Apply for the Harvard CHS AI Ethics Fellowship 2026-2027: $12,000 Postdoc Stipend in Greece

If you are a postdoctoral researcher thinking about the moral contours of artificial intelligence — accountability, bias, public policy, human dignity under automation — this one-off fellowship lands at an appealing crossroad: Harvard-level resources combined with a base in Greece and focused mentorship. The Harvard University Center for Hellenic Studies in Greece (CHS Greece) is offering a single 12-month fellowship for 2026–2027 aimed at original research in AI ethics. The award includes a $12,000 stipend, remote access to Harvard’s online holdings, a short educational trip to the U.S., and a structured program of presentations and mentorship.

This is not a mass-market postdoc with a line-item CV requirement and a boilerplate welcome kit. It’s a targeted, intellectually serious appointment for someone who can situate work on AI within ethical, philosophical, social, or policy frameworks — ideally with ties to Greek institutions or contexts, though applicants from any discipline are eligible. If your project connects broad ethical questions to real-world decisions about how AI is built, deployed, governed, or taught, this fellowship is worth your careful attention.

Below I map out what matters: who fits, how to write the tight 1,000-word proposal that will actually persuade reviewers, how to select your sample work, and a realistic timeline so you don’t miss the February 6, 2026 deadline.

At a Glance

What This Opportunity Offers

Think of this fellowship as a compact research residency with three practical dimensions: intellectual support, institutional access, and visibility. First, the stipend is modest but designed to underwrite writing time, a short research trip, or modest research costs while you remain embedded in your academic or policy setting. It isn’t meant to replace a full salary but to create breathing room for concentrated work.

Second, and more valuable than the cash for many applicants, is access to Harvard’s online databases and resources for a full year. That access is a real advantage when you need to pull otherwise paywalled journals, archival materials, or reference works for literature reviews and citation-heavy chapters. Combine that with the mentorship you’ll receive from CHS’s academic committee and you’ve got a structure that both critiques and amplifies your ideas.

Third, the fellowship builds platform: CHS invites fellows to present and publish their research, and funds a 10-day educational visit to the U.S. Those opportunities translate into contacts, peer feedback, and an audience for the work — especially helpful if you are at an early stage of an academic career or outside a major research center.

Finally, the program has a clear geographic and cultural emphasis. CHS is invested in positioning Greece as a node in international discussions about AI ethics. That doesn’t confine you to studies about Greece, but projects that draw connections to Greek institutions, legal frameworks, regional policy, historical perspectives, or multilingual data contexts will resonate. The fellowship is as much about scholarship as about situating that scholarship within networks of public conversation.

Who Should Apply

This fellowship is aimed at postdoctoral researchers from any discipline who have defended their PhD by December 1, 2025. If you’re a freshly minted scholar who can point to a focused, realistic project on AI ethics, you’re the intended audience. Priority is given to applicants in the early steps of their career and those in non-tenure-track positions — so this is a sweet spot for people trying to move from dissertation to an independent research profile.

Concrete examples of good fits:

• A philosopher who wants to examine how principles of procedural fairness apply to algorithmic decision-making in public services, using case studies from Greece or the EU.
• A sociologist studying the social effects of automated welfare eligibility systems and proposing policy interventions to protect vulnerable populations.
• A legal scholar researching compliance gaps in AI regulation across Mediterranean jurisdictions, comparing Greek law to EU directives.
• A computer scientist working with humanities scholars to trace how machine learning models treat transliterated Greek texts and what that implies for preservation and bias.

You must be fluent in English. Knowledge of modern Greek is preferred and being based in Greece is advantageous; the program explicitly values applicants who can engage with local institutions and conversations. If you live elsewhere but have a strong plan for collaborating with Greek partners, make that collaboration central in your application.

Insider Tips for a Winning Application

The application is compact — and that’s the rub. You get one 1,000-word research proposal, a CV, and a writing sample. Use every element to tell a coherent story. Here’s how to do that well.

1. Treat the 1,000-word proposal like a pitch and a blueprint. Open with a crisp problem statement in one or two sentences: what question will you answer and why does it matter now? Follow with a short paragraph describing your method and underlying theory, then a paragraph outlining a realistic timeline for the year. Close with a brief note on outputs — articles, presentations, an open dataset — and how CHS resources specifically enable that work. Reviewers want precision and feasibility, not grandiose visions.

2. Contextualize your work with local hooks. If your project has ties to Greece — a legal comparison, an archival corpus, interviews with local stakeholders — name those ties early. Explain how being part of CHS will help you access archives, collaborators, or policy-makers. If you’re not Greece-based, show a clear plan for collaboration (letters of support help here).

3. Choose a writing sample that matches style and ambition. The sample should showcase your analytical chops and clarity of writing. If your sample is a technical paper heavy with equations, consider including an accessible piece as well. You have up to 10,000 words; pick something that demonstrates both domain knowledge and ability to speak across disciplines.

4. Use your CV to tell a story, not just list items. Put related publications, conference talks, and relevant teaching under a single heading like “AI Ethics and Related Work.” If you have policy experience, public-facing writing, or multilingual work, make that visible. Short annotations next to publications can help reviewers see relevance at a glance.

5. Get referees who will do more than praise. Because the committee is paying attention to feasibility and the applicant’s capacity to complete the project, ask your referees to comment on your ability to deliver the proposed outputs and to work independently. Give them a one-paragraph summary of your project and a bulleted list of the key claims you want supported.

6. Use Harvard access strategically. In your proposal, mention specific databases, archives, or works that you plan to consult through Harvard’s resources. Saying you’ll “use Harvard resources” is weaker than “I will use Harvard’s [journal collection] and [archive name] to compare X and Y.”

7. Keep language plain and persuasive. Review committees read many proposals. Sentences that move quickly and make one point at a time win.

Taken together, these tips mean you should start early, be ruthless about editing, and align every document to a single narrative of doable, meaningful research.

Application Timeline (Work backwards from Feb 6, 2026)

A realistic schedule will save you from scrambling at the end.

• December – January: Draft and revise your 1,000-word proposal. Circulate to at least two colleagues: one in your field, one with interdisciplinary perspective. Finalize CV and pick your writing sample.
• Late December – mid January: Contact potential referees. Provide them with a short project brief, your CV, and the deadline. Ask whether they can submit a timely letter if you are shortlisted (some systems only require referee contacts initially).
• January: Run a final pass for clarity and word count. Convert all documents to PDF. Name files clearly (e.g., Lastname_Proposal.pdf).
• Early February: Upload materials and check each PDF. Submit at least 48 hours before the deadline to avoid last-minute technical problems.
• February 6, 2026: Final deadline — do not miss it.
• March–April: Anticipate potential interview or follow-up requests. Be ready to provide additional institutional letters or explain timelines.

Start 8–10 weeks before the deadline to have buffer time for feedback and unforeseen delays.

Required Materials (Prepare in advance)

You’ll upload three PDF files and provide contact details for two referees. Prepare these carefully.

• Research proposal (English, ≤1,000 words). Bibliography and references do not count toward the limit. Use headings: Problem, Methods, Timeline, Outputs, Role of CHS.
• Curriculum vitae (English). Highlight relevant publications, talks, teaching, and service in AI ethics or neighboring fields. If you’ve held fellowships or grants, list them with dates.
• Writing sample (English or Greek, ≤10,000 words including bibliography). This should be representative of the work you propose. If your sample is longer, submit a chapter or article that best reflects your methodology and argumentation.
• Contact details for two referees. While the application asks for contact details (not full letters at submission), be sure your referees know the timeline and the main points you’d like them to emphasize.

Technical tips: convert all files to PDF, ensure fonts are embedded, and make sure hyperlinks (if any) work. Name files clearly and logically. If your proposal references specific archives or datasets, attach a one-page appendix as part of the PDF if space permits (not counting toward the 1,000-word limit for the proposal section).

What Makes an Application Stand Out

Winning proposals do three things well: they define a tight, important question; they show how the fellow will complete the project within a year; and they explain why CHS Greece is the right place to do it.

1. A tight, important question. Proposals that try to answer everything often fail. Pick a focused research question that can be addressed through clear methods (textual analysis, interviews, legal comparison, computational experiment). State the core claim you will test or the specific phenomenon you will explain.

2. Feasibility and clear milestones. Break the year into months or blocks and say what you will accomplish in each: literature review, data collection, analysis, drafting, dissemination. Verify you can realistically meet these aims with the stipend and available resources.

3. Interdisciplinary reach. AI ethics sits at an intersection. Show how your project speaks to philosophy, law, social sciences, or technical fields. Explain the audience for your work and how you will reach them (journal submissions, policy briefs, workshops).

4. Evidence of capacity. Publications, conference presentations, or past collaborations signal you can deliver. If you lack publications, emphasize related work, teaching, or policy experience that demonstrates rigor and follow-through.

5. Local engagement. If you plan interviews, archival use, or institutional collaboration in Greece, include preliminary agreements or letters of support where possible. Even tentative contacts signal seriousness.

Common Mistakes to Avoid (and how to fix them)

1. Writing too broadly. Problem: The proposal reads like a manifesto. Fix: Narrow the research question to something answerable in one year and make the methods concrete.

2. Overloading the timeline. Problem: Proposals that promise three book-length outputs in 12 months. Fix: Aim for one substantial output (article or policy brief) and smaller dissemination events (conference, workshop).

3. Choosing an irrelevant sample. Problem: The writing sample doesn’t match the proposal’s style or subject. Fix: Select a sample that shows your analytic approach and ability to write clearly for interdisciplinary audiences.

4. Weak referees. Problem: You list referees who can offer praise but not evidence of capacity. Fix: Choose referees who can speak to your ability to execute the proposed work and who will submit on time.

5. Ignoring institutional fit. Problem: The application fails to explain why CHS Greece matters for your project. Fix: Explicitly name Harvard resources and Greek partners you plan to use and how they affect feasibility.

6. Missing formatting/technical details. Problem: Files are confusingly labeled or exceed word counts. Fix: Follow word limits exactly and label files unambiguously.

Avoid these pitfalls and you’ll increase the odds your application will be read sympathetically rather than skeptically.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Who can apply? A: Applicants with a PhD (or equivalent) who have defended by December 1, 2025. The fellowship is open to any discipline; interdisciplinary proposals are welcome. Early-career postdocs and researchers in non-tenure-track positions will be prioritized.

Q: Does the fellow need to live in Greece? A: Preference is given to applicants based in Greece, but it’s not an absolute requirement. If you’re based elsewhere, show a clear plan for engagement with Greek institutions or explain why remote work still benefits from CHS affiliation.

Q: Can I apply to other CHS fellowships this cycle? A: No. Applicants may not apply to other CHS fellowship programs during the same application cycle.

Q: What language must materials be in? A: Proposal and CV must be in English. Writing samples may be in English or Greek.

Q: Is the $12,000 meant to cover relocation or salary? A: The stipend is modest and designed to support research expenses and give the fellow time to write. It is not a full salary replacement. Plan budget accordingly.

Q: What outputs are expected? A: CHS expects clear scholarly or public-facing outputs: at minimum a substantial research article or a comparable deliverable, plus presentations and possible publication through CHS channels.

Q: Will fellows have teaching obligations? A: The fellowship description focuses on research, presentations, and mentorship. Teaching obligations are not indicated; clarify with CHS if you have questions about duties.

How to Apply / Next Steps

Ready to move forward? Here’s a concrete checklist to get you across the finish line.

1. Draft the 1,000-word proposal using the structure recommended above (Problem, Methods, Timeline, Outputs, Role of CHS).
2. Choose a writing sample that best shows your method and voice (<= 10,000 words).
3. Update your CV to highlight relevant work in AI ethics and related public engagement.
4. Contact two referees now — give them a concise project brief and the deadline.
5. Convert everything to PDF, name files clearly, and upload before February 6, 2026. Submit at least 48 hours early to avoid technical issues.

Ready to apply? Visit the official opportunity page and submit your materials here: https://forms-greece.chs.harvard.edu/fellowship-ai-ethics-application/

If you want, paste your 1,000-word draft here and I’ll help tighten it into a submission-ready form, suggest stronger hooks, and flag places reviewers will focus on.