Getty Foundation Pre- and Postdoctoral Fellowships

Supporting early-career scholars from around the world to make substantial and original contributions to the field of art history.

Getty Pre- and Postdoctoral Fellowships are intended for emerging researchers to complete work on projects related to the Scholars Program’s annual theme. While in residence, fellows may pursue research projects, complete dissertations, or expand dissertations for publication. There are dedicated grants for fellows who are expanding critical inquiry of African American art and its frameworks as part of the Getty’s African American Art History Initiative (AAAHI). All recipients are invited to make use of Getty Research Institute (GRI) collections, join in weekly lectures, and participate in intellectual life at Getty. Predoctoral Fellows may be in residence at the Getty Center, while Postdoctoral Fellows may be in residence at the Getty Center or Getty Villa.

Background

Getty Scholars Program

Getty Pre- and Postdoctoral Fellowships are part of the Getty Scholars Program so that a mix of senior scholars and junior fellows compose the cohort. The cohort's research projects are focused on an annual theme. Since 1985, the program has hosted around 1,300 scholars from over fifty countries to conduct research on art history and visual studies while residing in Los Angeles. Selected projects have spanned geographical regions and time periods, from ancient to contemporary eras. The three main categories of grants are:

1. Scholar Grants for established researchers and professionals who have held PhDs for at least 5 years and/or possess strong records of publication and professional activity, at the Getty Center or Getty Villa. 
2. Postdoctoral Fellowships for recently granted PhDs at the Getty Center or Getty Villa
3. Predoctoral Fellowships for PhD candidates at the Getty Center

This page provides information specific to Pre- and Postdoctoral Fellowships.

Applicants for 2025–2026 

Application Timeline

• Applications for 2025–2026 year grants will open July 1, 2024. The deadline to apply is October 1, 2024 by 5:00 p.m. (PDT).

• Annual Theme: Repair

  For 2025-2026, Getty invites scholars and arts professionals to apply for a residential fellowship on the topic of repair, a theme that bridges time periods, world geographies, and professional practices. Situated between the forces of creation and destruction, the act of repair can be deeply transformative, with the potential to heal, alter, and renew the material environment. Scholars are asked to think critically about repair, questioning interpretive assessments about the ideal state of any object or site, in addition to querying what constitutes damage or whether to repair the ruined or the broken. Beyond such physical interventions, art and sites of commemoration are often mobilized to heal a fractured social fabric. Indeed, art itself may be offered as reparation to address past wrongs or to recuperate loss. The issue of repair has deep bearing for the arts, conceived in the broadest sense, and especially for institutions that aim to preserve and share global cultural heritage. 

  Guiding Questions

  • Although often considered an ameliorative process, what are the limitations of repair? Which questions or considerations emerge when efforts to repair fail or fall short?
  • How might the notion of repair lend itself to transdisciplinary and/or collaborative methods that expand understudied or precarious practices in art history or open onto new
  • Acts of repair—material, infrastructural, environmental, and social—require intensive efforts on the part of workers in many fields. How do we account for human labor and agency in the act of repair?
  • Efforts to repair or rehabilitate art and cultural heritage have catalyzed debate and contention among scholars, conservators, archaeologists, and the public. What can we learn from these discussions?
  • How can the concept of repair help us think in new ways about the networked relations between living things and their environments? 
  • How can the concept of repair be conceptualized in order to make way for new forms and the possibility of radical alteration?

African American Art History Initiative (AAAHI) Fellowships

Under the umbrella of the annual theme, dedicated grants are available via the African American Art History Initiative (AAAHI). This residential program, which welcomed its first cohort of scholars in fall 2021, provides financial support and housing to scholars who are expanding critical inquiry of African American art and its frameworks. AAAHI invites scholars working on topics that align with the annual theme. As part of the scholar year cohort, AAAHI scholars have opportunities to present their research and receive feedback from an interdisciplinary group of peers. AAAHI scholars can also expect additional programming with Getty staff supporting the study of African American art. 

We invite applications from scholars who focus on African American art and visual culture in all time periods and media and in a broad range of theoretical and methodological traditions. Projects that propose engagement with Getty’s growing collections of archival and primary source material related to African American art history are welcome. However, relevance to Getty holdings is not a project requirement. Applicants should indicate in their project proposal how their project would align with AAAHI's aim to make African American art history more visible to the public and accessible to the scholarly community worldwide.

There will be a virtual information session for interested AAAHI applicants in September 2024. More information will be forthcoming.

Annual Theme: For postdoctoral scholars interested in being in residence at the Getty Villa, see the Getty Scholars Program at the Villa page for information about their theme. Postdoctoral applicants for that program will still apply via the Pre- and Postdoctoral Fellowship application form (see “How To Apply” below).

Grant Details

The following provides information about Pre- and Postdoctoral Fellowships. Visit the Getty Scholars Program or Getty Scholars Program at the Villa pages for details about grants for established researchers and professionals.

Eligibility

Applications for Pre- and Postdoctoral Fellowships are welcome from researchers of all nationalities who work in the arts, humanities, or social sciences.

Current Getty staff and members of their immediate family are not eligible for Pre- and Postdoctoral Fellowships.

Predoctoral Fellowship applicants must have advanced to candidacy by the application deadline and should expect to complete their dissertations during the fellowship period.

Applicants who received their doctoral degree before September 1, 2021 should apply for a Scholar Grant at the Getty Center or Getty Villa.

After a waiting period of six years, previous Getty Residential Grant recipients in any category are eligible to reapply for another grant in whichever category they are eligible for and interested in. See FAQsfor more information.

Terms

Pre- and Postdoctoral Fellows are in residence for nine months from late September to late June. Predoctoral fellows may be in residence at the Getty Center, while Postdoctoral fellows may be in residence at the Getty Center or Getty Villa.

• Getty Predoctoral Fellowship recipients receive a stipend of $30,000.
• Getty Postdoctoral Fellowship recipients receive a stipend of $35,000.

See the overview of the Getty Residential Scholar and Fellow Program for further details about stipends, housing, healthcare, and more.

Application Process

How to Apply

Applicants need to complete and submit the online Pre- and Postdoctoral Fellowship application form by the deadline, which requires the following attachments: 

1. Project Proposal (not to exceed five pages, typed and double-spaced): Must include a description of the applicant's proposed plan of study. The description should indicate how the project addresses the annual theme and, if applicable, how it would benefit from the resources at Getty, including its library and collections. However, relevance to Getty holdings is not a project requirement.

Applicants for AAAHI grants should additionally describe how their projects will generate new knowledge in the field of African American art history.

1. Selected Bibliography
2. Doctoral Dissertation Plan or Abstract
3. Curriculum Vitae
4. Writing Sample
5. Confirmation letter of degree conferral or program standing
6. Two Letters of Recommendation: The application will prompt you to request two confidential letters of recommendation through the system. After providing the names and emails of your references, a link will be sent to them automatically that will allow them to upload their confidential recommendations. Recommenders should attach a scanned original letter to the email. Once you request this information, you will be able to monitor your account to confirm that the letters have been submitted.

Decision Notification

Applicants will be notified of their application outcome approximately six months after the deadline.

Contact

Find answers to the most common questions about residential grant opportunities at Getty.

Still have questions? Send inquires to researchgrants@getty.edu.