External Funding
General Dissertation Completion Awards
Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant | American Political Science Association (APSA)
This grant of $10,000-$15,000 supports doctoral dissertation research in political science that is theoretically derived and empirically oriented. Awardees will also have access to APSA’s professional development and public engagement networks and resources.
Deadline: March 1, 2022
Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowships |American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS)
This grant supports the final year of dissertation work in the humanities and interpretive social sciences with a $35,000 stipend and up to $3,000 for research and $5,000 for university fees. The fellowship can be in-residence at the applicant’s home institution or at another research site.
Deadline: Pending (last was October 27, 2021)
[In-Residence] Pre-Doctoral Fellowship | University of Illinois at Springfield
This $30,000 fellowship supports PhD students in the dissertation stage of their program. Fellows receive support for research, professional travel, and other related expenses. In addition to working with a faculty mentor and having opportunities to present their research, fellows will teach one course each semester in an area related to their academic work.
Deadline: December 15, 2021
[In-Residence] Junior Fellowship | Harvard University
This fellowship supports exceptional ABD PhD students and first-year postdoctoral students in their research. Fellows reside in Cambridge during the academic year and work full-time on their research for a period of three years. They may graduate during this time. This fellowship comes with no other obligations for fellows except focusing on their research. $90,000 is awarded for the first year.
Deadline: Pending, Spring 2022 (for 2023 application cycle)
Topical Research Awards
Dissertation Research Grant | Russell Sage Foundation (RSF)
This grant of up to $10,000 supports dissertation projects that address questions relevant to RSF’s priority areas: Behavioral Science and Decision Making in Context; Future of Work; Race, Ethnicity and Immigration; Immigration and Immigrant Integration; and Social, Political, and Economic Inequality. Projects should contribute to RSF’s mission to improve social and living conditions in the US and demonstrate appropriate use of relevant theory, innovative data, rigorous research methods, and measures. Acceptable expenses can include applicant stipend (up to $5,000), RAs, study participant incentives, data acquisition fees, transcription costs, laboratory costs, and travel for data collection.
Deadline: March 1, 2022 (for a dissertation proposal defended by 7/31/ 2021)
Harry Frank Guggenheim Emerging Scholars Award | The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation
This one-year $25,000 award supports the final year of dissertation writing for PhD candidates in the natural and social sciences who work on understanding the causes, manifestations, and control of violence and aggression. Topics might include: war, crime, terrorism, family and intimate-partner relationships, climate instability and natural resource competition, racial, ethnic and religious conflict, and political extremism and nationalism. Primacy will be given to proposals intended to reduce violence.
Deadline: February 1, 2022
Ruth P. Morgan Grant | DeGoyler Library at Southern Methodist University
This award supports scholars seeking to use the DeGoyler Library facilities and working on projects related to women in the Southwest and women in politics. For a period of one ($700) to two ($1,400) weeks, the award will defray the costs of travel, lodging, and research materials.
Deadline: Rolling
Dissertation Fellowship in Women’s Studies, The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation
This $5,000 award supports the final year of dissertation writing for PhD candidates in the humanities and social sciences whose work addresses topics of women and gender in interdisciplinary and original ways. Previous fellow have explored such topics as transnational religious education for Muslim women, the complex gender dynamics of transidentity management, women’s electoral success across racial and institutional contexts, women’s sports, militarism and the education of American women, and the relationship between family commitments and women’s work mobility. Funds are to be used for expenses connected with dissertation completion, such as research-related travel, data collection, and supplies
Deadline: Pending
Religion, Spirituality, and Democratic Renewal Fellowship | Social Science Research Council (SSRC)
This grant of up to $15,000 invites proposals for social science research at the intersection of religion, spirituality, and democracy in the United States. Support is given over a period of up to 12 months for doctoral students who have advanced to candidacy. Awardees participate in an interdisciplinary workshop upon completion of their research. They also are expected to contribute at least one essay to The Immanent Frame (SSRC’s web forum on religion and secularism). Funds are typically used for travel expenses and accommodations, research equipment, RAs, costs for publications and databases.
Deadline: Pending
Democratic Anxieties in the Americas Research Grant | Social Science Research Council (SSRC)
This $5,000-$10,000 grant funds proposals for social science research addressing challenges facing democratic societies across the Americas. It seeks to support research that (i) deepens understanding of key challenges such as democratic erosion and authoritarian drift; political inequalities, including voter suppression; political mobilization and participation of women and minorities; and corruption and the rule of law; and (ii) employs a comparative perspective or is relevant to a comparative dialogue on the sources of and solutions to democratic anxieties in the Americas.
Deadline: Pending (last May 9, 2021)
This $10,000-$15,000 award recognizes the best doctoral dissertation proposal for an empirical study of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender topics in political science. After receiving the prize, awardees must report on the completion of the dissertation.
Deadline: March 1, 2022 (for a dissertation proposal defended by July 31st 2021)
This fellowship supports the research of pre-doctoral political science students in the dissertation phase with up to $12,000. Research topics must relate to the Mamdouha S. Bobst Center’s themes of peace and justice, in any subfield of political science.
Deadline: Pending
Religion and Politics Small Grant | American Political Science Association (APSA)
This award of up to $2,500 is given for proposals addressing any topic of theoretical, empirical, and practical significance for the study of religion and politics.
Deadline: Pending
This fellowship supports pre-doctoral students at the write-up stage working in any of four areas: democracy, development, evaluating the efficacy of democracy promotion, and the rule of law. Fellows spend the academic year at Stanford University completing their projects, participating in seminars, and interacting with each other and the resident faculty and research staff. Fellows are given a stipend comparable to the Stanford Graduate Fellowship and non-matriculated student tuition.