Open for applications, next deadline is January 29th 2010. Apply Now

The Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship (DPDF) is designed to help early-stage graduate students in the humanities and social sciences formulate more effective doctoral dissertation proposals. Senior tenured faculty serve as research directors who identify research fields for groups of 12 graduate students. The faculty research directors design two workshops: one to prepare students to undertake summer research that will inform the design of their dissertation proposal, held in spring; the other to help students apply their summer research experiences to writing dissertation and funding proposals, held in the fall. Working together, research directors and graduate students help shape emerging fields in the humanities and social sciences.

Student Application

Students apply to one of five research fields and are required to attend and participate in both sets of workshops. Applicants may apply for summer funding but must also apply for summer financial support from their home institutions or extramural support.

The DPDF program is open to second-and third-year graduate students in all disciplines of the social sciences and humanities who are currently enrolled full time in Ph.D. programs at accredited universities in the United States. First and fourth year students may, under exceptional circumstances, be eligible.

Student fellows participate in the two workshops and can apply for up to $5,000 to support summer research.

DPDF Eligibility Criteria for Students

Students in the humanities and social sciences undertaking doctoral dissertation research may apply for one of the five annual research fields named. The program is designed for second and third year PhD students, enrolled in U.S. institutions, who have not yet submitted and will not submit their dissertation proposals until after the fall workshop. Students who have completed their comprehensive/general/qualifying exams are eligible as long as they have not had their dissertation proposal formally approved by their department before the fall workshop.

Fellows are required to be present and participate in both workshops, the dates for which are listed in the DPDF Application & Award Timeline. If you are unable to attend either workshop for any reason, do not apply to the DPDF

If you have already received funding and have completed predissertation research before applying, you will not be eligible for a DPDF. If you have applied this year or in previous years for SSRC's IDRF program, or for any major funding grant for dissertation research, you are not eligible for a DPDF. If you are unsure if your current funding disqualifies you from the DPDF program, please contact DPDF staff. 

DPDF Selection Criteria for Students

Student applications will be evaluated on the basis of the following criteria.

Originality and appropriateness of the topic.  The dissertation topic must suggest an original contribution to an existing body of scholarship.  It should acknowledge and build on such scholarship while presenting a new research question and suggesting a substantive and appropriate methodological direction in the research.  Topics that are interdisciplinary and comparative are especially encouraged; in all cases, the topic must fit within the research field as described in the current field descriptions, and applicants will also be assessed on the basis of how their topics complement and elaborate the stated aims of the research field.

Preparation of the student.  Students should have completed sufficient course work in or related to the research field for which they are applying;  they should also have completed one or more research papers or presentations related to their field (undergraduate honors papers, major research papers, M.A. theses, workshop or conference presentations). Additional research experience (e.g., research assistantships) is valuable.   Students must be in good standing in their home departments. In order to participate in the DPDF program, students must have finished all incomplete course work and have removed any "Incompletes" from their transcripts before the spring workshop in May.

Summer Predissertation Research Plan.  Summer research plans must justify the necessity and relevance of undertaking on-site, empirical investigations of specific sources related to the dissertation topic.  Students should describe the kinds of sources to be consulted and propose correspondingly appropriate research methods and a research timetable.  It is recommended that students make formal and professional contacts at their research sites.

Summer Funding.  The DPDF Program may award fellowships with or without funding depending on financial need.  All fellows participate in the spring and fall workshops; predissertation funding of up to $5000 is available for selected fellows who can justify their financial needs for such funds.  Students need to convincingly justify the use of these funds and the unavailability of support for summer predissertation research from their home departments and institutions. 

Research Fields

The program is organized around distinct research fields every year. A research field refers to subdisciplinary and interdisciplinary domains of inquiry with common intellectual questions, and styles of research. Fields might emerge from novel ways of encouraging comparative and interdisciplinary work. They can also be topical in focus, transnational in scope, or comparative. In general, DPDF seeks to fund identifiable research fields, not simply research problems.

Examples of past research fields include: Black Atlantic Studies; Rethinking Europe; Religion, Ethnicity, Nation; The Political Economy of Redistribution; Visual Culture; Water Sustainability: Society, Politics, Culture; Animal Studies; Critical Studies of Science & Technology Policy; Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change; Muslim Modernities; Urban Visual Studies

Workshops

DPDF annual cycles are organized around two workshops bracketing student summer research, and advising fellows on designing predissertation research and writing the dissertation proposal. These workshops include seminar discussions, collective and constructive critiques by research directors and fellow students, and presentations about securing research funding. They are structured to assist students in writing dissertation proposals that are intellectually pointed, amenable to completion in a reasonable time frame, and fundable.

Program Director
Josh DeWind
Program Officer
Camille Peretz
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Additional Information

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