The Dahlem Humanities Center is a host institution for scholars in the humanities from Germany and abroad. The scholars, most of whom work at the postdoctoral level, are funded by external funding institutions and benefit from the intellectual life at the Dahlem Humanities Center, the Freie Universität Berlin, and the city of Berlin. In particular, the Dahlem Humanities Center has welcomed fellows of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the now discontinued Postdoctoral Fellowship Program of the Volkswagen Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The DHC is also host institution for the joint Fellowship of the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes and the American Council of Learned Societies (CHCI-ACLS).

In cooperation with the Benaki Museum (Athens), the Dahlem Humanities Center and the Centrum Modernes Griechenland award the Leigh Fermor House Fellowship. 

Humanities scholars interested in becoming associated with the Dahlem Humanities Center may contact the managing director of the DHC, sending along a CV (academic background and publications) as well as a short project description. Prerequisite for association with the DHC is a suitable match of research interests with a professor from among the DHC membership or with another professor from the humanities departments at Freie Universität Berlin, with whom a working or mentoring relationship should be established.