American Council of Learned Societies Awards 2026 Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowships

Awards Support 50 Early-Career Graduate Students Transcending the Boundaries of Doctoral Research

NEW YORK, April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) is pleased to announce the 2026 Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellows, made possible by the generous support of the Mellon Foundation.

The Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship Program supports doctoral students in the humanities and social sciences as they pursue innovative approaches to dissertation research, including new methodologies, formats, and collaborations with community partners beyond the academy. ACLS launched the program in 2023 to expand and recognize a wider range of research methods, modes, and subjects in dissertation research.

"The 2026 Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellows present some of the most exciting and forward-thinking scholarship happening today in the humanities and social sciences," said Alison Chang, ACLS Senior Program Officer in US Programs. "ACLS is proud to support their scholarship, and we look forward to following their impact in the academy and beyond."

Meet the awardees and learn about their research.

This year's cohort of 50 fellows was selected from a pool of over 1,000 applicants through a rigorous, multi-stage peer review process that drew on the expertise of more than 170 scholars across the country. Each fellow receives an award of up to $52,000, consisting of a $42,000 stipend; up to $8,000 for project-related research, training, professional development, and travel; and a $2,000 stipend to support external mentorship that offers new perspectives on the fellow's project and expands their advising network.

The 2026 awardees will pursue a range of approaches to the dissertation, incorporating trans- and inter-disciplinary research, mixed methodologies, and non-traditional scholarly formats. Their wide-ranging research includes a study of female scribal practices in Medieval Europe; a project that explores the weaponization of sound in the anti-abortion movement in the United States; an analysis of female-centered forms of resistance against ecological and state violence in the Niger Delta; and a multi-sited ethnography of sonic de/militarization in East Asia, incorporating spaces and events where sound intersects with competing ideas around peacebuilding and militarism.

Formed a century ago, the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) is a nonprofit federation of 86 scholarly organizations. As the leading representative of American scholarship in the humanities and social sciences, ACLS upholds the core principle that knowledge is a public good. In supporting its member organizations, ACLS expands the forms, content, and flow of scholarly knowledge, reflecting our commitment to diversity of identity and experience. ACLS collaborates with institutions, associations, and individuals to strengthen the evolving infrastructure for scholarship.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the nation's largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Mellon believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom to be found there. Through its grants, Mellon seeks to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive.

SOURCE American Council of Learned Societies