A one-year online program for scholars, practitioners, and graduate students from any discipline with interest in political economy and emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence.
Applications for the 2026–2027 academic year are due March 15, 2025.
Application review will begin after the deadline, and decisions will begin to be announced twelve or more weeks after the deadline.
The Oskar Morgenstern Fellowship is a one-year, competitive and online fellowship program awarded to scholars, practitioners, and graduate students from any discipline with interest in political economy and emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence.
The aim of this fellowship is to introduce graduate students, scholars, and practitioners to how the Austrian, Virginia, and Bloomington schools of political economy address questions regarding institutions, progress, governance, epistemology, the theory of the mind, and philosophy of science. Exploring these questions is particularly relevant for assessing the potential and limitations of artificial intelligence and other such emerging technologies. Oskar Morgenstern Fellows meet for three weekends during the academic year participating in online seminar discussion-style colloquia on these themes of political economy. Fellows will join a network of Mercatus students, alumni, and scholars who are conducting and engaging with cutting edge research in contemporary political economy.
Students who meet all of the following 3 criteria are strongly encouraged to apply:
Yes. Acceptance to the program is conditional on enrollment in an accredited PhD program during the year of participation in the Oskar Morgenstern Fellowship program.
To apply to the Oskar Morgenstern Fellowship, click the "Apply" button above or below, and complete the online application, including:
A 1-2 page cover letter explaining:
your graduate school career to date,
your research interests and current projects,
your familiarity with the thinkers associated with the Austrian, Virginia and Bloomington schools of political economy, and
what you hope to get out of the program.
A current resume/CV
A few short answer questions
Application review will begin after the deadline, and decisions will begin to be announced twelve or more weeks after the deadline.
Yes. PhD students from any discipline who have training in quantitative methods (including but not limited to advanced statistics, regression analysis, experimental economics, mathematical modeling and agent-based modeling) and have a research and/or teaching interest that would benefit from a greater understanding of key writings in political economy are strongly encouraged to apply.
Any student of any nationality enrolled in any doctoral program at any university, in the US or abroad, is eligible to apply for the Oskar Morgenstern Fellowship. The program will arrange and cover airfare, as well as lodging and meals associated with the fellowship.
Each fellow is responsible for making the appropriate verifications of their eligibility to receive funding from the Mercatus Center. Fellows should check with their home departments, international student offices, and/or private foundations (as appropriate) to verify their eligibility. Fellows are responsible for any applicable taxes on the honoraria provided through the Oskar Morgenstern Fellowship Program.
Oskar Morgenstern fellows are required to remain enrolled as a degree seeking doctoral student throughout their participation in the Oskar Morgenstern Fellowship Program, attend and actively participate in all aspects of the scheduled program of events (i.e., three weekend colloquia) including meals and organized social activities, meet stated deadlines with respect to the preparation of their research proposals for the summer colloquium, arrive on time and prepared for each colloquia session having carefully read the assigned reading in advance, and be honest, responsible, fair, and civil in all activities of the Oskar Morgenstern Fellowship Program.
The terms of the Oskar Morgenstern Fellowship carry with them the expectation that fellows will be substantially involved in the entirety of the formal colloquium schedule as well as the activities, including meals and hospitality, that are scheduled as part of the conference program. This expectation exists because conversations about the readings and the discussions in the colloquium sessions invariably continue beyond the time allotted by the program schedule. We also strongly encourage the fellows to interact with each other and the faculty participants about their own and each other’s academic work and how it relates to the themes discussed in session. Consequently, in order to ensure that every fellow gets the most out of the experience, all fellows are required to lodge at the conference site and to be present for the entirety of the scheduled program.
Colloquium dates are subject to some variability. The program will typically host two weekend colloquia in the fall and a half-weeklong colloquium in the spring. Exact dates will be communicated to successful applicants by July preceding participation in the program.
Fellows should plan to arrive at the conference hotel no later than 5pm on the day on which the colloquium. Fellows may depart from the hotel at their convenience once the colloquium formally adjourns.
Fellows are responsible for maintaining an up-to-date record with the program of a valid postal address to which packages can be shipped. Readings will be distributed both by email and by post 2 months in advance of each colloquium.
Fellows may submit for reimbursement any conventional expenses associated with academic travel. These expenses include cab fare and mileage incurred by the fellow to and from home and the conference site, parking, and hotel accommodation in the event of travel delays.
Yes.
Most well-known for his central role in the application of mathematics to economics alongside John von Neumann known as game theory, Oskar Morgenstern earned his PhD in political science from the University of Vienna in 1925 and trained under some of the earliest scholars of the Austrian tradition of economics – Friedrich von Wieser, Hans Mayer and Ludwig von Mises. In 1931, Morgenstern succeeded F.A. Hayek as the director of the Austrian Institute for Economic Research (which Hayek founded with Mises, and still exists today) when Hayek accepted a position with the London School of Economics. In 1935, he became a professor of economics at the University of Vienna and was an active participant in Karl Menger’s “Vienna Colloquium.” When Austria was annexed by Germany during his lecture tour in the United States, he became a professor of economics at Princeton University. In 1970, he joined the faculty at New York University.
Yes, fellowship recipients are eligible to re-apply to the Oskar Morgenstern Fellowship each year of their studies. Doctoral students may also be eligible for the Adam Smith Fellowship, Frédéric Bastiat Fellowship, Elinor Ostrom Fellowship and Don Lavoie Fellowship.
Email [email protected] regarding general questions about the fellowship or questions about you application status or application materials.
