Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in Modeling Interdisciplinary Inquiry

The Mellon Foundation and Washington University in St. Louis are proud to support the two-year Modeling Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Fellowship in the humanities and social sciences each year. The program is endowed by the Mellon Foundation and is designed to encourage interdisciplinary scholarship and teaching across the humanities and interpretive social sciences.

About the program

Washington University in St. Louis announces the 25th year of Modeling Interdisciplinary Inquiry, a postdoctoral fellowship program endowed by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and designed to encourage interdisciplinary scholarship and teaching across the humanities and interpretive social sciences. We invite applications from recent PhDs, DPhils or D.F.A.s (with degree in hand by June 30, 2026, and no earlier than June 30, 2023) who have not previously held a research-oriented postdoctoral fellowship. This fellowship program is housed in WashU’s Center for the Humanities. This year we are recruiting one fellow. We are interested in interdisciplinary scholars whose research employs historical methods and approaches as an integral part of their interdisciplinary research.

In mid-August 2026 the newly selected fellow will join the interdisciplinary community at the Center for the Humanities. Each fellowship is anticipated to run for two academic years. Postdoctoral fellows pursue their own continuing research in association with a senior faculty mentor at WashU. During the two years of their fellowship, they will teach two courses. Fellows are expected to remain in residence during all semesters of their appointment.

Modeling Interdisciplinary Inquiry

Stephanie Kirk, director of the Center for the Humanities and professor of Hispanic studies in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, is the director of the Modeling Interdisciplinary Inquiry Postdoctoral Fellowship program.

Stephanie Kirk

Stephanie Kirk

Director of the Center for the Humanities

Professor Kirk's main teaching and research interests include the literature and culture of colonial Latin America with a focus on gender studies and religion, as well as translation studies and contemporary Latin American feminisms.

​Talia Dan-Cohen

​Talia Dan-Cohen

​Associate Professor of Sociocultural Anthropology

Talia Dan-Cohen is an anthropologist of science and technology with interests that range across the history, philosophy, and social studies of science, and the anthropology of knowledge and expertise. She has conducted extensive research on the technological frontiers of the biosciences. Her more recent research questions complexity as an epistemic virtue.

How to apply

Application deadline: Dec 19, 2025 at 11:59 pm Eastern Standard Time

Applicants should submit, through Interfolio, a cover letter, a curriculum vitae, and a description of their research program (no more than 1000 words and accessible to reviewers in other disciplines). Applicants who have not completed their doctoral work should indicate, in their cover letter, how many chapters of their dissertation are complete and how complete the remaining chapters are. Please include the names and email addresses of three references.

Washington University in St. Louis is committed to the principles and practices of equal employment opportunity and especially encourages applications by those underrepresented in their academic fields. It is the University’s policy to provide equal opportunity and access to persons in all job titles without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or genetic information.

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