We are proud to announce that two distinguished members of our community—Melani Cammett and Andrew O’Donohue—have been named Harvard Radcliffe Institute Fellows for the 2025–2026 academic year. They join the Institute’s 26th class of fellows, a highly selective group that includes leading voices across the arts, humanities, sciences, and social sciences.
Each fellow is selected for their scholarly or artistic excellence and the originality of their project. The yearlong fellowship supports innovative work across disciplines and offers an extraordinary opportunity to engage with a dynamic intellectual and creative community.
Melani Cammett has been appointed as the 2025–2026 Perrin Moorhead Grayson and Bruns Grayson Fellow. A leading scholar in the field of international affairs, she is the Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs in the Department of Government and director of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.
Her research addresses a variety of issues related to identity politics and conflict; identity and development; the politics of authoritarianism in the Middle East; welfare and development; and qualitative methods.
At Radcliffe, Cammett will work on a forthcoming book that investigates why some communities emerge from ethnic violence with stronger interethnic cooperation, and why certain political leaders work to foster unity rather than division.
Andrew O’Donohue, a doctoral candidate in the Department, has been named the Arleen Carlson and Edna Nelson Graduate Fellow.
O’Donohue has written recently in The Atlantic and Foreign Policy to share lessons for the United States from other democracies in which powerful executives have challenged the courts. His research draws upon more than 60 interviews with high-ranking judges and legal experts in Israel and Turkey, as well as analysis of thousands of decisions in which courts reviewed the constitutionality of government policies.
His selection reflects both his rigorous research and a promising trajectory as a scholar.
This year’s Radcliffe fellows will be part of a unique interdisciplinary and creative community that will step away from routines to tackle projects that they have long wished to move forward. Throughout the academic year, fellows convene regularly to share their work in progress with the community and public. With access to Harvard’s unparalleled resources, Radcliffe fellows develop new tools and methods, challenge artistic and scholarly conventions, and illuminate the past, present, and future.
“In these uncertain times, I am more convinced than ever before that Radcliffe’s interdisciplinary approach is crucial to creating the transformative research, scholarship, writing, art, and, ultimately, societal change that we need,” says Tomiko Brown-Nagin, dean of Harvard Radcliffe Institute, the Daniel P.S. Paul Professor of Constitutional Law.
We commend Cammett and O’Donohue on their achievement and look forward to seeing the important ideas and contributions that will emerge from their time as Radcliffe fellows. Congratulations to both on this well-deserved honor!