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The Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry is pleased to open applications for our one-year postdoctoral research fellowships. We invite applications from candidates from any humanistic discipline who are eager to be part of a community of scholars engaged in innovative and interdisciplinary research and conversations around our **2026-27 theme,** **_habitat_** **.**

The Fox Center will appoint up to five postdoctoral fellows for the academic year 2025-26. **Up to three positions are open field and up to two are in the field of poetics.**

Our postdoctoral fellowships in poetics reflect the importance of Emory’s Raymond Danowski Poetry Library (part of the Stuart A. Rose Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Book Library) as a center for research in poetry. We take a broad view of poetics as encompassing the study of form and/or practice in any genre.

All postdoctoral fellows participate in a weekly interdisciplinary seminar, presenting their research at one of these meetings, and teach one undergraduate seminar of their own design in the College of Arts and Sciences. They also collaborate in the planning of Fox Center programming pertaining to the theme and engage in the Center’s events.

**Fellowships are for a period of ten months, August 1, 2026 – May 31, 2027, and include a stipend of $60,000, a research budget of $2,000, and a one-time additional payment of $2,000** to defray the costs associated with moving to Atlanta. Fellows are eligible for a wide range of competitive benefits, including dental and vision care. All Postdoctoral Fellows are required to be in residence for the term of the fellowship.

**The application deadline for applicants to submit their materials is December 8, 2025, at 11.59 PM ET.** The deadline for receipt of letters of recommendation is December 12, 2025, at 11.59 PM ET.

_habitat_

The concept of _habitat_ connotes both a physical place for living and the necessary conditions for thriving. Heidegger famously argued that to be human is to dwell. But what does it mean to dwell amidst environmental precarity, political displacement, and technological transformation? How have human relationships with the places we inhabit been experienced, negotiated, and imagined across different periods and geographies? How have we made sense of our surroundings and, in turn, formed our notions of home?

Human activity has long left its marks on our world—from the deforestation of medieval Europe to the sweeping planetary impacts of industrialization. At the same time, floods, wildfires, and earthquakes remind us that we are subject to forces beyond our control. As dwellers on Earth, we live not only among built structures and political borders, but also within multispecies and geological systems whose scales of time and complexity often exceed our comprehension. Poet Joy Harjo implores us to “remember the earth whose skin you are.” Yet while we are imbricated in these systems, we are also storytellers and meaning-makers, describing, contesting, and reimagining the conditions of our existence.

We anticipate that our Fellows will approach the concept of _habitat_ through diverse lenses on the human experience, including, but not limited to, environmental humanities, science and technology studies, Indigenous and postcolonial studies, and urban studies. Projects may examine moments of rupture and reconfiguration, ecological interdependence, forced migration, multispecies coexistence, or the politics of shelter and space in industrial and post-industrial environments. This year’s theme invites inquiry into how we dwell—and what it might mean to dwell well—in a shared and uncertain world.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Emory University is a leading research university that fosters excellence and attracts world-class talent to innovate today and prepare leaders for the future. We welcome candidates who can contribute to the diversity and excellence of our academic community.

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