Loeb Fellowship — Fellowship

The Loeb Fellowship, run by the Harvard Graduate School of Design, brings a small cohort of accomplished mid-career practitioners to Cambridge, Massachusetts for a full academic year of independent study and reflection. Fellows come from across the fields that shape cities and landscapes — architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, public art, journalism, development, policy and civic leadership — and design their own year of learning across Harvard and MIT.

It is explicitly not an academic sabbatical or an artist residency; the aim is to renew leaders whose work advances positive social and environmental outcomes. Roughly 9 or 10 fellows are selected each year.

Benefits & funding

Annual stipend of $57,500 (taxable income).
No cost to audit regular classes at Harvard College, any of the 11 Harvard graduate schools, and MIT (minimum one GSD course per semester).
Housing offered for fellows and families relocating from outside the Boston/Cambridge area (individual or shared, modestly furnished, near the GSD).
Travel grant covering roughly one economy round-trip home per semester (taxable).
Weekly seminars and dinners with visiting practitioners; two study tours (fall in North America, spring international); a lifelong alumni network.
Not covered: health insurance and child-care costs.

Eligibility

Mid-career practitioners with a minimum of 5–10 years of professional experience (fellows average about 42 years old).
Open to fields shaping the built and natural environment: urban design, architecture, landscape architecture, planning, public art, journalism, real-estate development, policy, community development and civic leadership.
No completed higher-education degree is required.
Open to applicants of any nationality; international fellows must be able to obtain a J-1 visa at the time of selection.
Applicants must step away from significant employment and refrain from professional work during the fellowship year, except as approved by the curator.

Can you apply?

Here's who can apply

Decoded from the official rules. A free account checks them against your passport, degree and age in seconds.

Experience required
≥ 5 yrs

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Application process

1
Submit the online application through SlideRoom, including a résumé with dated work history and responses to the program’s questions.
2
Arrange three professional letters of recommendation, due by the same deadline as the application.
3
Optionally add up to five supplemental documents illustrating your work.
4
A selection committee shortlists about 20 applicants by the end of February; shortlisted candidates complete up to three interviews, and 9 or 10 fellows are chosen by mid-April.

Program timeline

Application deadline for the 2026–27 cohort (now closed).
Jan 5, 2026
Approximately 20 applicants shortlisted.
End of February
Final cohort of 9 or 10 fellows selected.
Mid-April
Fellowship year begins in Cambridge.
Mid-August
August 2026
Deadline for the 2027–28 cycle to be announced.
Fellowship year concludes at commencement.
Late May / June