The Program supports anthropologists, economists, political scientists, sociologists, and all scholars in germane social science and cultural studies fields, including historians working on the period since the mid-19th century. Description Fellowships are awarded for doctoral dissertation field research as well as postdoctoral research leading to completion of a monograph. The Program offers a stimulating academic environment that integrates research opportunities with intellectual and cultural interaction. An essential part of the Program is the biweekly seminar, which brings together the North American fellows and German scholars.
Fellows have access to faculty members and to Berlin's broader intellectual community.
Funds from the Volkswagen Stiftung created the Program in 1986. Since 1991, the Land Berlin has funded this Program at the Free University. The German Marshall Fund of the United States supports the Program's North American promotion and transatlantic selection process. The program accepts applications from U.S. and Canadian nationals or permanent residents who are full-time graduate students in the social sciences and humanities and who have completed all coursework required for the Ph.D. Also eligible are U.S. and Canadian Ph.D.s who have received their doctorates within the past two calendar years. Awards provide between nine and twelve months of research support at the Free University of Berlin.