Types of Fellowships
Applicants come from diverse backgrounds and nationalities and vary widely in their perspectives and training. Each year, The Met cultivates a close-knit community of scholars whose individual interests collectively illuminate the Museum's collection of artworks spanning 5,000 years of human creativity. Exploring new avenues of research in the history of art and visual culture, education, public practice, and critical theory, fellows expand, challenge, and actively redefine the very limits and purview of these disciplines by introducing fresh ideas drawn from philosophy, anthropology, museum studies, historiography, conservation, and the material sciences.
Applicants submit a specific, independent research project that makes use of the Museum's collection and resources. Accepted fellows spend the majority of their time working on their proposed project.
Many fellows will have an opportunity to assist the hosting curatorial departments with projects that complement their approved proposal. Not all departments request this assistance.
Note: There are several subcategories of fellowships included within the Fellowship in History of Art and Visual Culture. The majority of History of Art and Visual Culture applicants need not specify the endowed awards for which they would like to be considered, as all determinations are made by the Museum’s Grants Committee. The only exception to this is the Theodore Rousseau Fellowship and the Slifka Foundation Interdisciplinary Fellowship. Applicants will be asked to specify if they are applying for these two fellowships on the application. Descriptions of these two fellowships are as follows:
- Theodore Rousseau Fellowships support 12 months of travel abroad to conduct research related to paintings collections in Europe.
- Slifka Foundation Interdisciplinary Fellowships combine art historical research with training in the technical investigation of The Met collection. Applicants must apply to work on a specific project sponsored by the Museum.
The following project is available for the 2025–2026 Slifka Foundation Interdisciplinary Fellowship:
Medieval Sculpture at The Met
The Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters, in collaboration with the Departments of Objects Conservation and Scientific Research, invites applications from scholars of late medieval sculpture (ca. 1350–1550) to contribute to a planned refresh of the permanent collection galleries at The Met Fifth Avenue. These spaces, prominently featuring monumental sculptures from western Europe, have remained largely unchanged for over fifty years, foregrounding a vision of Christian art as stylistically beautiful but ultimately abstract in meaning. In the new installation, we seek to reanimate the art of the late Middle Ages through the lens of lived experience, with some focus on materials and workshops.
While many works of sculpture will be studied and treated as part of the gallery refresh, one of the most ambitious comprises two life-sized tableaux from the Château de Biron, France. Extraordinarily powerful in scale and complexity, these early sixteenth-century sculptures originally sat at eye level and audaciously incorporated figures of their patrons as active participants in biblical events. The ensemble—which retains significant polychromy—will be the focus of an extensive conservation treatment and technical study. Art historical research on its original architectural context and related artworks would add a much-needed dimension to this undertaking. While this project would be a significant component of the fellowship year, there would also be opportunities for similar art historical work on a selection of additional sculptures that are closely related to the fellow’s own area of expertise.
Working to support the technical and scientific analysis performed by conservators and scientists, the fellow will conduct research in the relevant archives and libraries, updating scholarship on the collection while also developing labels, catalogue entries, and other didactic materials connecting the sculptures to the themes of the reinstallation. The ideal candidate will have a working knowledge of French and at least one additional European language, a research focus in late medieval or early modern sculpture, some experience with databases, and a commitment to working closely with original objects.
Slifka fellows are permitted time to work on their doctoral dissertations in addition to their fellowship project.
Fellowship Period
The fellowship period is September 1 through August 31. All History of Art and Visual Culture fellowships must take place within this period. All fellows, with the one exception of Theodore Rousseau Fellows, must be in residence at The Met for the entirety of their 12-month fellowship period.
Eligibility
PhD candidates through senior post-doctoral scholars are eligible to apply. Junior fellowships are awarded to those applicants who are working on their PhD at the time that they submit their application. Senior fellowships are awarded to those who hold a PhD on the date of application submission and/or are well-established scholars.
We encourage applications from those with backgrounds in fields including, but not limited to, the history of art and architecture, critical theory, media studies, anthropology and archaeology, linguistics and philology, literature, linguistics, theology and religious studies, and musicology.
Requirements vary depending on the fellowship.
Funding
The number of fellowships awarded depends on funds and resources available. Junior fellows receive a stipend of $47,000. Senior fellows receive a stipend of $57,000. Both junior and senior fellows also receive an additional $6,000 for research travel (maximum of six weeks). Fellows also receive an additional monthly payment to offset the cost of health insurance.
There are two types of Conservation and Scientific Research fellowships: junior and senior. Junior fellows work closely with Met staff to receive training in scientific research and conservation practices. Senior fellows work on a specific research project that makes use of the Museum's collection and/or resources.
Learn more about the Conservation and Scientific Research departments, including departmental research interests, staff, and publications. We also welcome applications for time-based media projects in the Department of Photograph Conservation.
See a list of the Department of Scientific Research's primary areas of research interest.
Fellowship Period
The fellowship period is September 1 through August 31. All fellowships must take place within this period. All fellows must be in residence at The Met for the entirety of their 12-month fellowship period.
Eligibility
Recent master's graduates, PhD candidates, postdoctoral scholars, and senior scientists and researchers are eligible to apply.
Junior fellows are those applicants who have recently completed graduate-level training. Senior fellows are well-established professionals with at least eight years of experience in the field and a proven publication record, or those who have their PhD in hand by the application deadline date.
We encourage applications from those with a background in, but not limited to, conservation, conservation science, chemistry/physical chemistry, botany, and earth sciences/geology.
Funding
Junior fellows receive a stipend of $47,000. Senior fellows receive a stipend of $57,000. Both junior and senior fellows also receive an additional $6,000 for travel (maximum of six weeks). Fellows also receive an additional monthly payment to offset the cost of health insurance.
Founded in 2013, The Leonard A. Lauder Research Center for Modern Art is the only such center for scholarship on modern art located in an encyclopedic museum. By ‘modern art’ we mean architecture, drawing, design (including exhibition, graphic, interior, and stage design), film, painting, performance, photography, and sculpture in the period from the last third of the nineteenth century through to the 1960s, from any country, region, or culture. Each year, The Met offers three fellowships in the Research Center: a two-year position for a predoctoral candidate who is working on a dissertation; a postdoctoral fellowship for a qualified scholar at an early career stage, which may be one or two years in duration; and a midcareer fellowship for an established scholar with publication record commensurate with their career stage. Fellowships in The Leonard A. Lauder Research Center for Modern Art offer an exceptional opportunity for scholars of modernism to conduct focused research on an independent project, while contributing to the activities and programs of the Research Center. Recent fellowships have supported the work of scholars focused on such topics as, the Argentine avant-garde, Czech Modernism, Dada, Brazilian modern art, interwar Dutch realisms, Romanian avant-gardes, Russian Constructivism, Photography and criminology, and aspects of Cubism. Find out more about the ;Research Center.
Fellowship Period
All Leonard A. Lauder Fellows must be in residence at The Met during the fellowship period.
Predoctoral fellowships are for 24 months and must take place between September 1, 2025, and August 31, 2027.
Postdoctoral fellowships may be 12 or 24 months in duration and must take place between September 1, 2025, and (depending on the length of the fellowship) August 31, 2026, or August 31, 2027.
Midcareer fellowships are for 12 months and must take place between September 1, 2025, and August 31, 2026.
Funding
The stipend amount for one year is $50,000 for predoctoral fellows, $60,000 for postdoctoral fellows, and $70,000 for midcareer fellows.
During the fellowship period and at the Museum's discretion, Leonard A. Lauder Fellows receive a travel stipend of $6,000.
Unique among Met fellowships, the purpose of this 12-month position in the Department of European Paintings is to train students and emerging museum professionals in the practice of cataloguing works of art, including researching and compiling provenance information, exhibition histories, and bibliographic references, as well as documenting critical opinions from literature. The position also provides training in The Museum System (TMS) database, which is used throughout the museum world. These skills are central to the mission of all museums to inform and educate scholars and the general public.
The fellow participates in a range of activities over the yearlong period, typically focusing on a specific portion of the collection, and works closely with curators, conservators, and cataloguers under the direction of the Senior Collections Cataloguer. In consultation with European Paintings colleagues, the fellow has opportunities to develop areas of personal interest within the closely linked fields of collections cataloguing and art history. At the discretion of the department head, the fellow may also undertake travel related to research of objects in the European Paintings collection.
Fellowship Period
The fellowship period is September 1 through August 31. All fellowships must take place within this period. All fellows must be in residence at The Met for the entirety of their 12-month fellowship period.
Eligibility
Eligible candidates should either have completed their MA or be PhD candidates. A background in cataloging is helpful but not required. Basic language skills pertaining to the area in which the fellow plans to work are essential.
Funding
The fellow receives:
- An annual salary of $47,000
- Benefits currently offered to full-time non-exempt employees of the Museum such as health insurance (optional)
- A stipend of up to $2,000, pending approval, for travel or projects directly related to collections research
The Eugene V. Thaw Fellow for Collections Cataloguing is a temporary full-time non-exempt employee of The Met.
This one-year fellowship is part of the Museum's History of Art and Visual Culture Fellowship program and is intended for the pursuit and/or completion of an independent research project. The fellowship encourages cross-departmental projects that explore connections between various cultures and collections in the Museum and that go beyond traditional boundaries, bridging the visual arts and other disciplines in the humanities, social sciences, performing arts, and fine arts. Fellows may explore connections between public practice, education, and the humanities, relating but not limited to curriculum development, gallery teaching, and interpretation. The project should relate to and make use of the Museum's resources, including its collections, libraries, archives, and programs.
Fellowship applications integrating independent research projects and artistic practice are welcome. However, since the Museum has a separate program for artist residencies, the Interdisciplinary Fellowship is not intended to culminate in an exhibition, installation, or public program, nor can the Museum provide studio space for fellows.
The fellow will work with one or more supervisors and mentors across department areas and will have the opportunity to work closely with other members of the professional staff and as part of the larger community of fellows at The Met. The fellow is invited to participate in the annual Research Out Loud: Met Fellows Present to share research results.
We strongly encourage applications from individuals who are members of groups or from disciplines that have been historically underrepresented in the museum field.
Applicants should demonstrate the following:
- Excellent achievement and potential for future achievement
- Realistic project goals that will be accomplished within the fellowship period
- Project goals that make innovative or original use of the Museum's collection and resources or engage with its institutional practices, history, and culture, with particular reference to crossing traditional disciplinary boundaries
- Ability to work collaboratively in a team environment
- Excellent communication and organizational skills
Fellowship Period
The fellowship period is September 1, 2025 through August 31, 2026. All fellowships must take place within this period. All fellows must be in residence at The Met for the entirety of their 12-month fellowship period.
Eligibility
The fellowship is open to candidates holding either an MA or MFA, or currently pursuing or holding a PhD in the arts, humanities, or social sciences. Eligible fields may include but are not limited to anthropology, archaeology, education, history, literature, medicine, philosophy, psychology, political science, ethnic studies, sociology, gender studies, religion, film studies, and performance (music, dance, theater, etc.).
Funding
Junior fellows receive a stipend of $47,000. Senior fellows receive a stipend of $57,000. Both junior and senior fellows also receive up to an additional $6,000 for travel (maximum of six weeks). Fellows also receive an additional monthly payment to offset the cost of health insurance.