Dozens of federal, state, and private sponsors provide varying levels of support to doctoral students in a wide variety of disciplines who are about to begin work on or are working on their dissertations. The application process as well as the terms and conditions you are required to meet often vary from sponsor to sponsor. In all cases, before you begin the application process contact and have a staff member in the UMass Boston Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP) review the sponsor’s request for proposals, to ensure that you are indeed eligible to submit an application.
Call 617.287.5370, provide your name, name of your doctoral program, and ask to speak with the ORSP pre-award staff member assigned to assist your program’s college or school.
One excellent resource for all grantseekers, new or experienced, for learning about and staying abreast of developments in the grantmaking world is the website Miner and Associates, Inc.: Proven Solutions for Successful Grantseekers. In addition to the wealth of free, useful information available on the site, Miner and Associates, Inc. provide a “free electronic newsletter that attempts to inform — and motivate — as you close the financial gap between your needs and your resources. Our topics are driven by whatever is current at the moment in the world of grants. Funding programs and priorities change. Grantmaker expectations increase, particularly in terms of evaluation and accountability. New data sources for grant proposals appear and disappear. And when it comes to persuasive proposal writing strategies, one is always a lifetime learner.”
ORSP also provides all UMass Boston faculty, staff, and students with free access to a many funding databases. For details, please visit the ORSP Funding Opportunities webpage.
Below is a sample of grant opportunities for which CM doctoral students may be eligible.
AAUW American Fellowships
Supports women doctoral candidates completing dissertations and scholars seeking funds for postdoctoral research leave or for preparing completed research for publication. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. One-year postdoctoral research leave fellowships, dissertation fellowships, and summer/short-term research publication grants are offered.
American Political Science Association
Grants and funding related to the field of state and local politics, federalism, or intergovernmental relations.
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation/ACLS Early Career Fellowships
The first part of this program, the Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowships, makes possible a year of supported research and writing, to help students complete their dissertation. The second part of the program, Recent Doctoral Recipients Fellowships, provides support for a year following the completion of the doctorate for scholars to advance their research. A grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supports this program.
Josephine De Karman Fellowship
Students in any discipline entering senior undergraduate year or graduate students entering the terminal year of a Ph.D. program in the fall of 2010. Applicants should have manifested exceptional ability and serious purpose. Special consideration will be given to applicants in the Humanities and to those who have completed their qualifying examinations for the doctoral degree.
Ford Foundation Diversity Dissertation Fellowships
To increase the presence of underrepresented minorities on the nation’s college and university faculties, to enhance diversity on campuses, and to address the persisting effects of past discrimination, the Ford Foundation offers predoctoral fellowships to Ph.D. and Sc.D. students who are U.S. citizens from one of the following minority groups: Native American Indian, Alaskan Native (Eskimo or Aleut), Black/African American, Mexican American/Chicano, Native Pacific Islander (Polynesian or Micronesian), and Puerto Rican. Must have completed all degree requirements except the writing and defense of the dissertation, including coursework, examinations, language requirements, etc.
Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation Dissertation Fellowships for Research on Aggression and Violence
Grants are made to Ph.D. candidates who are in the writing stage of the dissertation. Usually, this means that fieldwork or other research is complete and writing has begun. Both the applicant and the applicant’s advisor are asked to assure the foundation that the thesis will be complete within the grant year. Abstract: Dissertation fellowships are awarded each year to individuals who will complete the writing of the dissertation within the award year. These fellowships are designed to contribute to the support of the doctoral candidate to enable him or her to complete the thesis in a timely manner. Applications are evaluated in comparison with each other and not in competition with the postdoctoral research proposals. Highest priority is given to research that 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. Priority will also be given to areas and methodologies not receiving adequate attention and support from other funding sources.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: The Doctoral Dissertation Research Grant Program
Annual program to encourage doctoral candidates to engage in policy-relevant community, housing, and urban development research; to assist doctoral candidates in the timely completion of their dissertation research; to focus research on policy-relevant housing and community development issues; and to provide a forum for new scholars to share their research findings
For the best doctoral dissertation in the field of policy studies (supported by the Policy Studies Organization).
Marquette University Mitchem Dissertation Fellowships
Citizenship: U.S. citizenship required. Eligibility: Persons are eligible to apply who: have not earned a doctoral degree at any time or in any field; have completed all other requirements for the Ph.D.; are well into the writing stage of their dissertation work; and belong to a racial-cultural group historically underrepresented in the U.S. professorate. African American, Native American, and Hispanic American candidates are especially encouraged to apply. Abstract: The primary goal of the Arnold L. Mitchem Dissertation Fellowship Program is to help increase the presence of currently underrepresented racial and cultural groups in the U.S. professorate by supporting doctoral candidates in completing the final academic requirement, the dissertation. Mitchem Fellowships provide one year of support for two students with advanced candidacy in their doctoral programs in other U.S. universities. Fellows are to be in residence at Marquette University for the academic year during which they teach one course in their area of specialization, interact with faculty and undergraduate students, and devote their primary energies to the completion of their dissertations. During their residence, Mitchem Fellows will participate in a mentoring process, collaborating with a senior faculty mentor in the fellow’s discipline, who is appointed by the Dean.
Mathematica Policy Research Summer Fellowships
Students enrolled in a master’s or Ph.D. program in public policy or a social science are eligible. Fellowships will be held in Princeton, New Jersey; Washington, District of Columbia; and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Abstract: Mathematica launched its summer fellowship program to promote careers in social policy research, particularly for scholars who might otherwise be drawn to government or academe. The program supports independent, self-directed research on economic or social problems that affect minority groups.
National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants
In an effort to improve the quality of dissertation research, many programs in the Division of Social and Economic Sciences and the Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences accept doctoral dissertation improvement grant proposals. The following programs are most active in support of dissertation research: Archaeology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Cultural Anthropology, Decision, Risk & Management Science, Geography and Regional Science, Law and Social Science, Linguistics, Physical Anthropology, Political Science, Science and Technology Studies, Sociology, and Societal Dimensions of Engineering, Science, and Technology. In addition, the following Programs also support doctoral dissertation research when especially appropriate: Economics and Human Cognition & Perception.
Fellowship candidates must have completed the preliminary examinations for the doctorate no later than February 1 prior to the application deadline. Abstract: RFF will award fellowships in support of doctoral dissertation research on issues related to the environment, natural resources, or energy. RFF’s primary research disciplines are economics and other social sciences. Proposals originating in these fields will have the greatest likelihood of success. Proposals from the physical or biological sciences must have an immediate and obvious link to environmental policy matters to be considered. This fellowship is intended to be the principal source of support for graduate students in the final year of their dissertation research.
For the best doctoral dissertation in the field of American government.
Leopold Schepp Foundation/Scholarships for Graduate Education
Annual awards are available to full-time enrolled college Graduate students to study at accredited colleges/universities. Primary considerations for awards are as follows: Character – references are required and school/college evaluations are taken into account, Academic Ability, and Financial Need. Applicant must be a U.S. citizen/permanent resident. Age limits for 1st time applicants are as follows: graduates – under 40 yrs old, post-doctorate work has no age limit. Graduates with only their dissertation left won’t be considered. Applicant must attend an interview in New York City. Number of awards includes all undergraduate and graduate awards. Contact the enclosed address between June 1st and no later than November 30th for information/application guidelines, enclose a SASE. Leopold Schepp Foundation 551 Fifth Ave-Suite 2525 New York, NY 10176 (212) 986-3078
Social Science Research Council
Sponsors fellowship and grant programs on a wide range of topics, and across many different career stages. Most support goes to predissertation, dissertation, and postdoctoral fellowships, offered through annual competitions. Some programs support summer institutes and advanced research grants. Although most programs target the social sciences, many are also open to applicants from the humanities, the natural sciences, and relevant professional and practitioner communities.
Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues
Dissertation and other awards available.
To be eligible, an applicant must be a graduate student in good standing who is a member of an ethnic minority group (including, but not limited to, African American, Alaskan Native, American Indian, Asian American, Hispanic, and Pacific Islander) and who has demonstrated a commitment to a career in psychology or a related field with a focus on ethnic minority issues. Citizenship: Unspecified. Abstract: The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues established this award to honor the memory of Dr. Dalmas Taylor, who was instrumental in establishing the Minority Fellowships at the American Psychological Association (APA) and in increasing the profession’s attention to inclusion of people of color. The fellowship will be administered in conjunction with the APA’s Minority Fellowship Office and will provide an opportunity for a graduate student to work on public policy issues in Washington, DC.
Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) Grants-in-Aid Program
The applicant must be a member of SPSSI. Abstract: The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues Committee on Grants-in-Aid wishes to support scientific research in social problem areas related to the basic interests and goals of SPSSI and particularly those that are not likely to receive support from traditional sources. The Committee especially encourages proposals involving unique and timely research opportunities, underrepresented institutions, new investigators, volunteer research teams, and actual (not pilot) projects. Funds are not normally provided for travel to conventions, travel or living expenses while conducting research, stipends of principal investigators, costs associated with manuscript preparation, or the indirect costs of institutions.
For doctoral scholars who have reached the dissertation stage, a limited number of single-year fellowships are available. These fellowships are available only to minority scholars who plan to become full-time faculty members upon completion of their doctoral program. Applicants must meet the same eligibility requirements as Doctoral Scholars Program applicants and must have completed all program requirements, including successful defense of the dissertation proposal. Applicants also must be able to devote full time to completing the dissertation. Each Dissertation Year Fellowship recipient receives a one-year stipend of $12,000; a waiver of tuition and fees; a small stipend for research expenses; and expenses associated with the Doctoral Scholars Program annual meeting.
Stanford University Center on Adolescence Youth Purpose Research Awards
U.S. citizens and permanent residents may apply. Eligibility: Doctoral candidates whose dissertation proposals have been approved. Applicants may be from any field that may inform youth purpose scholarship, including psychology, sociology, history, human development or education. Abstract: The Stanford Center on Adolescence supports young scholars pursuing research related to youth purpose, defined as a stable and generalized intention to accomplish something that is at once meaningful to the self and of intended consequence beyond the self.
Supports doctoral dissertations or research papers devoted to regional study or significant problem areas in the U.S. or its possessions.
For the best doctoral dissertation in the field of political philosophy.
Citizenship: U.S. citizens, permanent residents or nationals are eligible. Eligibility: Each applicant must: have completed all Ph.D. coursework and passed all preliminary exams; have approval for the dissertation research proposal; and be entering the final year of writing the dissertation. The primary focus of dissertation research should be U.S. environmental policy or environmental conflict resolution. Ph.D. candidates who hold a fellowship for the purpose of writing the dissertation during the year preceding or coinciding with the Udall Fellowship are not eligible. Abstract: The Udall Foundation awards fellowships to doctoral candidates whose research concerns U.S. environmental public policy or environmental conflict resolution and who are entering their final year of writing the dissertation. Dissertation fellowships are open to scholars in all fields of study whose dissertation topic has significant relevance to U.S. environmental public policy or environmental conflict resolution. It is the foundation’s intent that work conducted during the fellowship year be done in the United States.
For the best doctoral dissertation in the field of public administration.
Woodrow Wilson Dissertation Grants in Women’s Studies
Encourages original and significant research about women that crosses disciplinary, regional, or cultural boundaries.
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