von der Heyden Global Fellowship Application 2025-26

von der Heyden Global Fellowship (vdH Fellows)

The von der Heyden Global Fellowship (vdH Fellows) offers current advanced Duke PhD students (post-prelim and post-field work completed) whose dissertations are situated in international or regional studies and make an important contribution to advancing understanding of racial, social and equitable justice. This fellowship offers full, twelve-month financial support, a cohort experience and professional development opportunities.

The inspiration for this fellowship lies in the work of John Hope Franklin, particularly his pursuit of justice through scholarship and public engagement. Together with a cohort of researchers bringing insights from different world regions and disciplinary perspectives, fellows will consider the structural barriers to global justice—including legacies of colonialism, capitalism, and globalization—and pathways to overcome these barriers—engaging questions of what we owe one another, redistribution, participation, empowerment, and social transformation, among other themes.

Fellows will receive:

• Inclusion in a cohort with like-minded, transdisciplinary students who will share insights across regions around justice and equity.
• Professional development opportunities including:
  • Opportunities to share work and research with mixed (community and academic) audiences 
  • Collectively organizing and hosting a conference at Duke
  • Opportunity to invite scholars to present their work at Duke and partner with an administrator to learn processes for success
• Dedicated office space in the John Hope Franklin Center
• Monetary support for scholarly journal publication
• Opportunities for meaningful engagement and service in the local community

Funding support will commence June 1, 2025 for summer support.

The application cycle will open October 1 and close November 15, 2025. Fellowship awardees will be notified by mid-December with acceptance or decline by early January 2025.

Cohorts will be selected so that different countries and world regions will be represented to form and inform a truly global discussion that will tie up with considerations of local injustices and racism. vdH Fellows awards up to six (6) fellowships for a full academic year, starting in June 2025 and ending in May 2026. To be eligible, applicants must have completed field work and be post-prelim.

To Apply

1. Submit an application (via apply here button below).
2. Request two letters of recommendation to be sent by e-mail to globalfellows@duke.edu. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that all letters of recommendation are received. One recommendation must come from the student’s dissertation advisor. vdH Fellows will not request letters of recommendation from advisers if they are missing from the application file.
3. All documents (this application and 2 references) must be received by vdH Fellows by November 15, 2025.