Apply for the Harkness Fellowship

Eligibility, Review, and Selection Criteria

Harkness Fellowships are designed for mid-career professionals who are committed to advancing health policy and practice in The Commonwealth Fund's principal areas of interest: improving health insurance coverage and access to care; and improving the quality and efficiency of health care services. Projects may include comparisons between the United States and the applicant's home country. Fellowships are not awarded to support study for academic degrees. All applicants must:

• Be citizens of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, or the United Kingdom. Applicants who are not citizens of the country in which they are applying must have permanent residency and have lived in that country for at least the last three years. Such applicants must also be committed to pursuing careers in the country from which they are selected.
• Show significant promise as a policy-oriented health services researcher or practitioner (clinician, health services manager, government official, or journalist);
• Have a demonstrated expertise in health policy issues and a track record of informing health policy through research, policy analysis, health services, or clinical leadership;
• Have a master's degree or doctorate (or the equivalent thereof) in health care services, health policy research, or a related discipline, such as economics or political science (consideration may be given to candidates with a bachelor's degree only, depending on work experience); and
• If academically based, be at a mid-career level (e.g., research fellow to senior lecturer).

Applications are reviewed by Fund staff and a panel of experts appointed in each of the participating countries. A limited number of applicants will be invited for interviews, which will be conducted in Sydney (for Australian applicants), Auckland (for New Zealand applicants), London (for U.K. applicants), Paris (for French applicants), Berlin or the Hague (for German and Dutch applicants), Oslo (for Norwegian applicants), and Toronto (for Canadian applicants). Interview dates will be confirmed upon submission of the Harkness Fellowship application. 

The Fund does not provide critiques of applications that are declined. Candidates are selected based on their qualifications and leadership potential; their commitment to improving health care through research and practice; the quality of their research proposal; the relevance of their proposed research to the Fund's areas of interest and to policy development in their home country; and the strength of their supporting letters.

How to Apply for the Harkness Fellowship in Health Care Policy and Practice

A PDF with detailed instructions for the online application is available here.

STEP 1 – REGISTRATION Prior to accessing the Harkness Online Application, the system will prompt you to register. Select "New User?" and enter the required information to create your account. 

STEP 2 – VERIFICATION OF REGISTRATION You will receive a verification email with the subject line "Thank you for registering! Please verify your Email." Use the link in the email to verify your account. 

STEP 3 – RETRIEVING THE ONLINE APPLICATION After you have verified your account you will receive a second email with the subject line "Welcome to the Commonwealth Community Portal for Grantees." Use the link in this email to access the login page  and begin your application. 

Harkness Application

In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we have made the difficult decision not to put out a standard call for applications for the 2021-22 Harkness Fellowships in Health Care Policy and Practice.

Individuals who were selected for a 2020-21 Harkness Fellowship have been given the option to defer their start date until August/September 2021. As a result, the Fund will not be accepting applications from across the eight participating countries. Should this change, any new information will be shared here as soon as these decisions are finalized.

The next standard call for applications, for the 2022-23 Harkness Fellowships in Health Care Policy and Practice, will be announced in spring 2021.