Programs

Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship (DPDF) Program

Supporting the development of effective dissertation proposals in the humanities and social sciences
Fellows at the Milwaukee Art Museum

DPDF Fellows take a break from their fall workshop at the Milwaukee Art Museum, September 2008.

Photo Credit: DPDF Fellow Zach Hilpert

The Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship (DPDF) program supports mid-stage graduate students in formulating effective doctoral dissertation research proposals that contribute to the development of interdisciplinary fields of study in the humanities and social sciences. Intended to help emerging scholars make the transition from learners to producers of knowledge within innovative areas of inquiry, the fellowship creates a space for multidisciplinary faculty mentorship and opens unique opportunities for both interdisciplinary and international network building.

The fellowship cycle includes spring and fall workshops designed and led by pairs of senior tenured faculty, which provide a framework for pre-dissertation research and guide proposal writing within the context of selected research fields. In the summer months, student fellows carry out exploratory field research on their topics to evaluate issues of feasibility and methods of investigation. Now in its seventh year, the program annually offers training in five fields to sixty graduate students.

The DPDF Program offers two competitions for each fellowship cycle:

  • The Faculty Field Competition, held each fall to select research fields and faculty research directors who will lead the trainings during the fellowship year; and
  • The Student Fellowship Competition, held each winter to select students who will participate in the training program.

The 2013 Research Fields are as follows: Critical Approaches to Human Rights,Global Commodity Studies, Mobility, Empowerment and Precarity in African Migration (International Field), Postcolonial Identities and Decolonial Struggles: Creolization and Colored Cosmopolitanism (International Field), and Public Finance and Society: The New Historical Fiscal Sociology.

Program Director
Josh DeWind
Contact
Program Staff

Fellowships

Additional Information