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FAQs
Last updated June 2009
Be sure to follow our instructions and use our prescribed application methods and forms. The APS has assisted thousands of scholars in the past and encourages all eligible current candidates to apply for our grants and fellowships. We have revised our application forms and submission procedures to make them as simple and as clear as possible, but we do require that applicants and referees use these forms and procedures.
Changes and Special Features
- Franklin Research Grants, Sabbatical Fellowships in the Humanities and Social Sciences, and Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research Grants
Applications may now be submitted through our online application portal. See links to the portal on the individual program pages. The Library Resident Research Fellowships may be added to this list.
- APS/British Academy Fellowship for Research in London
In collaboration with the British Academy, the APS offers an exchange post-doctoral fellowship for up to three months’ research in the archives and libraries of London during 2010. This award includes travel expenses between the United States and United Kingdom paid by the APS and a monthly subsistence of £1,350 paid by the British Academy. Candidates should use the Franklin application form, specifying that they are asking for the British Academy Fellowship, and apply by October 1; applicants not selected for the British Academy Fellowship will be considered for a Franklin Research Grant.
- Sabbatical Fellowships in the Humanities and Social Sciences
The Society’s program of sabbatical fellowships will conclude with the applications accepted for the October 15, 2009, deadline. We are very pleased that, by the close of the program, we will have awarded more than 220 fellowships in a 12-year period. With the continued support of the Mellon Foundation, the APS will then make changes in its program of grants and fellowships to best serve the needs of the greatest number of scholars. Information will be posted at this website as it becomes available.
Scope and Purpose of Programs
Since 1933 the American Philosophical Society has awarded research grants to more than 15,000 scholars. In 2008–2009 the Society awarded more than $1.2 million to over 170 scholars, and we expect to continue, if not exceed, this level of support in 2009–2010. We maintain seven grant or fellowship programs in a wide range of fields. Our Franklin, Lewis and Clark, Lewis and Clark Astrobiology, Library Fellowship, and Phillips programs award small grants ($1,000 to $6,000) for modest research purposes. Our Daland and Sabbatical Fellowship programs award much larger amounts ($30,000 to $40,000) in highly selective competitions.
Awards are made for non-commercial research only. The Society makes no grants for academic study or classroom presentation, for travel to conferences, for non-scholarly projects, for assistance with translation, or for the preparation of materials for use by students. The Society does not pay overhead or indirect costs to any institution or costs of publication.
Who Is Eligible?
Applicants may be residents of the United States or American citizens resident abroad. Foreign nationals are eligible to apply for projects to be carried out in the United States. Grants are made to individuals. Institutions are not eligible to apply.
Deadlines
The deadlines for the following programs are RECEIPT deadlines for all materials, including letters of support. If the posted deadline falls on a weekend or a holiday, the deadline is the following business day.
- Daland Fellowships
- September 1; notification in January
- Franklin Research Grants
- October 1 and December 1; notifications in February and April
- Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research
- February 15; notification in May
- Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology
- February 1; notification in May
- Library Resident Fellowships
- March 1; notification in May
- Phillips Fund Grants
- March 1; notification in May
- Sabbatical Fellowships
- October 15; notification in March
Contact Information
Questions concerning the DALAND, FRANKLIN, JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN, LEWIS AND CLARK, PHILLIPS, and SABBATICAL
programs should be directed to Linda Musumeci, Research Administrator, at LMusumeci AT amphilsoc DOT org or 215-440-3429.
Questions concerning the LIBRARY RESIDENT Research Fellowships should be directed to libfellows AT amphilsoc DOT org or 215-440-3443.
Online and Electronic Transmission
Submission of applications through our online portal is required for the Franklin Research Grants, the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research, the Sabbatical Fellowships. Electronic submission is encouraged for the Phillips Fund Grants. The method of submission for the Library Resident Research Fellowships is being determined; please check back for an update.
Completed forms and letters of support for the Library Resident Research Fellowships and Phillips Fund programs should be attached to an email. Applications should be submitted to applications AT amphilsoc DOT org and letters to lettersofsupport AT amphilsoc DOT org. Attached documents must be compatible with Microsoft Word for Windows software. Our system does not always receive mac, jpeg, tiff, rtf, and dat files.
Tax Information
Grants and fellowships are taxable income, but the Society is not required to report payments. It is recommended that grant and fellowship recipients discuss their reporting obligations with their tax advisors.
Information about Individual Programs
Click on the name of the program for complete information, including how to apply.
For patient-oriented research in internal medicine, neurology, pediatrics, psychiatry, and surgery.
Eligibility
Candidates are expected to have held the M.D. or M.D./Ph.D. degree for less than eight years. The fellowship is intended to be the first post-clinical fellowship; but each case will be decided on its merits. Preference is given to candidates who have had not more than two years of post-doctoral training. Applicants must expect to perform their research at an institution in the United States, under the supervision of a scientific advisor. Foreign nationals must provide assurance that direct contact with patients will be authorized.
Stipend
$40,000 for the first year, and $40,000 for the second year.
This is a program of small grants to scholars intended to support the cost of research leading to publication in all areas of knowledge. The Franklin program is particularly designed to help meet the cost of travel to libraries and archives for research purposes; the purchase of microfilm, photocopies or equivalent research materials; the costs associated with fieldwork; or laboratory research expenses.
Eligibility
Applicants are expected to have a doctorate or to have published work of doctoral character and quality. Ph.D. candidates are not eligible, but the Society is especially interested in supporting the work of young scholars who have recently received the doctorate.
Award
From $1,000 to $6,000.
The Lewis and Clark encourages exploratory field studies for the collection of specimens and data and to provide the imaginative stimulus that accompanies direct observation. Applications are invited from disciplines with a large dependence on field studies, such as archeology, anthropology, astrobiology and space science, biology, ecology, geography, geology, linguistics, and paleontology, but grants will not be restricted to these fields.
Eligibility
Grants will be available to doctoral students who wish to participate in field studies for their dissertations or for other purposes. Undergraduates, master’s candidates, and postdoctoral fellows are not eligible.
Award
Grants will depend on travel costs but will ordinarily be in the range of several hundred dollars to about $5,000.
The American Philosophical Society and the NASA Astrobiology Institute have partnered to promote the continued exploration of the world around us through a new program of research grants in support of astrobiological field studies undertaken by graduate students and by postdoctoral and junior scientists and scholars.
Eligibility
Grants will be available to graduate students, post-doctoral students, and junior scientists who wish to participate in field studies for their theses or for other purposes. Undergraduates are not eligible.
Award
Grants will depend on travel costs but will ordinarily be in the range of several hundred dollars to about $5,000.
The Library Resident Research fellowships support research in the Society 's collections.
Eligibility
Applicants must demonstrate a need to work in the Society’s collections for a minimum of one month and a maximum of three months. Applicants in any relevant field of scholarship may apply. Candidates whose normal place of residence is farther away than a 75-mile radius of Philadelphia will be given some preference. Applicants do not need to hold the doctorate, although Ph.D. candidates must have passed their preliminary examinations.
Stipend
$2,000 per month.
For research in Native American linguistics and ethnohistory, focusing on the continental United States and Canada. Given for a maximum of one year from date of award to cover travel, tapes, and consultants' fees.
Eligibility
Applicants may be graduate students pursuing either a master’s or a doctoral degree; postdoctoral applicants are also eligible.
Award
From $1,000 to $3,500.
This program is open to mid-career faculty of universities and 4-year colleges in the United States who have been granted a sabbatical/research year but for whom financial support from the home institution is available for only part of the year. Candidates must not have had a financially supported leave at any time subsequent to September 1, 2007. The doctoral degree must have been conferred no later than 2002 and no earlier than 1989.
Stipend
$30,000 to $40,000 for the second half of an awarded sabbatical year