OVERVIEW

The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) invites proposals from PhD candidates across the social and behavioral sciences, humanities, data sciences, and related fields to apply to the Data Fluencies Dissertation Grant competition. This competition is part of the Data Fluencies Project and consortium.

With generous support from the Mellon Foundation and in partnership with Simon Fraser University’s Digital Democracies Institute, the Data Fluencies Project works to counter the impacts of discriminatory technology and online mis- and disinformation and foster more just and equitable futures. The Data Fluencies Project is developing an expansive and interdisciplinary approach that combines the interpretative traditions of the arts and humanities with critical work in the social and data sciences to express, imagine, and create innovative engagements with (and resistances to) our data-filled world.

The application portal apply.ssrc.org will open on November 1st, 2023. Applications will be accepted up to the deadline of 11:59 p.m. (US EST) on January 24, 2024.

Five dissertation grants of up to US$15,000 each will be awarded.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

The Data Fluencies Dissertation Grants are open to PhD students actively enrolled in doctoral programs in the United States and Canada—regardless of citizenship. Eligible PhD students may apply for awards of up to $15,000 in support of dissertation research.

Applicants to the program should have completed all PhD coursework and demonstrate that they will have reached “all-but-dissertation” (ABD) status by the beginning of the grant term. 

Among the potential topics to be supported by the grants include projects applying humanist and humanistic social science methods to understand:

  • mis- and disinformation
  • information integrity
  • public-interest technology
  • digital culture
  • privacy and surveillance 
  • AI and algorithmic management
  • labor in the era of data
  • big data governance and accountability
  • alternative epistemologies stemming from feminist, Indigenous, or Black theoretical perspectives

Please refer to our Call for Applications for the complete proposal request, including a detailed list of requirements and eligibility.

SELECTION PROCESS

Proposals will be evaluated by a multidisciplinary and cross-regional review committee based on their relevance, quality and intellectual merit, innovation potential, the fit between their research question and research design, and feasibility. 

Proposals should display a thorough knowledge of the central concepts, theories, and methods in the applicant’s discipline and other related fields and a bibliography relevant to the research. Applicants should provide evidence of having attained an appropriate level of training to undertake the proposed research, including evidence of a degree of language fluency sufficient to complete the project.

For more information on the 2023 Data Fluencies Dissertation Grant, please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions. 
Please visit our application portal, apply.ssrc.org, to apply. Applications will be accepted up to the deadline of 11:59 p.m. (US EST) on January 24, 2024.

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