history, and cultures of the ancient Americas before European contact, including Mesoamerica and the Andes.
• Garden and Landscape Studies — the history and theory of gardens, designed landscapes, and the broader relationship between people and the land, spanning history, design, ecology, and the humanities.

If your project genuinely bridges two of these fields, note that in your proposal, but you still apply within a single program. Choosing the right program is a strategic decision: your application is read primarily by scholars in that field.

Who Is Eligible

Eligibility turns mainly on where you are in your academic career.

Fellowships are for scholars who hold an appropriate terminal degree — typically a PhD, or an MLA (Master of Landscape Architecture) for some Garden and Landscape applicants — by the application deadline. Fellowships are open to established and early-career scholars alike; the common thread is a completed degree and a defined research project.

Junior Fellowships are for degree candidates who, at the time of application, have fulfilled all preliminary requirements for the PhD (or appropriate final degree) and are working on a dissertation. In practice this means you have passed comprehensive/qualifying exams and had your dissertation prospectus approved, and you intend to use the fellowship year to research or write the dissertation in residence.

All applicants must be prepared to be in residence at Dumbarton Oaks and to devote full time to their project for the duration of the fellowship. This is a residential fellowship, not a remote grant — the expectation of physical presence and full-time focus is central.

There is no citizenship restriction: international scholars are eligible and welcome, and the institute provides J-1 visa support for those who need it.

How to Apply

Applications are submitted through the Embark online portal linked from the official fellowships page. The written application must be in English. While exact requirements are finalized each cycle, a competitive Dumbarton Oaks application generally includes:

1. Personal and academic information, entered through the online form.
2. A project description / research proposal. This is the heart of the application. It should explain what you will study, why Dumbarton Oaks is the right place to do it, what sources and methods you will use, and what you expect to produce. Keep it accessible to specialists in your field who may not share your narrow subfield.
3. A scholarly dossier / supporting statement, such as a summary of past work and how the fellowship fits your larger research trajectory.
4. Graduate transcripts — required for Junior Fellowship applicants and uploaded through Embark by the deadline.
5. Two letters of recommendation, submitted directly by your referees through Embark. These are also due by November 1, so give your recommenders several weeks of lead time.

Confirm the current, exact list of required components and any length limits on the official application page before you submit, because the institute updates specifics from year to year.

Timeline and Deadlines

• November 1, 2026 — Application deadline for the 2027–2028 academic year, including both recommendation letters and (for Junior Fellows) transcripts. Treat this as a hard deadline.
• Late 2026 to early 2027 — Review by the institute’s committees in each field.
• By March 2027 — Awards announced. Offers must generally be accepted by the end of the month in which they are made.
• 2027–2028 academic year — Fellowship in residence. For reference, the current cycle ran September 14 to May 14 for the full academic year, with single-term options in fall and spring; the 2027–2028 dates are expected to follow the same pattern, though the institute will confirm exact dates for successful applicants.

Because the fellowship year begins more than a year and a half after some applicants first start thinking about it, plan backward: identify recommenders and draft your proposal over the summer of 2026 so the October crunch is about polishing, not writing from scratch.

Required Materials and How to Prepare Them

Two documents decide most fellowship competitions here: the project proposal and the letters of recommendation.

For the proposal, the strongest applications are specific about the connection between the project and Dumbarton Oaks’ resources. Reviewers want to see that you need to be there — that the library holdings, collections, gardens, or scholarly community materially advance the work. Name the specific sources or collections you will consult. Explain the stage your project is at and what a residential year will let you accomplish that you could not accomplish otherwise (finish a dissertation chapter sequence, complete a book manuscript, conduct object-based analysis, and so on). Write for an informed reader in your field who is not a hyper-specialist in your exact topic.

For the letters, choose referees who can speak concretely about the quality of your scholarship and your ability to complete an ambitious project on schedule. Give them your proposal draft, your CV, and a short note on why Dumbarton Oaks fits your work, so their letters reinforce rather than merely echo your application.

For Junior Fellows, be explicit about your dissertation timeline and where the fellowship year fits into it. Committees want confidence that a year in residence will produce real progress.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Applying to the wrong program. If your work straddles fields, pick the program whose scholars are best positioned to evaluate and champion it, and make the fit obvious in the first paragraph.
• A generic proposal. A description that could have been written for any fellowship signals a weak fit. Tie the project to Dumbarton Oaks’ specific holdings and community.
• Underusing the residency argument. This is a residential fellowship. If your proposal reads as though you could do the work anywhere, you have undercut your own case.
• Late or thin recommendations. Letters are due on the same November 1 deadline. Ask early, share your materials, and follow up.
• Ignoring eligibility timing. Junior Fellowship applicants must have completed all preliminary PhD requirements by the application date; Fellowship applicants must hold the terminal degree by the deadline. Confirm you meet the timing before investing in the application.
• Overlooking the housing detail. If you live in the greater Washington, D.C. area, do not assume campus housing; plan accordingly.

Is This Fellowship Right for You?

Consider Dumbarton Oaks if you are a PhD candidate or degree-holding scholar in Byzantine, Pre-Columbian, or Garden and Landscape Studies who would benefit from a concentrated stretch of research in a specialized library with a supportive cohort. It suits people at a defined inflection point — finishing a dissertation, turning a dissertation into a book, or completing focused, source-based research — more than those seeking open-ended exploratory funding.

It is less suitable if your work sits outside the three fields, if you cannot commit to being in residence full-time, or if you need summer-only or fully remote support. The residency and full-time expectations are firm.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does the fellowship pay? $35,000 for a Fellow or $25,000 for a Junior Fellow for the full academic year, prorated for single-term awards, plus campus housing (or an allowance), weekday lunch, health-insurance access, and travel support.

Can international scholars apply? Yes. There is no citizenship restriction, and Dumbarton Oaks reimburses the J-1 visa fee for Fellows who require that visa.

Do I have to live on site? Fellows are expected to be in residence and to devote full time to their project. Campus housing is normally offered, except to applicants from the greater Washington, D.C. area.

Can I apply for just one semester? Yes. Single-term (fall or spring) awards are available, with the stipend prorated.

What is the difference between a Fellowship and a Junior Fellowship? A Fellowship requires a completed terminal degree by the deadline; a Junior Fellowship is for PhD candidates who have finished all preliminary requirements and are working on the dissertation.

When will I hear back? Awards are announced by March and typically must be accepted by the end of the month.

Next Steps and Official Links

Read the official program requirements, confirm which of the three programs fits your work, and verify the exact application components and any word limits before you begin. Then line up two recommenders and draft your proposal over the summer so you are refining, not writing, as the November 1, 2026 deadline approaches.

• Official fellowships page: https://www.doaks.org/research/fellowships-and-awards/research-fellowships
• Overview of all fellowships and awards: https://www.doaks.org/research/fellowships-and-awards

Always treat the official Dumbarton Oaks pages as the authoritative source for stipend figures, deadlines, eligibility, and the final list of required materials, since these can be updated for each application cycle.