Undergraduate Fellowships

The Undergraduate Fellowship program seeks to provide students with the opportunity to engage in an informed analysis of values in their own areas of inquiry that will lead to the completion of a senior thesis. In pursuit of this goal, our Undergraduate Fellows complete an ethics seminar with the director of the program, participate in an ongoing ethics research workshop, and attend lectures and dinners hosted by the Center. In addition, Undergraduate Fellows are offered a wide range of opportunities to interact with faculty, fellows, and graduate students affiliated with the Center.

The Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics (ELSCE) Undergraduate Fellowship Program welcomes applications from Harvard College sophomores and juniors from any concentration who are pursuing research and writing with an ethics dimension, and who wish to develop their talents in modes of inquiry that are essential to tackling critical moral issues in public life. 

Students in the fall of their sophomore or junior year are invited to apply. Successful applicants will normally have taken at least two courses in ethics, moral or political philosophy, or political theory.

Spring Semester 2027:  

Undergraduate Fellows will enroll in the Undergraduate Ethics Fellowship Seminar with Professor Arthur Applbaum, which will meet on Wednesdays from 12 to 2:45 pm. Undergraduate Fellows also will attend the annual Lester Kissel Lecture and Workshop and at least one other lecture sponsored by the Center.  

Fall Semesters, Junior and Senior Years:  

To help prepare for their senior theses, Undergraduate Fellows will participate in a semester-long weekly research workshop, Government 95, in the fall of each year that they remain at Harvard after joining the Fellowship. The research workshop will include discussions of assigned readings, presentations of the students’ own work, and reflections on the Center’s distinguished lecture series. The workshop's day and time will be set closer to the start of the semester.  

Spring Semester, Senior Year:  

Undergraduate Fellows will submit to their respective departments a senior thesis on an approved topic that has a normative dimension and share a final electronic copy with the Center.  

Undergraduate Fellows receive a one-time book fund of $500 and may apply for summer funding through the Lester Kissel Grants in Practical Ethics. These grants support research and writing that contribute to the understanding of practical ethics and normally will be awarded in the summer before the student’s senior year.

How to Apply for a fellowship beginning in the Spring of 2027: 

1. Complete and submit the online application form.  

2. As part of this web application form, upload .doc, .docx, or .pdf versions of the following documents:  

• One-page statement describing your interest in ethics and purpose in applying for the fellowship program  
• Paper or writing sample from a course in ethics, philosophy, or political theory  
• Curriculum Vitae   
• Unofficial transcript