Navigating ACLS Scholarship and Fellowship Opportunities for Academic Advancement

Paying for education, especially in the healthcare field, can be a significant challenge. Fortunately, several scholarships and fellowships are available to support students and scholars pursuing advanced life support skills and research in related fields. This article provides a comprehensive overview of various ACLS (Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support) scholarship and fellowship opportunities, including eligibility requirements, application processes, and award details.

Scholarships for Healthcare Degrees

Several organizations offer scholarships to students pursuing healthcare degrees, recognizing the dedication and commitment required to care for those in need.

United Medical Education Scholarship

United Medical Education, a continuing education training center for healthcare providers, offers an annual scholarship to full-time students enrolled in a college or university. The first-place candidate receives a $1,000 scholarship. The selection process involves evaluating articles written by applicants, with the award given to the best in terms of content and organization. United Medical Education's primary courses include BLS and ACLS online, and PALS certification.

Pacific Medical Training Scholarship

Pacific Medical Training provides a $1,000 scholarship for students pursuing any healthcare degree. This scholarship aims to support individuals dedicated to furthering their education in the healthcare field.

AMRI ACLS and PALS Scholarship

AMRI (American Medical Response, Inc.) offers scholarships to students in fields requiring advanced life support skills. Applicants are required to write an essay of no fewer than 2,000 words, addressing where their ACLS or PALS skills will take them. Enrollment in AMRI’s ACLS or PALS certification program is not required. All submitted essays become the property of AMRI.

Read also: Empowering HBCU Research

Honor Society® Scholarship

Honor Society® is a national membership organization dedicated to supporting academic, professional, and personal growth. It provides member access to benefits and services, such as discounts on learning, dining, health, travel, career resources, and commemorative graduation regalia. Honor Society® is an independent, member-supported private organization and is not affiliated with any college, university, or other honor society. Opportunities are designed to help members move forward with confidence and purpose.

ACLS Fellowships for Scholarly Research

The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) offers fellowships to support outstanding scholarship in the humanities and interpretive social sciences. These fellowships are designed to enable scholars to devote six to twelve months to full-time research and writing.

ACLS Fellowship Program

ACLS invites research proposals from scholars in all disciplines of the humanities and interpretive social sciences. In the 2025-26 competition cycle, the program will award up to 60 fellowships to scholars across all stages of their scholarly career. ACLS invites applications from scholars pursuing research on topics grounded in any time period, world region, or humanistic methodology. ACLS aims to select fellows who are broadly representative of the variety of humanistic scholarship across all fields of study. ACLS is committed to inclusive excellence, which it defines as the pursuit of academic excellence that is enriched by a plurality of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. ACLS welcomes and encourages applications from all eligible scholars, regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, disability, age, or any aspect of identity. It also encourages applications from scholars across the range of academic institutions and beyond.

The ultimate goal of the project should be a major piece of scholarly work by the applicant, which can take the form of a monograph, articles, publicly engaged humanities project, digital research project, critical edition, or other scholarly resources. The fellowships support projects at any stage of development - beginning, middle, or end. The fellowship stipend is set at $60,000 for a 12-month fellowship. Awards of shorter duration will be prorated at $5,000 per month, with the minimum award set at $30,000. Tenure of the fellowship may begin no earlier than July 1, 2026, and no later than July 1, 2027. The fellowship term must conclude no later than December 31, 2027. ACLS Fellowships are intended to help scholars devote six to twelve months to full-time research and writing. The awards are portable and are tenable at any appropriate site for research. An ACLS Fellowship may be held concurrently with other fellowships and grants and institutional support (such as sabbatical pay) within limits pre-set by ACLS each competition year.

Eligibility Requirements for ACLS Fellowships

To be eligible for an ACLS Fellowship, applicants must meet the following criteria:

Be US citizens, permanent residents, Indigenous individuals residing in the United States through rights associated with the Jay Treaty of 1794, DACA recipients, asylees, refugees, or individuals granted Temporary Protected Status in the United States. In addition, foreign nationals who have been living in the United States or US territories for three or more years before the application deadline.
Have earned a PhD in the humanities or interpretive social sciences no later than the application deadline. An established scholar who can demonstrate the equivalent of a PhD in publications and professional experience may also qualify.
For applicants who hold a tenure-track position - tenured or untenured - at the time of application, have had a lapse of at least two years between their last supported research leave of a semester or more and September 1, 2026.
Devote six to twelve months to full-time research and/or writing during the award period, to be initiated between July 1, 2026, and July 1, 2027, and to be completed by December 31, 2027.

Application Materials for ACLS Fellowships

The application for an ACLS Fellowship typically includes the following materials:

Proposal: A detailed description of the proposed research project (no more than five pages, double spaced, in Arial or Helvetica 11-point font, inclusive of any footnotes or endnotes).
Work Plan: A clear outline of the work to be undertaken over the course of the fellowship term, demonstrating how this work fits into the overall trajectory of the project (no more than one page, in double-spaced text or in a timeline/chart format, in Arial or Helvetica 11-point font).
Writing Sample: A brief sample of the applicant's scholarly writing, including a brief description of context and the sample’s relation to the proposed project (no more than eight pages total, double spaced, including any footnotes or endnotes, in Arial or Helvetica 11-point font).

All uploads must have margins of one inch on all sides. Applicants may use any standard citation style in their proposal narrative or writing sample, although citations (footnotes or endnotes) are included in the page count for either document. While text in the body of the proposal and writing sample must be double spaced and in 11-point Arial or Helvetica font, footnotes may be in 10-point font and single spaced.

Evaluation Criteria for ACLS Fellowships

Peer reviewers are asked to be mindful of ACLS’s commitment to inclusive excellence. For ACLS, inclusive excellence means that humanistic scholarship benefits from a wide range of perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences. ACLS believes academic excellence is best achieved when all individuals have the opportunity to contribute fully to the scholarly community and is especially interested in supporting scholars who hail from diverse institutions and groups that are underrepresented in the academy. However, all applications are evaluated on their individual scholarly merit, the originality and significance of the proposed project, and the applicant’s record of achievement, without regard to race, ethnicity, gender, or any other protected characteristic. The quality and innovativeness of the proposal with regard to its methodology, scope, theoretical framework, and grounding in the relevant scholarly literature are also considered.

ACLS Project Development Grants

ACLS Project Development Grants support projects from faculty at teaching-intensive institutions such as HBCUs, regional comprehensives, and community colleges. Applicants from these institutions who are not selected for fellowships, but present particularly promising proposals, may be awarded a grant of $5,000 to help advance their projects. Project Development Grants do not require a separate application.

Named ACLS Fellowships

Several named fellowships are awarded to selected applicants from within the ACLS Fellowship program, without requiring a separate application:

Read also: Crafting Perfect Thank You Notes

ACLS Carl and Betty Pforzheimer Fellowships in English and American Literature, for scholars pursuing research on Anglophone literature from any period.
ACLS Frederic E. Wakeman, Jr. Fellowships in Chinese History, for scholars pursuing research on Chinese history, in particular modern Chinese history after 1912.
The ACLS H. and T. ACLS/Marwan M. and Ute Kraidy Centennial Fellowship in the Study of the Arab World and Latin America, for scholars pursuing research in any field of the humanities and interpretive social sciences on the Arab and or Latin American worlds, with a special interest in supporting comparative or transnational approaches across these spheres.
ACLS Morton N. Cohen and Richard N. Swift Fellowship, for scholars pursuing research in the humanities.
ACLS Oscar Handlin Fellowships in American History, for scholars pursuing archival research on American history.
ACLS Pauline Yu Fellowships in Chinese or Comparative Literature, for scholars pursuing research in Chinese and/or comparative literature.
ACLS Susan McClary and Robert Walser Fellowships in Music Studies, for scholars pursuing research in any area of musicology.

ACLS/New York Public Library Fellowships

Through a partnership with the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI), ACLS fellows have the opportunity to spend all or part of their fellowship terms in residence at selected CHCI member organizations. ACLS may award residential fellowships in conjunction with The New York Public Library’s Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers. This opportunity does require a separate application, due by 5 PM Eastern Daylight Time, September 26, 2025.

The Center provides opportunities for up to 15 fellows to explore the rich, diverse collections in the NYPL’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. The Center also serves as a forum for the exchange of ideas among fellows, invited guests, the wider academic and cultural communities, and the interested public. It provides individual office space and common areas in the Library building. Fellows are required to be in residence from the beginning of September 2026 through the end of May 2027 and to participate in Center activities. These may include lunches, panel discussions, public conversations, symposia, and interviews. The stipend for ACLS/NYPL fellowships will be $90,000.

ACLS/NYPL fellowships are subfellowships within the ACLS Fellowship program; they have the same eligibility requirements, application form, and schedule. The only additional proviso is that these residential fellowships will be granted to scholars whose projects will benefit from research in the NYPL’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. Applicants for ACLS/NYPL residential fellowships must also apply to the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the NYPL.

Strategies for Successful Applications

While specific requirements vary, some general strategies can improve your chances of success when applying for ACLS scholarships and fellowships.

Start Early: Begin the application process well in advance of the deadline to allow ample time for research, writing, and revisions.
Understand the Requirements: Carefully review the eligibility criteria, application guidelines, and evaluation criteria for each scholarship or fellowship.
Craft a Compelling Narrative: Clearly articulate your academic and professional goals, highlighting your passion for the healthcare field or your scholarly research.
Seek Feedback: Ask mentors, professors, or colleagues to review your application materials and provide constructive criticism.
Proofread Carefully: Ensure your application is free of grammatical errors, typos, and inconsistencies.

tags: #ACLS #scholarship #requirements