The Elisabeth Haub School of Law launches the Haub Environmental Law Fifty Fund, a new initiative established to coincide with the Law School’s 50th anniversary to support innovative scholarship, research, and collaboration among junior environmental law scholars.
At a time of significant change in environmental law and policy, the Haub Environmental Law Fifty Fund will provide targeted, flexible grants to help emerging scholars advance ambitious projects with the potential to contribute to environmental law scholarship, education, policy, and practice. Grants will support endeavors that extend beyond the boundaries of traditional legal scholarship and encourage innovation, collaboration, and real-world impact.
“For 50 years, Haub Law has been at the forefront of environmental legal education, scholarship, and advocacy, and this new fund reflects both that history and our commitment to the future of the field,” said Horace E. Anderson Jr., Dean of the Elisabeth Haub School of Law. “By investing in the next generation of environmental law scholars and providing them with the resources to pursue innovative ideas, we are helping to ensure that environmental law continues to evolve to meet the challenges of our time.”
The Haub Environmental Law Fifty Fund Grant Program is designed to provide junior scholars with timely funding that can unlock new opportunities in their work. Funding may support research assistants, empirical or fieldwork, data acquisition and technical tools, workshops and stakeholder convenings, practitioner engagement, project-related travel, community collaboration, and other innovative approaches that may be difficult to pursue through traditional faculty resources.
The program is also grounded in principles of mutual support and community-building. In addition to providing financial support, Haub Law seeks to create opportunities for grant recipients to develop new collaborations, exchange ideas, and build lasting connections within the environmental law academy. Awardees will be invited to participate in an end-of-grant-year symposium at Haub Law’s campus in White Plains, New York, where they will share their research, works-in-progress, project outcomes, methods, or tools with fellow scholars.
The program builds on Haub Law’s longstanding commitment to expanding access to academic resources. Beginning in 2014, Haub Law’s Future Environmental Law Professors Workshop provides mentorship and support to emerging environmental law scholars on the academic job market. The Haub Environmental Law Fifty Fund Grant Program seeks to extend that support to junior scholars in need of additional resources to deepen their work.
“Environmental law scholarship is strongest when scholars have the freedom and resources to explore new ideas, build collaborations, and connect their work to the communities and institutions confronting environmental challenges,” said Professor Josh Galperin, Associate Dean of the Environmental Law Program at Haub Law. “We have seen firsthand how the Haub family’s support has opened doors for new ideas and initiatives in environmental law at Haub Law and beyond, and the Haub Environmental Law Fifty Fund gives us an opportunity to help open those doors for junior scholars as well.”
Eligible applicants include full-time, pre-tenure faculty and faculty in their first-year post-tenure at U.S.-based law schools whose work focuses on environmental law. Clinical faculty who meet the applicable career-stage criteria are also eligible, including those who are not in tenure-track positions. Collaborative proposals are encouraged, provided at least one applicant meets the eligibility requirements and has significant involvement in the proposed project.
Applications are due by November 15, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. ET, with award recipients expected to be notified in December. Multiple projects are expected to receive funding. Projects will generally take place over approximately nine to twelve months following the award, although proposals with different timelines will also be considered. Applications will be evaluated by both Haub Law faculty and a group of outside experts. Assessment criteria will include innovation, feasibility, impact and community value, scholarly development, and alignment of the proposed budget with the program’s goals. Full application details and additional information on the Haub Environmental Law Fifty Fund are available here.
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