Carnegie awards $5M in fellowships for research to reduce political polarization in United States

The Carnegie Corporation of New York has announced its 2026 Andrew Carnegie Fellows, committing $5 million in grants to scholars at universities across the United States and Canada to tackle political polarization. The grant program provides 24 fellows with $200,000 each, funding up to two-year sabbaticals to produce rigorous, solutions-focused research. Fellows include Eunji Kim (Columbia University), Allison Orr Larsen (William & Mary), and Ayse Lokmanoglu (Boston University, Boston). Funded projects will examine the forces driving cultural division, including digital extremism, media ecosystems, and declining institutional trust, with the goal of identifying practical ways to reduce polarization and improve civil society while strengthening social cohesion.