what is a dissertation fellowship

For Applicants | Ford Foundation Fellowships

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• For Fellows
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Applications will be accepted for a limited number of 2024-2025 dissertation, postdoctoral, and senior fellowship awards only.

Eligible applicants must have already held a previous Ford Foundation Fellowship.

Learn more about:

• Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowships
• Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowships
• Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowships
• Ford Foundation Senior Fellowships

No, applications will be accepted only for a limited number of 2024-2025 dissertation, postdoctoral, and senior fellowship awards. Eligible applicants for these fellowships must have held a previous Ford Foundation Fellowship administered by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Dissertation Fellowship application: December 12, 2023 at 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time Postdoctoral Fellowship application: December 12, 2023 at 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time Senior Fellowship application:  January 31, 2024 at 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time Supporting documents for dissertation and postdoctoral applicants (including transcripts, verification forms, letters of recommendation, and postdoctoral host commitment letter): January 9, 2024 at 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.

No extensions or exceptions will be made for applicants or letter writers for any circumstances. Applicants and letter writers should ensure that they upload all their materials well in advance of the deadline and should be advised that the application system will automatically close at 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the specified deadline dates. Applicants and letter writers who attempt to submit materials after this time will not be able to do so and these materials will not be accepted via e-mail or postal mail

Dissertation Fellowship: Intended to support the final year of graduate school, specifically writing and defense of the dissertation. Applicants must submit the Verification of Doctoral Degree Status Form (PDF, 114 KB)  documenting that they have completed all requirements for a Ph.D. or Sc.D. degree, except for writing and defense of the dissertation.

Postdoctoral Fellowship: A career-enhancement award for recent Ph.D. or Sc.D. recipients (eligible applicants must have received their Ph.D. or Sc.D. degree within the past seven years). It is intended to provide an opportunity for recent Ph.D.s or Sc.D.s to take a year off from other responsibilities so they can conduct research at a host institution of their choice.

Senior Fellowship: Intended for faculty (eligible applicants must have held the Ph.D./Sc.D. for at least seven years by the application deadline) at accredited U.S. institutions to support research that advances and contributes knowledge to areas that are consistent with the work of the Ford Foundation.

Citations are not required; however, if used, they should be single-spaced and formatted using a standard bibliographic format appropriate to the applicant’s field. The inclusion of citations will count towards the maximum page limit for the document upload.

Full-time employment is not permitted for dissertation or postdoctoral Fellows while on fellowship tenure since Fellows are expected to devote full-time to their Ph.D. or Sc.D. or postdoctoral study. A concurrent TA or RA position may be allowed if 1) it is required by the program, 2) if it is necessary to secure stipend supplementation, benefits, or tuition waivers, or 3) if the assistantship is beneficial to the Fellow’s career development. However, the compensation associated with the assistantship position must be limited to supplementation of the Ford Foundation Fellowship stipend up to a standard assistantship salary at the institution, rather than a separate, full-time stipend in addition to the Ford Foundation Fellowship.

Dissertation and Postdoctoral Fellowship applicants: The Applications page located in the left navigation menu of the online application will indicate the date and time your application was submitted. You will also receive a confirmation e-mail. If your application does not include this timestamp and you do not receive the confirmation e-mail, your application was not successfully submitted.

Senior Fellowship applicants: The Sr. Fellowship Appl. page located in the left navigation menu of your online Ford Fellows account will indicate a Submitted status with the date you submitted your application.

The host commitment letter is required only for postdoctoral applicants and must state the willingness of the proposed mentor and the research site to serve as the applicant’s host during their fellowship tenure. This letter is in addition to the required minimum of three letters of recommendation.

Applicants should ensure that they have correctly entered the letter writer's e-mail address on the References page of the online application. If it was entered incorrectly, the applicant can edit the address and resend the notification by selecting Notify. If the address is correct, letter writers should check their spam or junk folders for the notification sent from [email protected] . If they cannot locate the notification, they should contact  [email protected] .

Dissertation Fellowship applicants: A signed VS form  is required of all dissertation applicants. Postdoctoral Fellowship applicants: A signed VS form  is required only of postdoctoral applicants who have received the Ph.D. or Sc.D. degree by December 12, 2023 but whose Ph.D. or Sc.D. degree has not been conferred and documented on a transcript.

Supplementary materials cannot be uploaded until the fellowship application has been submitted. Ensure you submitted your application before attempting to upload any supplementary materials. If you have already submitted your application and are receiving an error message, try reducing the size of your file so that it does not exceed 4MB or shortening the name of the file. If you continue to experience difficulties, contact  [email protected] .

Yes, unofficial transcripts are acceptable at the application stage. If offered a fellowship award, however, awardees must submit official transcripts to replace previously submitted unofficial transcripts. Postdoctoral awardees must submit an official Ph.D. or Sc.D. transcript showing the degree with the degree receipt date.

• Sign in to your application.
• Select Data Review in the left navigation.
• Go to the Education History section of page.
• All successfully uploaded documents will have an Uploaded status and the date the document was uploaded under the Supplementary Material header.  

All applicants will be notified of the status of their application via e-mail. Notifications will be sent to the e-mail address associated with your online application. Once you have been notified via e-mail of the status of your application, you will be able to log in to your application to view reviewer feedback. If you applied to a Ford Foundation fellowship prior to the 2018 competition and did not already request reviewer feedback, you may request it by sending an e-mail to [email protected] .

Reviewers are strongly encouraged but not required to include comments. If comments are not included, then reviewers opted not to enter comments.

Please see a list of other funding opportunities offered by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine  here  and a list of outside opportunities compiled by the Fellowship Office listed  here .

Yes. All currently awarded predoctoral Ford Fellows will continue to be eligible to use any remaining years of fellowship support in compliance with all prior Terms of Appointment for their Fellowship, including policy adjustments in 2020 and 2021 related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Current predoctoral Fellows can contact  [email protected]  to confirm their period of eligibility.

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Graduate School

• Request Information
• Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship

What is the Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship? 

The Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (DDF) gives the University's most accomplished Ph.D. candidates an opportunity to devote full-time effort to an outstanding research project by providing time to finalize and write their dissertation during the fellowship year.

WHAT IS THE APPLICATION WINDOW? 

The 2024-25 application window will open October 9, 2023. The submission deadline is February 23, 2024 by 5:00 p.m. central time.

Deadline extensions will not be granted; late submissions will not be accepted.

How much is the award? 

$25,000 stipend, academic year tuition at the general graduate rate for up to 14 credits per semester, subsidized health insurance through the Graduate Assistant Health Plan for up to one calendar year, and a $1,000 conference grant.

Who Is Eligible? 

Programs may nominate Ph.D. candidates if the nominee:

• will have passed the written and oral preliminary examinations by February 23, 2024.
• will have completed all program coursework by the end of the spring semester 2024 (NOTE: nominee may be registered for program coursework in spring 2024, but may not have any incompletes in program coursework at the time of nomination).
• is expected to graduate in calendar year 2025.

HOW DO I APPLY? 

Program Nomination required. Please reach out to your Director of Graduate Studies or Graduate Program Coordinator .

Colleges have a set number of nomination slots. Check with your program to find out more information about your college’s internal selection process.

WHAT ARE THE APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS?

Completed by Nominee (Ph.D. candidate) and submitted directly to the nominating program

• Nominee’s Education Statement
• Nominee’s Summary of Accomplishments
• Nominee’s Statement of Research, see details below

Completed by Nominating Program

• DGS Questionnaire

At the request of a Ph.D. candidate, two (2) letters of recommendation are required.

• One letter from the nominee’s Advisor and/or Co-Advisor, see details below
• One letter from a non-advisor, see details below

All application materials are forwarded to the student’s graduate program for submission to the electronic nomination form . The graduate program will upload a single PDF of the application materials in the following order:

• Nominee's Education Statement
• Nominee's Summary of Accomplishments
• Nominee's Statement of Research
• Two Letters of Recommendation

Required PDF title format: Nominee Last Name, First Name - Program

Further Information

For more information about internal review and nomination procedures, please contact your Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) or designated program support staff. If you have additional questions, contact the  Office of Graduate Fellowships and Awards .

APPLICATION MATERIAL INSTRUCTIONS

+ nominee’s statement of research, required elements.

• Maximum three pages, single-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins.
• Include a working title for your research at the top of the proposal.
• Under the title, include an abstract, limited to 100 words, in terms that are jargon-free and accessible to the non-specialist.  

Appendix Page

Key references, diagrams or pictures may be included (but they are not required) on a single additional appendix page (no formatting requirements).

Expectations of content

• Provide a clear summary of your dissertation research and highlight your original contributions to the research, especially if part of a larger research project.
• Describe where your research fits within the context of existing research in the field and the contributions your research will add.
• Describe the area(s) of impact that you see your research having.
• Describe how receiving the DDF supports your professional and/or career goals.
• Specialized terminology must be defined. Faculty reviewers are drawn from many different fields across the University.   

Evaluation Rubric

• You may find this rubric  to be helpful as it will be used by the Faculty Review Committee to evaluate DDF applications.

+ LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION

Advisor or co-advisor (can be co-authored).

• 2-page maximum, may be co-authored by Advisor and Co-Advisor
• Describe the importance and significance of the overall research project and its impact on the broader discipline.
• Describe and provide examples of the specific contribution(s) the nominee made to the research project, demonstrating the nominee’s independence and research originality (e.g. invited presentations, awards, honors received).
• Describe how the nominee has evolved as a researcher, how that has guided their dissertation research project, and how they will benefit from the DDF.
• Describe the nominee’s timeliness of progress toward the degree. Has this nominee performed below, met, or exceeded expectations and provide explanation for any extenuating circumstances.

Non-Advisor

• 2-page maximum, from a non-Advisor

+ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What are the review and selection considerations.

An interdepartmental faculty committee reviews nominations and selects award recipients. This rubric is used in review and for discussion.

Can my co-advisor write the second letter of recommendation?

No, the second letter of recommendation must be from a non-advisor. Your co-advisor can co-author the first letter with your advisor. A committee member or other non-advisor can author the second letter.

Are there any tips for a successful DDF application?

The nominee is encouraged to have their Statement of Research reviewed and critiqued by persons completely outside the field and unfamiliar with the discipline to assure that it meets the wide-audience test of accessibility. Many excellent nominees have not received awards in past years because their statements contained undefined specialized words and dense syntax, making the statement incomprehensible to reviewers not in the nominee's discipline.

DDF Conference Grant

The DDF Conference Grant supports a recipient’s presentation of dissertation research at a conference while on DDF tenure. The application form, which includes instructions and more information, is linked in the DDF Terms & Conditions. Applications are accepted on the 6th of every month, September through May, during a recipient’s DDF tenure.

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Stanford Humanities Today

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Stanford Dissertation Fellowships

The Stanford Humanities Center and the School of Humanities and Sciences collaborate to administer two Stanford humanities dissertation fellowships: the Stanford Humanities Center Dissertation Prize and Mellon Foundation Dissertation Fellowships. Stanford students submit one application to be considered for one or both of these fellowships. Applicants for these fellowships are typically in the 5th or 6th year of their doctoral program.

(You can find more information about the Stanford Humanities Center Next Generation Scholar fellowships, which are open to students in year 7 or above only,  linked here .)

Applications for 2024–2025 fellowships are now closed.

Eligible applicants may apply to the SHC Dissertation Prize/Mellon Dissertation fellowships  or  Next Generation Scholar fellowship, but not  both  NGS and DP/Mellon in the same application cycle. 

Fellowship Opportunities

The SHC Dissertation Prize Fellowships, endowed by Theodore and Frances Geballe, are awarded to doctoral students whose work is of the highest distinction and promise. The fellowship stipend includes three academic quarters of funding (fall/winter/spring). In 2023-24 the funding amount was $38,700; the exact amount for 2024-25 will be announced pending final budget confirmation by January 2024. The recipients of these fellowships have offices at the Humanities Center and take part with other graduate as well as undergraduate and faculty fellows in the Center's programs, promoting humanistic research and education at Stanford. The SHC Dissertation Prize Fellowships also provide an additional $2,000 in research funding.

The Mellon Dissertation Fellowships, which are generously funded by the Mellon Foundation, are awarded to advanced doctoral students whose work is of the highest quality and whose academic record to date indicates a timely progression toward completion of the degree. The fellowship stipend includes three academic quarters of funding (fall/winter/spring). In 2023-24 the funding amount was $38,700; the exact amount for 2024-25 will be announced pending budget confirmation in January 2024.

Frequently Asked Questions

The SHC Dissertation Prize and Mellon Dissertation Fellowships are awarded to advanced graduate students, based on accomplished work of the highest distinction, and on the promise of further outstanding achievements in the humanities. Applicants must have:

• advanced to candidacy;
• completed all requirements for the doctoral degree with the exception of the dissertation and the University Oral Examination (when a defense of the dissertation);
• an approved dissertation reading committee;
• a dissertation proposal approved by their committee;
• a strong likelihood of completing the degree within the tenure of the fellowship;
• reached TGR status by the beginning of autumn quarter of the fellowship year;
• completed supervised teaching, if required by their department, before the tenure of the fellowship.
• Outside employment must be aligned with university policy and approved by the home department (including the Humanities Center for SHC fellowships). Please be in close contact with your home department, H&S office, and/or the SHC before confirming any teaching assistantships or accepting other employment or fellowships.
• SHC DP fellows are expected to take part in the daily life of the Center for the duration of their fellowship (i.e. attend lunches and weekly seminars). Next Generation fellows are encouraged but not required to be in regular physical residence at the Center.
• Mellon fellowship: there is no on-campus requirement akin to the expectations for SHC fellows. However, Mellon dissertation fellows are subject to University residency expectations and departmental residency requirements—i.e., having a Mellon does not exempt a student from these residency expectations.
• Applicants who have previously held one of these fellowships are not eligible to reapply for that same fellowship.
• Applicants who have not previously held a Stanford dissertation fellowship will be given the most serious consideration.
• SHC Dissertation Prize Fellowships are open to applicants from the School of Education.
• The fellowships provides tuition support at the TGR rate regardless of whether a student has moved to TGR status. If the student is not yet TGR at the start of the fellowship, the department may provide supplemental funds to cover tuition shortfall.
• Students who are TGR or in a graduation quarter status must enroll in the appropriate zero unit TGR course.
• These fellowships awards are not deferrable to future years or to the summer quarter  

Applications must be submitted via our online application system and must be in English. Access to the system opens in the fall quarter and closes on February 4, 2024, 11:59 PM Pacific time. We discourage the submission of additional materials with the application and cannot circulate these to the committee or return such materials.

Applicants will be notified when their applications have been received, and will be notified of the fellowship competition outcome in late March/early April.

• Contact and biographical information about the applicant
• A curriculum vitae (C.V.)
• Current unofficial transcript (download from AXESS)
• Detailed timetable for the completion of the degree (e.g. dissertation outline detailing status of each chapter)
• Statement of the dissertation’s scholarly significance: Provide a concise explanation of the ways in which the project is a significant contribution to its area of study. Assume the audience to be academics who are not specialists in the field. (250 word maximum)
• A brief description (no more than 1,000 words) of the dissertation
• Two reference letters - one should be from the applicant’s advisor: Please ensure that faculty recommenders have reviewed the proposal and timetable (including status of chapters) in advance and are well prepared to discuss this in their letters. Referees are encouraged to submit letters through our online application system. Referees who wish to submit their letter of reference via email may send them to  [email protected] . Reference letters must be received at the Center by the application deadline - consideration of letters received after that date cannot be guaranteed.

A selection committee representing humanities departments and programs will review and rank the applications on the basis of the following criteria:

• the evidence of intellectual distinction;
• the quality and precision of the dissertation proposal;
• the applicant's timely progress toward the degree;
• the likelihood of completing the degree within the tenure of the fellowship;
• in the case of SHC applicants, the likelihood of the applicant contributing to, as well as benefiting from, the programs of the Humanities Center.

For more information contact  Kelda Jamison , the Humanities Center fellowship program manager.

The application deadline for 2024-25 will be 11:59 pm Pacific time, February 4, 2024.

For more frequently asked questions, click  here .

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• Dissertation Completion Fellowships
• Introduction
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This section provides information about the requirements and policies associated with financial support. Financial support is the shared responsibility of Harvard Griffin GSAS, the academic program, and the student. Your financial aid officer can help you navigate the many options available.

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On this page:

• Dissertation Completion Fellowship

Eligibility

Tuition and fees.

For questions concerning the DCF, please email [email protected] .

Harvard Griffin GSAS provides a dissertation completion fellowship (DCF) for one academic year to eligible PhD students in the humanities and social sciences who anticipate completing their dissertations within the year. Eligibility for the DCF extends to students in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences humanities and social sciences programs and most humanities and social science programs in partnership with other Harvard Schools. The DCF represents the final year of eligibility for Harvard Griffin GSAS tuition grants and fellowships.

Students in Business Administration, Business Economics, and Organizational Behavior typically complete their programs using guaranteed funding that excludes the DCF. Prior to applying, they must consult with their program’s director of graduate studies to determine if the DCF is appropriate for their individual circumstances.

Dissertation completion fellowships are available to students who have:

• completed all departmental requirements;
• completed an approved dissertation prospectus;
• completed two draft dissertation chapters (or one draft article for students in fields where the dissertation consists of three articles), confirmed by two faculty advisors, one of whom is the principal dissertation advisor.

To receive a DCF, students must review the Dissertation Completion Fellowship  and Instructions for Dissertation Completion Fellowships sections of the Harvard Griffin GSAS website and apply for all internal and external completion fellowships for which they are eligible, either from a Harvard source, such as a research center or department, or from an external funding source.

• Presidential Scholars, Graduate Prize Fellows, and Ashford Fellows are not required to apply for alternative fellowships but must complete the dissertation completion fellowship application.
• Students who receive funding from a source external to Harvard Griffin GSAS must accept that award in lieu of DCF funding. In the event that the amount of the alternate award is less than that provided by the DCF, Harvard Griffin GSAS will provide a supplement to make up the difference. In some cases, an external award bonus may be offered.
• Students should plan to utilize their DCF funding during their G5 or G6 year and no later than their G7 year. While DCF requests from students beyond the G7 year will be considered on a case-by-case basis with the recommendation of a faculty advisor, awards are not guaranteed. Students beyond the G7 year should contact Academic Programs to determine their eligibility.
• While students ordinarily take the DCF over one academic year, Harvard Griffin GSAS will consider requests to take a DCF split between the spring term of one academic year and the fall term of the subsequent academic year; students interested in this possibility should contact Academic Programs for guidance.
• While on a DCF, students may not hold a teaching appointment or other form of employment.
• Students ordinarily may not take classes while on a DCF.
• The DCF may not be combined with grants from other sources, with the exception of smaller grants. Students should contact their financial aid officer for guidance.
• Students may not hold research fellowships and DCFs concurrently. Research fellowships awarded to DCF recipients will be considered alternate completion funding, triggering a reduction to the DCF award and rendering the student ineligible for DCF funding in future years. Students interested in pursuing research fellowships are advised to withdraw their DCF applications.
• Students are expected to complete their dissertations during the completion year.
• Students who do not complete their dissertations during the DCF year may register for no more than one additional academic year of post-DCF study. During this time they are ineligible for Harvard Griffin GSAS tuition and fellowship support. They may, however, hold teaching and research appointments , apply for Emergency Funding and Parental Accomodation and Funding Support , or apply for educational loans.

Students awarded a DCF receive grant support to cover the  Harvard Griffin GSAS facilities fee (i.e. tuition for advanced doctoral students) and Harvard University Student Health Program fees.

Stipend amounts vary and are noted in the Notice of Financial Support. Once a student has been awarded a DCF, the stipend amount can be viewed in the Student Aid Portal.

Stipends are disbursed on or around the first day of the month, August through May.

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American Fellowships

Funding:  $8,000–$50,000 Opens:  August 1 every year Deadline: November 15 every year EXTENDED Now Accepting Applications through November 30

The American Fellowship program began in 1888, a time when women were discouraged from pursuing an education. It is AAUW’s largest fellowship program and the oldest non-institutional source of graduate funding for women in the United States.  

AAUW American Fellowships support women scholars who are pursuing full-time study to complete dissertations, conducting postdoctoral research full time, or preparing research for publication for eight consecutive weeks. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Candidates are evaluated based on scholarly excellence; quality and originality of project design; and active commitment to helping women and girls through service in their communities, professions, or fields of research.  

Dissertation: The purpose of the American Dissertation Fellowship is to offset a scholar’s living expenses while they complete their dissertation. F ellows must use the award for the final year of writing the dissertation. Applicants must have completed all course work, passed all preliminary examinations, and received approval for their research proposals or plans by the preceding November. Students holding fellowships for writing a dissertation in the year prior to the AAUW fellowships year are not eligible. Open to applicants in all fields of study. Scholars engaged in science, technology, engineering , and math fields or those researching gender issues are especially encouraged to apply.  

Postdoctoral: The primary purpose of the American Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowship is to increase the number of women in tenure-track faculty positions and to promote equity for women in higher education. This fellowship ’s purpose is to assist the candidate in obtaining tenure and further promotions by enabling them to spend a year pursuing independent research. Tenured professors are not eligible. Open to applicants in all fields of study. Scholars engaged in science, technology, engineering , and math fields or those researching gender issues are especially encouraged to apply.  

Publication: The Short-Term Research Publication Grants provide support to scholars to prepare research manuscripts for publication. AAUW’s funding priority is for applicants whose work supports the vision of AAUW: to break through educational and economic barriers so that all women have a fair chance. Time must be available for eight consecutive weeks of final writing and editing in response to issues raised in critical reviews. These fellowships can be for both tenure-track and part-time faculty, and to new and established researchers. The purpose is to assist the candidate in obtaining tenure and other promotions. Tenured professors are not eligible. Open to applicants in all fields of study. Scholars engaged in science, technology, engineering , and math fields or those researching gender issues are especially encouraged to apply.  

Award Amount

Dissertation Fellowship: $25,000

Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowship: $50,000

Short-Term Research Publication Grant: $8,000

August 1, 2023 Application opens.

November 15, 2023, by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time Deadline for online submission of application, recommendations, and supporting documents.

April 15, 2024 Notification of decision emailed to all applicants. AAUW is not able to honor requests for earlier notification.

July 1, 2024–June 30, 2025 Fellowship year

When a date falls on a weekend or holiday, the date will be observed on the following business day.  

Eligibility

Applicants of all American Fellowships must meet the following criteria:  

• Members of the AAUW Board of Directors, committees, panels, task forces and staff, including current interns, are not eligible to apply for AAUW’s fellowships and grants. A person holding a current award is eligible for election or appointment to boards, committees, panels and task forces.  
• American Fellowship candidates must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents.  
• Fellowships are open to women, including people who identify as women, in all fields of study at an accredited institution of higher education. AAUW will make final decisions about what constitutes eligible institutions.  
• Applicants may not apply for another AAUW national fellowship or grant in the same year.  
• Distance learning/online programs: Fellowships support traditional classroom-based courses of study at colleges or universities. This fellowship program does not provide funding for distance learning or online programs or for degrees heavily dependent on distance learning components. Final decisions about what constitutes distance learning under these fellowships will be made by AAUW. AAUW will accept applications from applicants who are temporarily studying remotely due to COVID-19 precautions at their institution.  
• American Fellowships are not open to previous recipients of any AAUW national fellowship or grant (not including branch or local awards or Community Action Grants).

A pplicants of Dissertation Fellowships must also meet the following criteria :  

• The American Dissertation Fellowship must be used for the final year of writing the dissertation. Applicants must have completed all coursework, passed all preliminary exams, and had the dissertation research proposal or plan approved by November 1, 2023 . The doctoral degree/dissertation must be completed between April 1 and June 30, 2025 . Degree conferral must be between April 1 and September 15, 2025 .  
• Dissertation Fellows are not required to study in the U.S.  
• Students already holding a fellowship or grant for the purpose of supporting their final year of writing or completing the dissertation the year before the fellowship year are not eligible to apply for the American Dissertation Fellowship.  
• The Dissertation Fellowship is intended for applicants who are completing their first doctoral degree.  
• Applicants may apply up to two times for a fellowship for the same dissertation project.  

A pplicants of Postdoctoral Fellowships must also meet the following criteria :  

• American Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowship applicants must hold a Ph.D., Ed.D., D.B.A., M.F.A., J.D., M.D., D.M.D., D.V.M., D.S.W., or M.P.H. at the time of application.  
• Tenured professors are not eligible.  

Applicants of Publication Grants must also meet the following criteria :  

• American Short-Term Research Publication Grant applicants must hold a Ph.D., Ed.D., D.B.A., M.F.A., J.D., M.D., D.M.D., D.V.M., D.S.W., or M.P.H. at the time of application.  
• Tenured professors are not eligible.
• American Short-Term Research Publication Grants are for tenure-track, part-time, and temporary faculty, as well as new and established researchers at universities. Scholars with strong publication records should seek funding elsewhere. Applicants must have time available for eight consecutive weeks of final manuscript preparation. While many recipients, especially full-time faculty members, will use the award s during the summer, recipients may use the funds at any time during the award year. Applicants must demonstrate that the support will result in a reduction of their ongoing work-related activities during the eight-week period .  
• American Short-Term Research Publication Grants are not for preliminary research. Activities undertaken during the grant period can include drafting, editing, or modifying manuscripts; replicating research components; responding to issues raised through critical review; and other initiatives to increase the likelihood of publication.  
• The grantee must be listed as the sole author, senior author, first author, or an author of equivalent significance.  

Selection Criteria and Application Review

The panel meets once a year to review applications for funding. Awards are based on the criteria outlined here. The panel’s recommendations are subject to final approval by AAUW. Fellowships are awarded on a competitive basis according to funds available in a given fiscal year.  

To ensure a fair review process, AAUW does not comment on the deliberations of the award panels. AAUW does not provide evaluations of applications. No provisions exist for reconsidering fellowship proposals.

Applications and supporting documents become the sole property of AAUW and will not be returned or held for another year.  

In selecting fellowship recipients, the following criteria will be considered:  

• Applicant’s scholarly excellence.  
• Quality of project design.  
• Originality of project.  
• Scholarly significance of project to the discipline.  
• Feasibility of project and proposed schedule.  
• Qualifications of applicant.  
• Applicant’s commitment to women’s issues in the profession/community.  
• Applicant’s mentoring of other women.  
• Applicant’s teaching experience.  
• Potential of applicant to make a significant contribution to the field.  
• Applicant is from an underrepresented racial/ethnic background.  
• Applicant will be in an underrepresented area of the country and/or type of university other than a top-level research institution during the award year.  
• Financial need.  

The primary criterion for fellowship awards is scholarly excellence. Applications are reviewed by distinguished scholars and should be prepared accordingly.  

American Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowship and American Short-Term Research Publication Grant: When comparing proposals of equal merit, the review panel will give special consideration to women holding junior academic appointments who are seeking research leave, women who have held the doctorate for at least three years, and women whose educational careers have been interrupted. Preference will also be given to projects that are not simply a revision of the applicant’s doctoral dissertation and applicants whose work supports the vision of AAUW: to break through educational and economic barriers so that all women have a fair chance.  

Regulations

American Fellowships funds are available for:  

• Educational expenses (American Dissertation Fellowship and American Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowship only).  
• Living expenses.  
• Dependent child care.  
• Travel to professional meetings, conferences, or seminars that does not exceed 10 percent of the fellowship total (American Dissertation Fellowship and American Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowship only).  

Additionally, American Short-Term Publication Grant funds are available for:  

• Clerical and technical support.  
• Research assistance related to verification (not basic research).  
• Office supplies, postage, copying and related expenses.  
• Journal fees.  

American Fellowships funds are not available for:  

• Purchase of equipment.  
• Indirect costs.  
• Research assistants.  
• Previous expenditures, deficits, or repayment of loans.  
• Publication costs (except for American Short-Term Publication Grants).  
• Institutional (overhead) costs.  
• Tuition for dependent’s education.  
• Tuition for coursework that is in addition to credits required for maintaining full-time status while completing a dissertation.  
• Extended field research (applicable to American Dissertation Fellowships only).  

Additionally, American Short-Term Research Publication Grants funds are not available for:  

• Salary increase.  
• Doctoral dissertation research or writing.  

AAUW regards the acceptance of a fellowship as a contract requiring fulfillment of the following terms:  

• All American Fellowship recipients are required to sign a contract as acceptance of the award. Retain these instructions as they will become part of the fellowship contract if the applicant is awarded a fellowship.  
• An AAUW American Fellow is expected to pursue their project full time during the funding period (July 1–June 30). No partial fellowships are awarded. Fellowships may not be deferred.  
• American Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellows and American Short-Term Research Publication Grantees cannot pursue a degree during the award period.  
• Any major changes in plans for the award year must have prior written approval from AAUW.  
• AAUW must be notified promptly of any change in the status of an application resulting from acceptance of another award.  
• Stipends are made payable to fellows, not to institutions.  
• The determination of whether there is a tax obligation associated with the receipt of an AAUW award is the sole responsibility of the applicant. Specific questions regarding income tax matters should be addressed with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, the applicant’s financial aid office or a personal tax adviser. AAUW cannot provide tax advice. AAUW is a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) public charity founded for educational purposes.  

Required Components*

Start the application process by clicking the Apply Now button below to access the application and create an account through our vendor site. Complete all required components in the following tabs.  

• Recommendations: Standardized or form-letter recommendations are discouraged. AAUW does not accept references from dossier services such as Parment or Interfolio.
• Dissertation Fellowship applicants: Applicant must provide two recommendations from the applicant’s advisers, colleagues or others well acquainted with the applicant, their project and their teaching. One of the two recommendations must be from the applicant’s dissertation advisor.
• Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowship applicants: Provide two recommendations from the applicant’s advisers, colleagues or others well acquainted with their project or work.
• Short-Term Research Publication Grant applicants: Provide two recommendations from the applicant’s advisers, colleagues or others well acquainted with the applicant, their project/work and their teaching.
• Dissertation Fellowship applicants: Submit transcripts for all graduate work and courses listed in the application. Transcripts must show grades for coursework transferred in. If the transcript shows transfer courses and credits without grades, a transcript from the institution where the courses were taken is required. If you studied at an institution that does not require coursework or provide transcripts, an institutional letter stating that is required.
• Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowship and Short-Term Publication Grant applicants: Proof of degree: Submit transcript(s)** or original letter showing proof of a Ph.D., Ed.D., M.F.A., J.D., M.D., D.M.D., D.V.M., D.B.A., D.S.W., or M.P.H. degree.
• Dissertation Fellowship applicants: Dissertation certification form: Submit the form verifying the completion of all required coursework and qualifying examinations for the doctorate and approval of your dissertation research proposal (plan of research) signed by an institutional officer. No substitutions for this form will be accepted.
• Dissertation applicants: If you will conduct your project at an institution other than your own during the fellowship year, submit the form that indicates you have approval from the institution and the authority with whom the work will be done to conduct the research, laboratory or office space, and library privileges during the fellowship year. No substitutions for this form will be accepted. If you will conduct your project at your home institution, no project institution form is needed.
• Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowship and Short-Term Publication Grant applicants: Submit the form that indicates you have approval from the proposed institution and the authority with whom the work will be done to conduct the research and have institutional affiliation, laboratory or office space, and library privileges during the fellowship year. No substitutions for this form will be accepted.

*A certified English translation is required for all components provided in a foreign language. Translations must bear a mark of certification or official signature that the translation is true and complete.

**All transcripts provided must include the applicant’s full name, the school’s name, all courses and all grades, as well as any other information requested in in the application instructions.  

See More Fellowship and Grant Opportunities

For questions or technical support from ISTS, our technical consultant, please email [email protected] . Enter AAUW-AF if the website prompts you for a program key. We encourage applicants not to opt out of communications from ISTS, to ensure you receive important communications from AAUW.  

Meet a Recent American Fellow

Sarah Biscarra Dilley ’s research is focused on matrifocal and gender-expansive governance from northern villages of yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini to Mokupuni o Hawai‘i, rooted in shared land and kinship-based epistemology. Her written, visual and material practice is grounded in collaboration across experiences, peoples and place, connecting extractive industries, absent treaties and enclosure to emphasize movement, embodied protocol and possibility. Her aspirations are toward cultural resurgence and the return of land to her families’ stewardship.

Our Alumnae

Ayana Johnson

2010–11 American Fellow and marine biologist, policy expert and conservation strategist. She is the founder and CEO of Ocean Collectiv and founder of Urban Ocean Lab.

Melissa Harris-Perry

2001-02 AAUW American Fellow and Maya Angelou Presidential Chair at Wake Forest University, a columnist for the Nation, editor-at-large for ZORA, author of Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America , and former host of The Melissa Harris-Perry Show on MSNBC.

Kimberly Ennico-Smith

1997-98 AAUW American Fellow and staff scientist with NASA who served as deputy project scientist for NASA’s New Horizons Mission, the historic project responsible for capturing unprecedented photos of Pluto.

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Dissertation Fellowships

American Academy in Rome Dissertation Fellowships (link is external)

The Academy offers 11-month and two-year pre-doctoral fellowships in Ancient Studies, Medieval Studies, Renaissance/Early Modern Studies, and Modern Italian Studies. Pre-doctoral fellowships are meant to provide scholars with the necessary time to research and complete their doctoral dissertations.

American Council of Learned Societies  (link is external)

Dissertation fellowships of up to $25,000 for writing dissertations in Southeast European Studies. Also provides Southeast European language training grants.

Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (link is external) The Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships encourage original and significant study of ethical or religious values in all fields of the humanities and social sciences, and particularly to help Ph.D. candidates in these fields complete their dissertation work in a timely manner.

Council on Library and Information Resources (link is external) The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) is pleased to offer fellowships generously funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for dissertation research in the humanities in original sources. The program offers about fifteen competitively awarded fellowships a year. Each provides a stipend of $2,000 per month for periods ranging from nine to 12 months. Each fellow will receive an additional $1,000 upon participating in a symposium on research in original sources and submitting a report acceptable to CLIR on the research experience. Thus the maximum award will be $25,000.

DePauw University Consortium for Faculty Diversity in Liberal Arts Colleges (link is external) The Consortium invites applications for dissertation fellowships and post-doctoral fellowships from U.S. citizens or permanent residents who will contribute to increasing the diversity of member colleges by increasing their ethnic and racial diversity, maximizing the educational benefits of diversity and/or increasing the number of professors who can and will use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of students.

Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) (link is external) This program provides academic year and summer fellowships to institutions of higher education to assist graduate students in foreign language and either area or international studies. Students can use the Summer FLAS internationally or domestically. Apply through UC Berkeley.

Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (link is external) Provides grants to colleges and universities to fund individual doctoral students to conduct research in other countries in modern foreign languages and area studies for periods of six to 12 months. Proposals focusing on Western Europe are not eligible.

Gaius Charles Bolin Dissertation Fellowship (link is external) The Gaius Charles Bolin Fellowships at Williams College are designed to promote diversity on college faculties by encouraging students from underrepresented groups to complete a terminal graduate degree and to pursue careers in college teaching.

Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation Dissertation Fellowships  - Now HFG Emerging Scholars Awarded to scholars whose work can increase understanding and amelioration of urgent problems of violence, aggression, and dominance in the modern world. Particular questions that interest the foundation concern violence, aggression, and dominance in relation to social change, the socialization of children, intergroup conflict, drug trafficking and use, family relationships, and investigations of the control of aggression and violence.

Huntington Library Fellowships (link is external) Short-term residencies (up to $2300/month) at the library are available for Ph.D. students at the dissertation stage.

IHR Mellon Fellowships for Dissertation Research in the Humanities (link is external) $5,000 for pre-doctoral fellows and $25,000 for doctoral fellows will be awarded for archival history research in the United Kingdom.

International Dissertation Research Fellowship (IDRF) (link is external) The International Dissertation Research Fellowship (IDRF) offers nine to 12 months of support to graduate students in the humanities and social sciences who are enrolled in doctoral programs in the United States and conducting dissertation research outside of the United States. IDRF promotes research that is situated in a specific discipline and geographical region but is also informed by interdisciplinary and cross-regional perspectives. 

Mabelle McLeod Lewis Fellowships (link is external) Provides grants to advanced doctoral candidates in the humanities for completion of a scholarly dissertation project on which significant progress has already been made.

National Gallery of Art Dissertation Fellowships (link is external) The Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Artshosts an annual program of support for advanced graduate research in the history, theory, and criticism of art, architecture, and urbanism. Each of the nine fellowships have specific requirements and intents, including support for the advancement and completion of a doctoral dissertation, for residency and travel during the period of dissertation research, and for post-doctoral research.

Samuel H. Kress Dissertation Fellowships in Art History (link is external) Competitive Kress Fellowships administered by the Kress Foundation are awarded to art historians and art conservators in the final stages of their preparation for professional careers, as well as to art museum curators and educators.

Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowships (link is external) Offers approximately 30 fellowships of $20,000 to support dissertations bringing "fresh and constructive perspectives to the history, theory, or practice of formal or informal education anywhere in the world."

Soroptimist International Founder Region Women’s Fellowship (link is external) The mission of the Founder Region Fellowship is to advance the status of women. This will be accomplished through financial support to women in the last year of their doctoral degree. Competition is open to any outstanding graduate woman who is working toward a doctoral degree, preferably in the last year of study but permissibly during the last two years. She must be enrolled in a graduate school within Founder Region, Northern California.

Templeton Dissertation Fellowship at University of Notre Dame (link is external)   “The Problem of Evil in Modern and Contemporary Thought.”   The Center for Philosophy of Religion at University of Notre Dame invites doctoral candidates working in the areas of early modern philosophy of religion and/or theology to apply for a one-year fellowship. The program aims at encouraging Ph.D. students to pursue research in this area while in residence as dissertation fellows in the Center for Philosophy of Religion. 

The Erksine A. Peters Dissertation Year Fellowship at Notre Dame (link is external) The Peters Fellowship will enable two outstanding African American doctoral candidates (at the ABD level) to devote their full energies to the completion of the dissertation, and to provide an opportunity for African American scholars at the beginning of their academic careers to experience life at a major Catholic research university. Administered by both the Office of the Provost and the Department of Africana Studies at the University of Notre Dame, the Peters Fellowship invites applications from African-American doctoral candidates in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and theological disciplines who have completed all degree requirements with the exception of the dissertation.

United States Institute of Peace Dissertation Fellowships (link is external) One-year stipend ($17,000) supports students who have completed all requirements for their degree, except the dissertation, by the start of the fellowship. Dissertation must advance the state of knowledge about international peace and conflict management. 

Semester Dissertation Fellowships (Wylie and Lee Thonton)

The Graduate School's Semester Dissertation Fellowship program includes the  Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship  and the  Lee Thornton Endowed Fellowship . Dissertation fellowships provide full-time support to University of Maryland doctoral candidates who are in the latter stages of writing their dissertations.  Awarded students for AY 24-25 can choose to use the fellowship in either Fall 2024 or Spring 2025. Fellowship benefits include a $15,000 Stipend, a Candidacy Tuition award (899 only), a credit for mandatory fees associated with 899 registration, and reimbursement for the purchase of an individual student health insurance plan for the semester.  

Eligibility:  Eligible candidates are current UMD doctoral students who will have advanced to candidacy by June 1, 2024, and expect to graduate by August 2025.  

Nomination Process :  Doctoral programs are eligible to nominate candidates for the Semester Dissertation Fellowship. Please see the Nomination Allocation Schedule in the Guidelines. Programs must submit nominations by  noon, Wednesday, February 5, 2025.   Students:   Please write your abstract for a non-specialist audience and submit your materials to your program according to their internal deadline.  

Lee Thornton Fellowship Recipients

Lee Thornton Fellows History

Ann G. Wylie Fellowship Recipients

AY 2023-24 Dissertation Fellows AY 2022-23 Dissertation Fellows AY 2021-22 Dissertation Fellows AY 2020-21 Dissertation Fellows AY 2019-20 Dissertation Fellows AY 2018-19 Dissertation Fellows AY 2017-18 Dissertation Fellows AY 2016-17 Dissertation Fellows AY 2015-16 Dissertation Fellows AY 2014-15 Dissertation Fellows AY 2013-14 Dissertation Fellows

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Dissertation Completion Fellowships

Types of fellowships, eligibility, selection criteria, award amount, how to apply, application guidelines.

Dissertation Completion Fellowships support final-year doctoral students. These non-service fellowships allow students to focus exclusively on their research and writing without service obligations. Fellows are expected to defend their dissertation by the end of the academic year.

Submit Application »

General Dissertation Completion Fellowships

• Non-service fellowship
• Supports dissertation research and writing

Royster Society of Fellows (SOF) Dissertation Completion Fellowships

• Supports interdisciplinary learning and engagement
• Opportunities for mentoring, leadership, and professional development

Royster SOF Dissertation Completion Fellowships are endowed through the generous gifts of many friends of the University, most notably Dr. Thomas S. and Mrs. Caroline Royster Jr.

Royster SOF Special Purpose Dissertation Completion Fellowships:

• Membership in the Royster Society of Fellows
• Includes the Jessie Ball duPont Fellowship for Adolescent Studies

Submit only one application. Select the fellowship(s) you are interested in being considered for on the application form and submit the required supporting materials as appropriate. You will be considered for all fellowships that you select on your application.

Eligibility criteria apply to all Dissertation Completion Fellowships. You may not combine the Dissertation Completion Fellowship with other funding without permission from The Graduate School.

You are eligible if:

• You are a fully-enrolled, degree-seeking doctoral student in a residential program administered by The Graduate School.
• You are engaged full-time with writing your dissertation.
• You are able to complete your dissertation within the fellowship term.

Royster SOF 5-Year Fellows are NOT eligible to apply for continued support through a Dissertation Completion Fellowship.

Before applying, you must:

• Complete course requirements
• Pass written and oral preliminary exams
• Have your Dissertation Prospectus formally approved

You cannot apply for both a Dissertation Completion Fellowship and an Off-Campus Dissertation Research Fellowship at the same time.

Your application will be reviewed according to the following criteria:

• You have a strong graduate academic record.
• Your application materials are understandable to a general audience outside of your field.
• Your research design is clearly outlined and appropriate.
• Your research will contribute to and advance the scholarship within your field.
• There is confidence you will be able to complete your dissertation by the end of the fellowship term.
• Your program has minimal resources to support you during the fellowship term.
• You will be an involved and contributing member of the Royster Society of Fellows (for Royster SOF applicants only).

View an in-depth description of the review and selection process.

The fellowship provides a stipend, tuition, fees, and health insurance for one academic year (fall and spring semesters only). Royster SOF fellowships may also provide funds for professional travel.

Depending on funding, this award may change from year to year.

Each program may nominate up to three students for consideration.

Deadline The nomination deadline each year is in late February . -->

Check with your department for an internal deadline. You must submit your application early enough for your department to submit their nomination to The Graduate School by the nomination deadline. Deadlines are posted on the funding deadlines calendar.

• View Frequently Asked Questions about the online award application .
• Prepare an abstract, research description, research workplan, statement of research significance, and curriculum vitae . If appropriate, prepare a Royster SOF interest statement . Arrange for a letter of recommendation from your dissertation advisor. Be sure to follow the application guidelines .
• Before submitting your application, we suggest you get feedback on your materials from a person outside of your field.
• Submit your materials to The Graduate School Award Online Application .
• Once you submit your application, your recommender will receive an email notice to submit a letter of recommendation through the online system.
• Once your letter of recommendation is submitted, the fellowship and award approver(s) for your department will receive an email notifying them that your application is eligible for nomination.
• Your department must nominate you to The Graduate School by the deadline .
• We will notify awardees in April.

We will not consider your application if you exceed any of the page limits and/or you do not follow the proper format.

In addition to the online application, a complete application includes the following:

Format: No more than ½ page. Double-spaced, 12-point font, 1-inch margins, numbered pages, your name on each page.

• Briefly summarize your research

Research Description

Briefly describe your dissertation research and your progress toward completion.

Address your research description to an audience of intelligent reviewers who may not be familiar with your field. Clearly explain the importance of your research to a lay audience. Do not use jargon or technical, field-specific terminology.

Format: No more than 3 pages. Double-spaced, 12-point font, 1-inch margins, numbered pages, your name on each page.

Depending on your field of study, include:

• A summary of key literature
• General concepts
• Frame of reference for your study
• Your research questions
• Description of the data or other materials which will be/have been collected and analyzed
• Methods of collection and analysis
• Design considerations
• Description of any necessary approvals, such as Human Subjects Review

Research Progress, Work Plan, and Timetable:

Format: No more than 1 page. Double-spaced, 12-point font, 1-inch margins, numbered pages, your name on each page.

• Describe your research progress to date and your planned sequence of tasks to be completed, with estimated timetable.

Significance of your Research:

• Explain the significance of your research to your field of study

Curriculum Vitae

Format: No more than 2 pages. 12-point font, 1-inch margins, numbered pages, and your name on each page.

• Include recent professional activities, awards, honors, courses you have taught, and research publications/presentations.
• Departmental funding received
• External funding (please note if received or pending)
• Because University funding is limited, we encourage you to apply for external funding, and such efforts will be viewed positively by the reviewers.

Citations (optional):

• May be included for important references
• Can be either footnotes or endnotes
• Can be single-spaced
• Must be within the three-page limit of the Research Description

Royster Society of Fellows Interest Statement:

*Required only if you are interested in being considered for the Royster Society of Fellows*

• Include a statement addressing your interest and ability to contribute as an active member of the Society of Fellows.

Letter of Recommendation from your Dissertation Advisor

Indicate the email address of your recommender in your application. Please note that only a single recommendation letter will be accepted. If you have joint advisors, they must submit a joint letter of recommendation.

Once you submit your application, your advisor will receive an email notice to submit the letter of recommendation. We can only accept letters of recommendation through the online system. Recommenders cannot submit letters directly to The Graduate School or to your department.

Instructions for recommenders: Each letter of recommendation should be no more than 4,000 characters (spaces included), which is approximately 600 words or one single-spaced page.

Address the letter of recommendation “To the Fellowship Committee.” Include:

• The quality of the student's research
• A rating of the student’s overall ability and potential based on the your knowledge of other students in the field
• The likelihood that the student will complete the dissertation during the award period
• The likely contributions of the student's research to the field
• Jessie Ball duPont Fellowship for Adolescent Studies

Graduate School Fellowships Office [email protected]

NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship Program

The application portal will open in Summer 2023.

Dear Applicant,

Thank you for your interest in the National Academy of Education (NAEd)/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship Program. The dissertation fellowship aims to strengthen research on education and learning by supporting early career scholars from a wide range of fields. Each year, the program funds a small group of outstanding advanced doctoral candidates so that they can devote themselves full-time to the completion of their dissertation. In addition to the $27,500 stipend, fellows participate in two professional development retreats. While these meetings offer dissertation writing support, they also provide opportunities designed to expand fellows’ networks, build research and career skills, and support their transition into professional roles.

NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellows are selected through a highly competitive process. Please review the eligibility and procedural requirements carefully before beginning an application. This year 35 fellowships will be awarded.

A selection committee of NAEd members and other senior scholars from diverse fields is responsible for selecting the award recipients. The following are basic criteria for selection: the importance of the research question to education, the quality of the research approach and feasibility of the work plan, and the applicant’s future potential in educational research. Please note that the dissertation fellowship is intended to support the writing of the dissertation during the last year(s) of doctoral work and cannot be used during the data collection phase of the dissertation.

Please read all of the following materials and instructions carefully to determine your eligibility and to ensure the best presentation of your candidacy to those who will review your application. Completed applications must be submitted electronically no later than   5pm Eastern Time on Thursday, October 5, 2023.

Answers to commonly asked questions about the dissertation fellowship are available on our FAQs page. If you have any other questions, please contact the NAEd by email at [email protected] . On behalf of the National Academy of Education, I wish you well as you move toward completion of your doctoral work.

Gregory White Executive Director

Through the dissertation fellowship, the National Academy of Education (NAEd) and Spencer seek to encourage a new generation of scholars from a variety of fields to undertake research relevant to the improvement of education. The NAEd and Spencer believe scholarly insight from many different disciplines can contribute to an understanding of education as a fundamental human endeavor and advance our ability to address significant current issues in education. Therefore, the NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship supports individuals whose dissertations show potential for bringing fresh and constructive perspectives to the history, theory, or practice of formal or informal education anywhere in the world.

Eligibility

Applicants need not be citizens of the United States; however, they must be candidates for a doctoral degree at a graduate institution within the U.S. The fellowship is not intended to finance data collection or the completion of doctoral coursework but rather to support the final analysis of the research topic and the writing of the dissertation. For this reason, all applicants must confirm via the online application that they will have completed all pre-dissertation requirements by June 1, 2024 and must provide a clear and specific plan for completing the dissertation within a one or two-year time frame.

Funding Priorities

Although the dissertation topic must centrally concern education, graduate study may be in any academic discipline or professional field. Fellowships have been awarded to candidates in anthropology, architecture, art history, communications, economics, education, history, linguistics, literature, philosophy, political science, psychology, public health, religion, and sociology. Eligibility is not restricted to these academic areas. Candidates should be interested in pursuing research on education once the doctorate is attained.

Awards and Conditions

The NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellows will award 35 non-renewable fellowships for the 2024 program. Recipients of the fellowships will receive $27,500 to support completion of the dissertation. This amount must be expended within a time limit of up to two years and in accordance with the work plan provided by the candidate.

The fellowship is designed to provide fellows with support for the writing phase of the dissertation and to alleviate the need for significant other employment. However, the NAEd recognizes that individuals have unique needs and circumstances, and fellows may have “reasonable” outside employment during the fellowship year. The NAEd suggests no more than 10 hours/week but will work with fellows if more is required. If an applicant intends to work during the fellowship, they must seek approval from the Academy. Additionally, the selection committee must have ample evidence to demonstrate that a candidate will be able to finish the dissertation within the timeframe specified.

Applicants must also notify the NAEd if they are offered another fellowship to discuss the nature and terms of the award. As a ground rule, if an applicant is offered another fellowship in addition to the NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship, they may only accept one of the awards if they are both supporting the same aspect of the research project (i.e., the writing phase). Concurrent funding from a fellow’s institution may be allowable depending on the parameters of that funding, but this is reviewed by NAEd on a case-by-case basis. Please contact the NAEd with any questions about this policy.

Preparing the Application

Full and complete applications must be submitted electronically by 5pm Eastern Time on Thursday, October 5, 2023 ; this includes both letters of recommendation. Notification of awards will occur by May 2024. Fellowships may begin no earlier than June 1, 2024.

Basic selection criteria are the following:

• Importance of the research question to education
• Quality of the research approach and feasibility of the work plan
• Applicant’s future potential as a researcher and interest in education research

However, the selection committee will consider these specific questions in deliberations:

• To what extent does the narrative discussion of the dissertation show knowledge of relevant research in the field? To what extent is it grounded in pertinent theory?
• To what extent is the study’s argued relevance to education convincing? To what extent is the study likely to yield new knowledge about an important educational issue?
• To what extent does the proposal explicate the following (as relevant to the project): design and logic of the study; sources of evidence; measurement and classification; and nature of analysis and interpretation? To what extent are the methodology and analysis plans described in sufficient detail to evaluate their appropriateness for this specific study?
• To what extent does the proposal (whether by rationale for data analysis or by a discussion of preliminary results) make a case that the dissertation is likely compelling and important to the broader field of education research?
• To what extent does the narrative discussion display strong authorship skills, with clear organization and structure?
• Is the applicant likely to complete his/her doctoral studies within the time-frame the fellowship allows (one year full-time or two years half-time), or soon thereafter?
• What is the likelihood that the applicant will continue to conduct research and scholarly activities in the field of education?

The final selection committee is comprised of scholars with varying backgrounds. Because the proposal is reviewed by a multidisciplinary committee, it must be compelling to scholars who do not have expertise in the given area. Getting feedback from colleagues and others who can provide constructive criticism is strongly encouraged. It may be especially helpful to enlist the help of a colleague with a different focus to ensure that the proposal is easily understood by the selection committee members with different disciplinary backgrounds. The NAEd also recommends reading “ The Art of Writing Proposals ”, an article published by the Social Science Research Council, for guidance on writing a strong proposal.

Once candidates create an online account, they can manage the entire application online. It is not necessary to complete the application in one session. Applicants will be able to save their work and come back to the submission at any time before the deadline.

Once the application is submitted, please do not contact the NAEd or Spencer to inquire about receipt of materials. Candidates will receive a confirmation e-mail when their application has been submitted, as well as when a letter of reference has been submitted to their application. They will also receive an e-mail notification if the two letters of recommendation have not been submitted by the deadline. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that these letters are submitted.

APPLICATION COMPONENTS

APPLICATION FORM Only applications from individuals will be accepted. Candidates must use the online application available on the NAEd website.

DISSERTATION ABSTRACT In a single-spaced paragraph, summarize the substantive focus and research design of the dissertation and its contribution to education. Please include the purpose, methods, and scope of the dissertation. A text box is provided within the online application; please refer to length restrictions on the application form.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION Applicants will be asked to provide the following information:

• Demographic data
• Educational history
• Employment history
• A list of scholarships, fellowships, and assistantships that have been received or for which the applicant has applied
• A list of honors and awards
• A list of publications and presentations
• Information about the completion of pre-dissertation requirements
• Language(s) proficiency
• Information about the two letter writers

PERSONAL STATEMENT Applicants are asked to describe:

• How their educational work and experiences have prepared them for doing research on this dissertation topic
• What career path they hope to pursue after completing the dissertation, including any plans to remain focused on education research in the future.

The bulk of the personal statement should be dedicated to describing previous experiences. A text box is provided within the online application; please refer to length restrictions on the application form.

WORK PLAN The NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship is intended to support the writing of the dissertation rather than data collection or course work. It is the expectation of the NAEd and Spencer that fellows will have a completed dissertation at the end of the fellowship period or soon thereafter. Ordinarily, the fellowship of $27,500 supports one year of full-time work on the dissertation, and the work plan specifies when this year begins and ends. Applicants who cannot work full-time on their dissertation may specify a work plan of up to two years that allows for part-time work for the duration of the fellowship or for alternating periods of dissertation work and income-producing work. The fellowship can begin as early as June 1, 2024 and end as late at May 31, 2026. Applicants will be asked to provide a start and end date as well as dates when they expect to complete each phase of the dissertation (e.g. completion of data analysis, completion of individual chapters, and dissertation to committee) within the online application. Applicants should clearly indicate when they want the fellowship period to begin. They can include goals and activities that will precede the fellowship start date on the timeline, but the timeline should still include the fellowship start date.

LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION Two letters of recommendation, one from the dissertation director/chair and one from another faculty member, are required. All recommenders must submit their letters online. Only two letters will be accepted per application. The NAEd strongly encourages applicants to discuss the principal issues the letter should address with their recommenders. These issues are outlined in the “Dear Colleague” letter at the end of this page. Please request the letters early to allow sufficient time to ensure they are submitted prior to the application deadline. The online application sends an automated request to these individuals once their information is entered, so please ensure that their e-mail addresses are entered correctly. Applicants should notify reviewers once they submit their e-mail addresses. Please have reviewers check spam filters for the automated email before contacting the NAEd with questions.

NARRATIVE DISCUSSION OF DISSERTATION In no more than 10 double-spaced pages with one-inch margins, and at least 11-point Times New Roman font, describe the dissertation. This narrative document should have page numbers and the applicant’s full name and registered email address as a running header.

Include the goals of the project, its contribution to the field, and the significance of the work, especially as it relates to education. Place the project in context, and outline the theoretical grounding and the relevant literature. Describe the research questions and research design, the methods of gathering and analyzing data, and interpretation techniques. If preliminary findings or pilot data are available, these should be described briefly – especially if they illustrate how the applicant will be conducting thematic analyses or applying coding systems to the data. Lack of clarity in treatment of data with respect to the research question(s) is often a problem area in applications.

Please keep in mind that each proposal will be reviewed by some senior scholars familiar with the field and by others less familiar; thus, language specific to a field should be situated within an argument persuasive to a generalist audience.

The narrative discussion cannot exceed 10 double-spaced typed pages. An additional single-spaced bibliography (no more than two pages) of the sources most important to the project should be appended (works cited in the narrative discussion should be included).

The narrative discussion and bibliography should be uploaded as one document ( 12 pages total ) within the online system. Technical and supplemental a ppendices (charts, graphs, tables, questionnaires, etc.) may be included and do not count towards the limit ; however, please be judicious in the quantity included, as reviewers are not required to review material in the appendices. Information essential to understanding the project should be included in the 10 page narrative (including any coding systems). Applicants should make the case for their research in the narrative.

GRADUATE TRANSCRIPT Applicants must upload a graduate transcript in the online application. An unofficial copy is sufficient.

LATE APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED

Request for Reference Letter

For your information, this is a version of the letter emailed to your reference writers.

Dear Colleague,

You have been asked to serve as a reference for a National Academy of Education (NAEd)/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship program applicant. Each applicant is required to submit two letters of recommendation: one from the dissertation director/chair and one from another faculty member who knows the candidate’s work well. The application deadline is 5pm Eastern Time on Thursday, October 5, 2023.  It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that all materials, including references, are submitted prior to the deadline.

The NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship Program seeks to encourage a new generation of scholars from a wide range of disciplines and professional fields to undertake research relevant to the improvement of education. These $27,500 fellowships support individuals whose dissertations show potential for bringing fresh and constructive perspectives to the history, theory, or practice of formal or informal education anywhere in the world.

In a letter of no more than two pages, we would appreciate your evaluation of the individual as a candidate for the National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship. Please include the applicant’s full name in your letter. In addition, we ask that you please provide your full name, title, department, institutional affiliation, telephone number, and e-mail address. We would like you to comment directly on the following six topics:

• Your relationship to the student;
• Your evaluation of the student relative to other students you have worked with;
• The strength of the proposed dissertation research and its relevance to educational improvement;
• The project’s connection to existing research on the topic, and the potential contribution of that dissertation to that literature;
• The student’s future potential as a scholar and likelihood that their research will continue to address education;
• The student’s apparent long-term contributions to research in education.

The NAEd website, www.naeducation.org , provides a complete list of application guidelines and eligibility requirements. Thank you for your time and contribution to this process. If you have any questions, please e-mail [email protected] .

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The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi annually awards fifteen Dissertation Fellowships of $10,000 each to active members who are doctoral candidates and are completing dissertations.

At the 2022 Biennial Convention, Phi Kappa Phi designated one of the fellowships as The Missy Hopper Dissertation Fellowship to honor Dr. Hopper’s many years of exceptional volunteer leadership.

Dissertation Fellowships support students in the dissertation writing stage of doctoral study. Awards are for 12 months of dissertation writing. All pre-dissertation requirements should be met by the application deadline, including approval of the dissertation proposal.

Oct. 1, 2024:  Application portal opens

Nov. 30, 2024:  Application deadline

March 1, 2025:  Recipients will be notified

Eligibility

The Dissertation Fellowship is open to all active (dues current) Phi Kappa Phi members or those who have accepted membership by Nov. 30, 2024, and:

• attend a U.S. regionally accredited, doctoral-granting institution of higher education
• have completed all pre-dissertation requirements
• have endorsement of the dissertation chair
• are not a sitting Phi Kappa Phi board member, divisional vice president, member of the Dissertation Fellowship Award committee or Society employee at time of application or announcement.

*Please note applicants should not hold other doctoral degrees; this should be their first doctoral program.

Application Process

Submit your application through our  online portal after Oct. 1, 2024.

Selection is based on applicant letter addressing how the award will contribute to the completion of the dissertation, answer to prompt explaining significance of the original research, 300-word abstract, CV and certification/endorsement by the dissertation chair. (The endorsement letter is automatically emailed to the address listed for your dissertation chair and must be received before the application deadline.)

Winners will be notified by March 1, 2025.

For a list of the most recent recipients, FAQ and additional applicant resources, click here .

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Louisville Institute

Dissertation fellowship.

The Dissertation Fellowship offers US$35,000 grants to support the final year of dissertation writing for Ph.D. or Th.D. students whose research focuses on Christian faith and life, the practice of ministry, religious trends and movements, Christian and other faith-based institutions, and religion and social issues in the United States and Canada.

2025 Application Portal Opens June 1, 2024.

Application due date : february 1, 2025 (11:59 p.m. est), dissertation fellowship amount : us$35,000, fellowship timeline : fall 2025 – fall 2026, awards announced : may 2025, winter seminar : january 21-23, 2026, what are dissertation fellowships.

The Louisville Institute Dissertation Fellowship offers US$35,000 grants to support the final year of dissertation writing for Ph.D. or Th.D. students whose research focuses on Christian faith and life, the practice of ministry, religious trends and movements, Christian and other faith-based institutions, and religion and social issues. Dissertation projects may emerge from diverse fields such as history, systematic and practical theology, social sciences, ethics, biblical studies, etc., or may be interdisciplinary in nature. Of particular interest to the Louisville Institute are projects with the potential to bridge church and academy, and to generate new knowledge that enriches the life of the church in North America. Students applying in 2025 should expect to complete their dissertations during the 2026 calendar year.

What Is Winter Seminar?

Dissertation Fellows also attend Winter Seminar, a three-day gathering in Louisville, KY, in which award recipients from three different Louisville Institute programs gather to share their projects and engage in valuable collaboration together. Winter Seminar for this grant cycle will take place January 21–23, 2026, and all related expenses for participants are paid by the Louisville Institute. Attending this event is a requirement of receiving a Dissertation Fellowship.

What do I need to know to apply?

• Download the full 2025 Dissertation Fellowship Application Guide for all eligibility and application requirements.
• Review all eligibility and application requirements below.
• Learn about previous Dissertation Fellowship projects.
• Ready to apply? Click here or APPLY in the upper right corner.
• NOTE: Application portal opens June 1, 2024 for 2025 Dissertation Fellowship applications.

Who is eligible for a Dissertation Fellowship?

Eligible applicants:

• are candidates for a Ph.D. or Th.D. degree at an accredited graduate school in the United States or Can ada . D.Min. students and others in practical degree programs are not eligible for this fellowship. 
• must reside in the United States or Canada, and be U.S. or Canadian citizens or international students with appropriate student visas to study in North America. Students enrolled in North American doctoral programs but living outside of the United States and Canada are not eligible. 
• must complete all pre-dissertation requirements, including approval of the dissertation proposal, and be “all but dissertation” by February 1, 2025.
• Should expect to complete and defend the dissertation before December 31, 2026.

LI Doctoral Fellows are welcome to apply for the Dissertation Fellowship program. However, if you have previously received and declined an LI Dissertation Fellowship, you are not eligible to apply again.

If you have questions about eligibility or other stipulations of the fellowship, please email [email protected] .

How do I apply?

• Download the 2025 Dissertation Fellowship Application Guide. The application guide contains the details you need. Review the eligibility requirements in the guide.
• Create an account. Click on the “ Apply ” button to create an account and get started in the application portal.
• General information about your dissertation and progress
• Dissertation prospectus
• Selective bibliography
• Doctoral transcript
• Curriculum vitae or resume
• Two letters of recommendation
• All application materials are submitted online through our application portal.
• Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. EST February 1, 2024.
• Letters of recommendation are due from your recommenders February 8, 2024.

What is the selection process for Dissertation Fellowship?

Every year the Louisville Institute appoints a selection committee to review proposals and award Dissertation Fellowships. All applicants will be notified as soon as possible following the selection process, which usually takes place about 8-10 weeks after the application due date. Awards will be announced publicly in May 2025. Fellowship funds are dispersed in two equal payments: in September of the award year, and January the following year.

We typically receive 100 or more eligible applications for the Dissertation Fellowship. In 2025, we expect to award 10 fellowships. 

Additional Eligibility Information for all Grants & Fellowships

• You are welcome to apply again for any of our grants or fellowships – in fact, it’s very common! However, you may only apply for one grant or fellowship between June 1, 2024, and May 31, 2025 .
• Any previous fellowships or grants from the Louisville Institute must be completed and final report submitted before applying for another LI fellowship or grant.
• Members of the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary staff, faculty, Board of Trustees, or student body or their immediate family members (parents, spouses, or children) are ineligible for Louisville Institute grants or fellowships. Members of the Louisville Institute Advisory Board and their immediate family members are also ineligible.
• Louisville Institute grantees may not simultaneously hold two individual grants from Lilly Endowment-funded organizations that together total more than US$55,000. Please contact us if you have any questions about this stipulation: [email protected]. Individual grants are those held by the same project director, not necessarily the same institution.

Please do not hesitate to contact us with questions — email us at [email protected] .

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Four UW–Madison students receive Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowships

Four UW–Madison students have been awarded fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) and the Mellon Foundation to support their innovative and creative dissertation research.

The Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowships support doctoral students in the humanities and social sciences with up to $50,000 including funds for research, training, professional development, and mentorship. The four fellows at UW–Madison are among 45 overall, selected from a pool of more than 700 applicants. They are:

• Kuhelika Ghosh , doctoral candidate in English with a minor in Culture, History, and Environment
• Fauzi Moro , doctoral student in History with a minor in African Cultural Studies
• Anika M. Rice , doctoral student in Geography with a minor in Community-Engaged Scholarship
• Vignesh Ramachandran , doctoral student in Geography

Read more about each Mellon/ACLS Fellow below.

Kuhelika Ghosh

Ghosh’s dissertation explores multispecies gardens in Anglophone Caribbean literature and culture from the 1960s to the present, bringing together postcolonial studies and ecocritical approaches.

“I am interested in the ways that Afro-diasporic women’s gardening practices in the Caribbean region often engage with nonhuman rhythms relating to seasonal time, harvest and fallow, and the lives of insects, birds, and other species,” she said.

Through this work, Ghosh demonstrates how human gardening practices and the rhythms of many different species found in gardens of various types relate to postcolonial food politics and responses to empire. Ghosh explained that the original kitchen and market gardens began during plantation slavery as provisions grounds, which were plots of land set apart from plantations for enslaved people to grow their own food.

The project uses literary texts, visual culture, little-studied archival materials, and physical gardens to create new theories about key problems in cultural study, including voice, rhythm, and spatiality. Ghosh takes an interdisciplinary approach that crosses through literary studies, environmental studies, history, and visual cultures, which gives her dissertation the boundary-pushing trait the Mellon/ACLS fellowship seeks to encourage.

“By focusing on small-scale cultivation, women’s care work, and ‘inconsequential’ multispecies creatures, my project sheds light on the many minor figures in the postcolonial Caribbean that have the power to create change in food justice movements,” Ghosh said.

She also said agricultural scholarship tends to be biased toward men’s labor, while women make up a significant portion of the agricultural labor force in the Caribbean – especially through domestic spaces like backyard gardens. She seeks to highlight Caribbean women’s perspectives and voices around the topics of food justice and postcolonial politics.

“I hope my research brings to light the importance of gardens as a feminist practice, postcolonial agricultural strategy, as well as a form of art in itself,” Ghosh said. “Gardens are often seen as ‘minor’ in the field of the environmental humanities, but my dissertation attempts to demonstrate that although a garden may be minor in terms of area, it has political, ecological, and social significances for marginalized populations in the Caribbean as well as in other postcolonial spaces around the globe.”

Fauziyatu Moro (Fauzi)

Three miles north of Accra’s central business district, the city’s largest migrant enclave, Nima, houses migrants from various African countries. Moro explained that in the nine decades of Nima’s existence, its residents have embodied a distinct Afro-cosmopolitan identity that has thus far gone unnoticed by scholars of African urban history, migration, and the African diaspora.

Moro’s dissertation and an open-access digital archive emerging from her work theorizes Nima as an internal African diaspora and an unprecedented site of pan-African consciousness. This is facilitated by migrants’ urban leisure which speaks to an ethos of global Black solidarity, Moro said.

“By centering intra-Africa migrants’ social imaginations and amusements in the making of Accra’s pan-African and transnational history, my dissertation offers a glimpse into the possibilities of researching migration and urbanization in Africa through the category of leisure as opposed to migrant labor,” Moro said. This challenges scholars to reassess assumptions about working-class intra-Africa migrants, while introducing ideas about migrants’ roles as key historical actors in creating and socially transforming African urban spaces, she added.

Moro’s project centers on migrants’ narratives, social imaginations, and visual and material culture, creating a retelling of the history of Accra. This is underscored by multi-disciplinary methods including oral sources, state and migrants’ personal archives, print media, and literary and visual analysis.

“Migrants’ oral histories and personal archives are particularly crucial to my methodology because they anchor the counter-narrative I seek to provide about Accra’s intra-Africa migrants whose lives and experiences often come to us through the skewed lens of crime, poverty and/or chaos. My research is, thus, undergirded by a quest to make visible the histories of Africa’s urban migrants as told in their own voices,” Moro said.

Anika M. Rice

“In this context, how families leverage landholdings for migration is central to livelihoods, agrarian change, debt, and situated meanings of land,” Rice said.

Land access is often left out of discussions about the root causes of migration in Central America, Rice explained. Her research provides a grounding point that takes seriously the role of land access and how land is used in the decisions that families make about migration.

Rice will collaborate with groups of predominantly Maya K’iche’ women with migrant family members who seek to understand possibilities for collective resistance against the structural and institutional impacts of migration. These groups are part of the Jesuit Migration Network‘s programming in Guatemala.

“I intend for my research to center the agency of K’iche’ women and other marginalized folks in communities of origin, and affirm the right to migrate with dignity,” she said.

Rice said that while there has been important work on transnational migration in host and transit countries, as well as on the intersections of migration and agrarian change, there is limited attention to the gendered impacts of migration in communities of origin and how migration is tied to land access. Her dissertation will use community-based research approaches to engage with the experiences of women with migrant family members, showing their strategies for survival and persistence.

Previous scholarship has often focused on the head of household and on remittances sent home from migrants. Rice’s methods will integrate household surveys with ethnographic work that engages with how multiple family members in different social positions relate to and may leverage specific parcels of land for migration.

“Elevating voices from communities of origin, with a focus on how women are organizing, is central to the co-production of knowledge on social relations, mobility and the environment,” Rice said.

Vignesh Ramachandran

Scientific management, also known as Taylorism, focuses on economic efficiency and labor productivity. Ramachandran’s research focuses on how digital Taylorism – such as automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and algorithm-based management practices – affects delivery workers. Ramachandran uses a worker’s inquiry methodology that emphasizes collaborative, action-oriented research conducted alongside workers to document the effects of digital Taylorism.

“Through this methodology, this project outlines the racializing and disciplining effects of algorithms in shaping the lives of immigrant delivery workers,” Ramachandran said. “In doing so, it also hopes to discover how digital Taylorism produces residual after-effects, like solidarity and care, that propose other modes of social life under the managerial control of algorithms and digital technology.”

Innovations in automation and AI are constantly changing the terrain of labor and work, Ramachandran said. Many of those innovations are implemented in the gig economy and push workers to work harder and faster, while corporations increase their profits, he said. His dissertation challenges “disembodied” descriptions of technological innovation by centering perspectives of immigrant delivery workers.

“Many working class immigrants in New York City have been doubly subjected to the effects of imperialism—faced with austerity, militarism, and climate crisis in their home countries, and border violence, policing, and structural poverty in the U.S.,” Ramachandran said. “In this context, my research challenges race-neutral accounts of the gig economy by situating exploitation in the gig economy within the long [duration] of racial capitalism and imperialism, and by documenting stories of immigrant worker resistance amidst this violence.”

Ramachandran said his approach to dissertation research “re-introduces the workers’ inquiry as an innovative form of collaborative research that academics can undertake with workers.”

“Whereas companies like Uber, Grubhub, and Doordash spend millions on research and development to maximize profit in the gig economy, the workers’ inquiry turns to the experiences and situated knowledge of workers to document and contest exploitation in their workplace,” he explained. “In this case, this project builds on over two years of community-engaged research with undocumented South Asian delivery workers and community organizations to understand how resistance to exploitation in the gig economy takes place at the intersection of digital technology, labor, and everyday immigrant life. Moreover, the project develops the importance of collaborative, community engaged methodologies in the broader humanities and social sciences.”

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Breaking boundaries: UCSB grad students win prestigious Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship

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Recognized for their “bold and innovative approaches” to research, three UC Santa Barbara graduate students have been awarded the 2024 Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship. Doctoral students Yuri Fraccaroli , Salma Shash and Tinghao Zhou are among 45 awardees selected from a nationwide pool of more than 700 Ph.D. students in the humanities and interpretive social sciences.

“We are extremely proud of these three international students for winning such a prestigious and competitive fellowship,” said Interim Graduate Dean Leila J. Rupp. “It is notable that all are involved in research that crosses traditional disciplinary boundaries and allows them to bring their personal experiences into their projects. Together, they show the global reach, interdisciplinarity and emphasis on social justice that is a hallmark of our campus.”

Fraccaroli, a first-generation doctoral student from Brazil, is pursuing research in the feminist studies department based on their work as an educator, artist and researcher with Acervo Bajubá, an LGBT+ community archive in São Paulo. They will use the funding and support from the award to expand the scope of their winning dissertation, “Archivo vivo! An Ethnography of the Archive: Latin American Sex and Gender Community Archives.” 

“I have an outline of chapters, I know the sites I'm working at, I know the communities I'm going to be talking to,” Fraccaroli said. “It’s also research that is a result of five years around this life commitment that I have with community archives in Latin America, especially in South America, and in Brazil with Acervo Bajubá , where my work comes from. Instead of seeing these archives as objects, I consider them as epistemological projects. That’s the key intervention of my project.” 

Part of the support and resources provided by the fellowship include an external advisor. “The first stage of my research is going to be probably at the University of Leeds with Patricio Simonetto, who is a queer historian who has a very outstanding career,” they said. “At this moment, I want to expand my theoretical knowledge from Brazil to the region. The idea of the project is to get a regional and global perspective on this phenomenon, this rise of community archives that has been happening in the last decade.”

A Ph.D. candidate in film and media studies, Zhou won the award for his dissertation, “At the Ends of Media: E-Waste Pollution, Secondhand Extraction, and Environmental Politics in Guiyu, China,” “I'm looking at a specific e-waste processing site in China, which has been perceived as one of the largest e-waste recycling hubs in the world for the past 20 or 30 years,” he said. “I think this award is instrumental for my research because it allows graduate students like myself to go to the places that I want to visit and to talk to the people I want to reach outside of America. I think this funding gives me an opportunity to gain access to those trainings and spaces, which I think is really important for my project.”

Zhou’s personal experiences also fueled his dissertation goals. He grew up in South China, in an area known for its manufacturing, industry and international trade, not far from a town with many recycling workshops and centers.  “It was famous for collecting old TV sets, air conditioners and refrigerators – all of these old consumer electronics,” he recalled. “When I was in my childhood home, I always got that smell of recycling. I had to close my door or close my windows sometimes. The smell is a memory I associate with these old recycling industries, and that actually became a kind of central methodology of my project — to use this sensory ethnography to understand how the local people live and work in and around e-waste recycling sites.”

He hopes his research and the funding provided for interviews with local officials, environmental scientists and activists will shed light on the impact of e-waste recycling processes on the local communities. “I was thinking of how the chemical and physical components of those devices could even impact the metabolism of the workers’  bodies,” Zhou said. “Looking at this site pushes me to think about how the global media economy and output of e-waste tangibly shape the local ecologies, politics and people. The other part of the project is also looking at how the central government negotiates or reacts to this global media economy in its development of environmental science and technology.”

The award arrived at a crucial time in Shash’s graduate research career. “I had no guaranteed funding for next year, and this fellowship will allow me to focus on research and writing without teaching duties or other work responsibilities,” she said. “It also gives you some motivation to know that other people think your research is important or worth funding.”

Shash’s winning research project, “Villagers, Criminals, and Policemen: Policing and Justice in Rural Egypt, 1854-1914,”  stems from political changes in her home country of Egypt. “I have been interested in understanding police brutality, coercion and criminal justice since the 2011 revolution in Egypt,” she said. “I wrote my master's thesis in 2015 at SOAS, the University of London, on police brutality after the revolution. I have since been convinced that unpacking the genealogy and history of the Egyptian police is essential to `reforming’ (or transforming) it today. When I started my archival work in 2022, I shifted to a more complex understanding of policing in Egypt through rural experiences, where political economy and, specifically, land are intimately linked to police power. At the core of my research is a commitment to seeking and understanding justice.”

A doctoral candidate in the history department, Shash’s research goals have been enhanced by her mentors, the presence of the Center for Middle East Studies, and the interdisciplinary nature of research at UC Santa Barbara. In addition to Professor Sherene Seikaly as her graduate advisor, Shash has received key mentorship from other Middle East historians like Professor Adam Sabra as well historians outside her field, including Professor Utathya Chattopadhyaya, who teaches South Asian history, and Professor Dwight Reynolds from the religious studies department. “I would ideally like to continue pursuing a career in academia, teaching and doing research, while remaining active with and grounded in my local community,” said Shash, who continues to build on her “commitment to justice and faith that knowledge production and teaching are spaces for activism and vehicles for change.”

The ACLS launched the fellowship program in 2023, with the support of the Mellon Foundation, to advance a vision for doctoral education that prioritizes openness to new methods and sources, underrepresented voices and perspectives and scholarly experimentation. The awards are designed to accelerate change in the norms of humanistic scholarship by recognizing those who take risks in the modes, methods and subjects of their research.

Each fellow receives an award of up to $50,000, consisting of a $40,000 stipend for the

fellowship year; up to $8,000 for project-related research, training, professional development and travel expenses; and a $2,000 stipend to support external mentorship that offers new perspectives on the fellow’s project and expands their advising network. With fellows pursuing their research across the country and beyond, the ACLS will also provide opportunities for virtual networking and scholarly programming throughout the fellows’ award terms.

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The University of California, Santa Barbara is a leading research institution that also provides a comprehensive liberal arts learning experience. Our academic community of faculty, students, and staff is characterized by a culture of interdisciplinary collaboration that is responsive to the needs of our multicultural and global society. All of this takes place within a living and learning environment like no other, as we draw inspiration from the beauty and resources of our extraordinary location at the edge of the Pacific Ocean.

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Two Penn Ph.D. candidates awarded 2024 Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship

The school of arts & sciences awardees are arielle xena alterwaite, who is pursuing a ph.d. in history, and katherine scahill, who is pursuing a ph.d. in music..

Two University of Pennsylvania Ph.D. candidates in the School of Arts & Sciences have been named to the 2024 class of the Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship , administered by the Institute for Citizens & Scholars .

The Newcombe Fellowship, funded by the Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation , is the largest and most prestigious award for Ph.D. candidates in the humanities and social sciences addressing questions of ethical and religious values in interesting, original, or significant ways. Fellows receive a 12-month award of $31,000 to support the final year of dissertation writing.

Arielle Xena Alterwaite , a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of History , and Katherine Scahill , a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Music , were named as 2024 Fellows.

Alterwaite’s research explores Haiti’s sovereign debt in the aftermath of the Haitian Revolution in her dissertation, “Empire of Debt: Haiti and France in the Nineteenth-Century Atlantic World.”

“With support from the Newcombe Foundation and its interdisciplinary focus, I look forward to deepening the ways in which I can bring my work to broad audiences,” Alterwaite says. “My hope is that this archivally grounded historical account of Haitian debt in a global context can speak to international activists, legislators, and policymakers who take the ethical ramifications of finance seriously.”

History department chair Sophia Rosenfeld says it’s no surprise that Alterwaite continues to win an extraordinary number of major external fellowships, including, now, the Newcombe.

“For her dissertation, she has taken on a crucial topic in 19th century Atlantic history—the massive debt that a newly independent Haiti owed to the French state—and she has managed both to find brand-new sources for understanding it and to generate new explanations that have real implications for thinking about sovereign debt and reparations for slavery today,” Rosenfeld says.

Scahill’s dissertation, “The gendered politics of religious authority in Thai Buddhism: Voice, embodiment, and sonic efficacy in the movement for female monastic ordination,” is based upon ethnographic fieldwork with three communities of female Buddhist monks (bhikkhunīs) in Thailand. Drawing on the fields of religious studies and music studies, her dissertation investigates the sonic practices bhikkhunīs employ to establish alternate channels of recognition, given that women’s ordination is not accepted at a national level.

“I am honored to have been selected as a 2024 Newcombe Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Fellow. The Fellowship will provide me with the resources and time I need to adequately engage with the stories and practices shared at bhikkhunī monasteries,” Scahill says. “I am truly grateful for this opportunity.”

Timothy Rommen, chair of the music department, says he’s unsurprised that Scahill’s “excellent” work continues to be recognized. 

“Katherine’s dissertation intervenes at the intersections of ethnomusicology, religious studies, and gender studies to explore what she calls efficacious chant. What makes her project so interesting and innovative is her recognition of a set of lacunae within the study of Buddhist chant,” he says. “While text, context, and religious labor have all been explored, very little has been written about the female monastics on which this dissertation is focused or on the role of ‘voice’ within their practice. Katherine zooms in on the ways that chant helps train monks to stabilize their own bodies while also making them aware of the body’s instability. We are all convinced that Katherine’s dissertation will make a signal contribution to several disciplines.”

Funding at the dissertation stage remains a vital way to support up-and-coming scholars. Since its creation in 1981, the Fellowship has supported more than 1,300 doctoral candidates with essential time and resources to complete their writing. Newcombe Fellows have gone on to be noted faculty at domestic and foreign institutions, leaders in their fields of study, Pulitzer Prize winners, MacArthur Fellows, and more.

Class of 2025 relishes time together at Hey Day

Picturing artistic pursuits

Hundreds of undergraduates take classes in the fine arts each semester, among them painting and drawing, ceramics and sculpture, printmaking and animation, photography and videography. The courses, through the School of Arts & Sciences and the Stuart Weitzman School of Design, give students the opportunity to immerse themselves in an art form in a collaborative way.

Campus & Community

Penn celebrates operation and benefits of largest solar power project in Pennsylvania

Solar production has begun at the Great Cove I and II facilities in central Pennsylvania, the equivalent of powering 70% of the electricity demand from Penn’s academic campus and health system in the Philadelphia area.

Education, Business, & Law

Investing in future teachers and educational leaders

The Empowerment Through Education Scholarship Program at Penn’s Graduate School of Education is helping to prepare and retain teachers and educational leaders.

‘The Illuminated Body’ fuses color, light, and sound

A new Arthur Ross Gallery exhibition of work by artist Barbara Earl Thomas features cut-paper portraits reminiscent of stained glass and an immersive installation constructed with intricately cut material lit from behind.

Ishita Ahmed Awarded Prestigious Fellowship for Her Work in Justice-Focused Education Assessment

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Ishita Ahmed, a doctoral candidate at Stanford University, has been named the 2024 recipient of the CMJ-NBME Dissertation Fellowship. This accolade recognizes Ahmed’s commitment to developing an assessment and measurement system that champions justice and inclusivity. The fellowship, known for promoting diversity and anti-racist practices, supports Ahmed’s research in making educational assessments more reflective of students’ lived experiences.

Allison Acevedo of NBME praised Ahmed’s innovative approach to evaluation, which prioritizes executive functions—a set of cognitive processes crucial for learning. Ahmed’s work aims to integrate these functions into assessment models that value diverse cultural backgrounds and experiences.

Ahmed’s research focuses on identifying ways children in rural Bangladesh use executive functions in daily activities, highlighting the need for assessments that capture these out-of-classroom learning experiences. Her goal is to reshape global education policy evaluation by introducing a framework that accommodates the varied learning contexts of children from different backgrounds.

By bridging her Bangladeshi American heritage with her academic pursuits, Ahmed contributes a unique perspective to the fellowship’s mission of fostering an anti-racist assessment field. She advocates for assessments that acknowledge and validate the cultural identities of all learners.

The CMJ-NBME Fellowship offers a stipend for dissertation research and provides opportunities for networking, skill development, and professional growth in the field of educational assessment. Jennifer Randall, PhD, President of CMJ, commended Ahmed’s broad commitment to equity and justice in education.

Ahmed’s work stands as a testament to the importance of developing educational assessments that are not only fair but also empowering for students from all walks of life. Through her research, she aims to ensure that future generations will benefit from evaluations that truly reflect their cultural and contextual realities.

BRET Career Development ASPIRE Program

Boehringer ingelheim fonds – dissertation fellowship for biomedical research.

Posted by hagansa2 on Wednesday, May 8, 2024 in Announcements .

Deadlines: 

Fall: October 1, 2024

Spring: February 1, 2025

URL:  PhD fellowships (bifonds.de)

Description:

Fellowships support experimental projects in the field of basic biomedical research that are aimed at elucidating basic biological phenomena of human life and acquiring new scientific knowledge. For further examples, please see  What we fund and do not fund  or browse the summaries of completed PhD projects in  Futura , the BIF’s international journal. BIF encourages applicants to apply for a fellowship when they are about to begin their PhD work; preliminary project results are not expected from applicants. The fellowship offers support for up to three years.

Eligibility: Applicants:

• May be European citizens working in Europe or overseas, or non-European citizens pursuing their PhD project in Europe.
• Must have received their first university degree qualifying for a profession (e.g. BSc, Diploma, Final State Examination) within eight years of the application deadline.
• Who have not yet finished their MSc studies by the deadline, must be able to complete the master’s within four months after the deadline.
• Should not have been working on their project for more than six months prior to the deadline.
• Enrolled in MSc/PhD programmes or graduate schools without an official final examination prior to the PhD project should contact BIF.

Award amount:

• €3,500 monthly stipend in the U.S. (see  website  for other countries)
• Spouse allowance, child allowance, and/or childcare allowance may be available.
• Tuition, bench fees, and overheads are  not  reimbursed by the foundation.
• Travel allowance for fellows to present their data at international scientific conferences, participate in methods courses useful for their PhD project, and to perform research in cooperating laboratories.

If this information is out of date, please email [email protected] to let us know. 

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