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List of Dissertation Funding Resources
- Administration for Children and Families
- American Psychological Foundation (APF)
- APS Student Grant Competition
- APS RISE Award
- APS Student Research Award
- APA Monitor article on dissertation funding
- Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute
- Cosmos Club Foundation
- Doris Duke Fellowship
- Epilepsy Foundation
- Ford Foundation Fellowships for minorities
- Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation
- Health Resources in Action
- Inter-American Foundation
- Jack Kent Cooke Foundation
- Melissa Institute
- National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship Program
- National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowships
- National Quality Improvement Center on Early Childhood
- National Science Foundation Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences
- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
- Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA)
- Science Careers funding list
- Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship
- Social Science Research Council
- Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration (SEPI)
- Sigma Xi Grants-in-Aid program
- U.S. Census Bureau
- William Orr Dingwall Foundation
APA Dissertation Research Award
The Science Directorate of the American Psychological Association sponsors an annual competition for dissertation research funding. The purpose of the Dissertation Research Award program is to assist science-oriented doctoral students of psychology with research costs. The current program offers three grants of $10,000 and seven grants of $5,000 to students whose dissertation research reflects excellence in scientific psychology. Awardees will also receive travel funds of up to $1,500 to present their work at the APA convention.
Deadline: March 1, 2024
Applicants must have psychology as the primary focus of their graduate studies (even if they are receiving training in other fields as well).
Applicants must be in good standing in their graduate programs.
Applicants must be enrolled full-time or working on their dissertation research for an equivalent of full-time enrollment regardless of actual registration status.
Applicants may be citizens or residents of any country and their institutions may be located and accredited/recognized in any country.
Applicants must be graduate student members of the American Psychological Association. Applicants who are not members must apply for APA Graduate Student membership when submitting materials for the Dissertation Research Award. If you are newly applying, please include a copy of the confirmation page receipt with your award application.
Applicants must have had their dissertation proposals approved by their dissertation committees prior to application.
- Applicants must have not yet successfully defended their dissertations at the time of the application deadline.
- Each psychology department (i.e., not individual programs within a department) may endorse no more than three (3) students per year for the APA Dissertation Research Award. If more than three students from a department wish to apply for these funds, the department must perform an initial screening and forward only three applications.
Students in graduate departments other than psychology are eligible to apply for the Dissertation Research Award only if they demonstrate that they are writing a psychological science dissertation and their graduate course of study has been primarily psychological in nature.
Dissertation Research Grant in Developmental Psychology
The Dissertation Research Grant supports the dissertation research of an outstanding graduate student member of APA and Division 7.
Deadline: March 15, 2025
Sponsor: Division 7
- Description
- Eligibility
- How to Apply
- Past Recipients
Submissions accepted January 1–March 15.
Between one and three $500 grants are awarded each year. The in-progress research must significantly advance content knowledge, methodology and/or theory in developmental psychology. Criteria include the project’s importance, innovation, feasibility, funding needs and likely contribution to the field, as well as the applicant’s record.
Winners do not need to attend the APA convention to receive awards.
Eligible doctoral students are within one year of successfully defending their dissertation proposal (or the program’s equivalent requirement) at time of application for the dissertation grant. Applicant must be a member of the American Psychological Association and Division 7, and the dissertation topic must be developmental. The dissertation proposal must have been approved by the dissertation/orals committee (or the equivalent, depending on the doctoral program requirements). Applicants must be nominated by their faculty supervisor. Awardees will submit a report at the end of their dissertation, describing the results and how the funds were used. Funds cannot be applied to conference travel.
Membership in APA’s Division 7 is required to earn an award. The individual must be a member of Division 7 by March 15 of the year they are nominated.
The annual deadline to apply for this award is March 15.
Applicants must be nominated by their faculty supervisor.
Applications should include:
- A letter of recommendation from the faculty supervisor.
- The student's CV.
- A one-page budget with justification (e.g., why the funds are needed).
- A one-page single-spaced research proposal outlining the research question, the rationale for the study, the methodology, the significance and the expected contribution to knowledge.
Please email materials to:
Joy Osofsky Department of Pediatrics Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans
2024: Hyun Su Cho 2023: Huiguang Ren 2022: Andrea Felice Fields 2021: Shira Segal 2020: Sarah Giff 2019: Kathy Vu and Lindsay Taraban 2018: Tonya Vandenbrink 2017: April Gile Thomas 2016: Jonni L. Johnson 2015: Jenallee Doom 2014: No award 2013: Gary Glick and Wendy Rote 2012: Sarah McKenney and Lindsey Wandrey
- Sign up for the CISSR Digest
- Calls for Proposals
- Faculty Research Fellowship Grants
- Faculty Book Workshop and Monograph Enhancement Awards
Dissertation Completion Grants
- Lloyd & Susanne Rudolph Field Research Grants
The CISSR Dissertation Completion Grant provides funding and office space for doctoral students in the final year of the dissertation. CISSR supports doctoral research on international, transnational, and global questions. Dissertation fellows are expected to engage with others at CISSR and contribute to intellectual life of the Center. Fellows are asked to acknowledge CISSR support in all related publications and submit an end-of-year report.
- Eligibility: University of Chicago doctoral candidates in the Division of Social Sciences who plan to defend the dissertation in the coming academic year are eligible.
- Support: the award is a residential fellowship, in which fellows are provided shared office space in Pick Hall 102 and a $5,000 research allowance that can be used for travel, computing, books, or conference costs.
The application portal will open February 6, 2024 and close on March 31, 2024 .
Requirements
- Candidate’s CV
- Cover Letter (maximum of 1000 words)
- Dissertation Précis (maximum 2000 words)
Applications
Apply for the CISSR Dissertation Fellowship
Deadline to submit applications: March 31, 2024 at 11:59 PM (CT)
For questions, please contact CISSR at [email protected] .
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30 Dissertation Research Fellowships for Doctoral Students
Last updated June 1, 2024
Dissertation research fellowships provide financial support to doctoral students who are in the stages of conducting research and writing their dissertations. Funding can be used to support travel, fieldwork, supplies, language training, and even living expenses. Often these dissertation fellowships have “no strings attached” – their intention is simply to support scholars completing original research in a particular field of study. Discover these 30 unique dissertation fellowships for domestic and international doctoral students enrolled in U.S. universities.
List of Dissertation Fellowships
If any of these dissertation research fellowships interest you, be sure to bookmark them to your ProFellow account .
Kress History of Art Institutional Fellowships
The Kress History of Art Institutional Fellowships are intended to provide promising emerging art historians with the opportunity to experience just this kind of immersion. Six pre-doctoral Kress Institutional Fellowships in the History of European Art will be awarded each year. Each fellowship provides a two-year research appointment hosted by European art history research centers. The fellowship award is $30,000 per annum. Restricted to pre-doctoral candidates in the history of art and related disciplines. Nominees must be U.S. citizens or individuals matriculated at an American university. Dissertation research must focus on European art from antiquity to the early 19th century and applicants must be ABD by the time their fellowship begins.
Harry Frank Guggenheim Emerging Scholar Awards
The Harry Frank Guggenheim Emerging Scholar Awards recognize promising researchers in their final year of writing a doctoral dissertation examining a salient aspect of violence. The Foundation welcomes proposals from any of the natural and social sciences or allied disciplines that promise to increase understanding of the causes, manifestations, and control of violence and aggression. The highest priority is given to research that addresses urgent, present-day problems of violence—what produces it, how it operates, and what prevents or reduces it. The award is $25,000 for one year.
Gettysburg College Dissertation Fellowship
The Consortium for Faculty Diversity invites applications for dissertation fellowships from candidates who will contribute to increasing the diversity of member colleges by increasing their ethnic and racial diversity, maximizing the educational benefits of diversity, and/or increasing the number of professors who can and will use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of students. Applicants must be able to provide evidence of U.S. citizenship or unconditional permanent residency status at the time of hire. Scholars will receive a salary. Dissertation Scholars will teach one course per academic year at the sponsoring college or university and contribute to other campus activities. Mentoring on teaching, scholarship, and professional life at liberal arts colleges will be provided.
AHRQ Grants for Health Services Research Dissertation Program
The AHRQ Grants for Health Services Research Dissertation Program (R36) provides dissertation grants for doctoral candidates. This program supports dissertation research that addresses AHRQ’s mission and priorities and welcomes any areas of health services research as dissertation project topics. Candidates must be U.S. citizens and full-time academic students in good standing, who are enrolled in an accredited research doctoral program in such fields as behavioral sciences, health services research, nursing, social sciences, epidemiology, biostatistics, health policy, health informatics, engineering, and mathematics. The award project period minimum of 9 months up to 17 months and the award budget is up to $15,000 in direct costs and a stipend.
World Politics and Statecraft Fellowship
The World Politics and Statecraft Fellowship program is an annual grant competition to support Ph.D. dissertation research on American foreign policy, international relations, international security, strategic studies, area studies, and diplomatic and military history. The fellowship’s objective is to support the research and writing of policy-relevant dissertations through funding of fieldwork, archival research, and language training. In evaluating applications, the Foundation will accord preference to those projects that could directly inform U.S. policy debates and thinking. The Foundation will award up to twenty grants of $10,000 each.
AAUW American Dissertation Fellowships
Dissertation Fellowships provide $25,0000 to offset a woman scholar’s living expenses while she completes her dissertation. The fellowship must be used for the final year of writing the dissertation. Candidates must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Open to applicants in all fields of study.
USIP Peace Scholar Fellowship Program
Each year, the United States Institute of Peace awards approximately 18 Peace Scholar Fellowships to students enrolled in U.S. universities who are researching and writing doctoral dissertations on topics related to international conflict management and peacebuilding. Proposals from all disciplines are welcome. Fellowships last for 10 months, starting in September. Peace Scholar Awards are currently set at $20,000 for 10 months and are paid directly to the individual.
American Educational Research Association (AERA) Dissertation Grant
The program seeks to stimulate research on U.S. education issues using data from large-scale, national, and international data sets supported by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), NSF, and other federal agencies. Grants of up to $27,500 are available for advanced doctoral students in education, sociology, economics, psychology, demography, statistics, and psychometrics. Applicants may be U.S. citizens or U.S. permanent residents enrolled in a doctoral program. Non-U.S. citizens enrolled in a doctoral program at a U.S. institution are also eligible to apply.
Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships
The Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships support the final year of dissertation writing on ethical and religious values in all fields of the humanities and social sciences. Awards are based on a rigorous national competition, winners receive a stipend of $31,000. These fellowships are supported by the Newcombe Foundation and are administered by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.
The Woodrow Wilson Dissertation Fellowships in Women’s Studies
The Woodrow Wilson Dissertation Fellowships in Women’s Studies support the final year of dissertation writing for Ph.D. candidates in the humanities and social sciences whose work addresses topics of women and gender in interdisciplinary and original ways. In each round, ten Fellows will receive $5,000 to be used for expenses connected with completing their dissertations, such as research-related travel, data work/collection, and supplies.
ASA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (ASA DDRIG)
The ASA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (ASA DDRIG) program supports theoretically grounded empirical investigations to advance understanding of fundamental social processes. Up to 25 awards of a maximum of $16,000 will be given each year. Any doctoral student at an institution accredited and having a campus in the U.S. who is working on a scientifically rigorous project that is grounded in sociology and will help advance sociology is eligible to apply. Proposals must be submitted by a research scholar with support from a research sponsor. Grant funds can be used for costs directly associated with conducting research including living expenses and dependent care.
Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Program – Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Awards (HEGS-DDRI)
The Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences (HEGS) Program supports basic scientific research about the nature, causes, and/or consequences of the spatial distribution of human activity and/or environmental processes across a range of scales. Projects about a broad range of topics may be appropriate for support if they enhance fundamental geographical knowledge, concepts, theories, methods, and their application to societal problems and concerns. HEGS expects to recommend a total of 20 to 30 doctoral dissertation research improvement (DDRI) awards. DDRI awards supported by HEGS may not exceed $20,000.
Lowell Harriss Dissertation Fellowship Program
The annual C. Lowell Harriss Dissertation Fellowship Program invites applications from doctoral students, mainly at U.S. universities, who are writing theses in fields that address the Institute’s primary interest areas in valuation and taxation, planning, and related topics. Fellowships of $10,000 each support the development of a thesis proposal and/or completion of thesis research.
National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship Program
The Dissertation Fellowship Program seeks to encourage a new generation of scholars from a wide range of disciplines and professional fields to undertake research relevant to the improvement of education. These $27,500 fellowships support individuals whose dissertations show potential for bringing fresh and constructive perspectives to the history, theory, or practice of formal or informal education anywhere in the world. Applicants need not be citizens of the United States; however, they must be candidates for the doctoral degree at a graduate school within the United States.
Henry Luce Foundation/ACLS Dissertation Fellowships in American Art
These fellowships are designated for graduate students in any stage of Ph.D. dissertation research or writing in a department of art history in the United States. Fellowships are for one year and provide a $38,000 stipend and $4,000 travel allowance. The fellowships may be carried out in residence at the Fellow’s home institution, abroad, or another appropriate site for the research. The fellowships, however, may not be used to defray tuition costs or be held concurrently with any other major fellowship or grant.
Phi Kappa Phi Dissertation Fellowship
The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi annually awards ten Dissertation Fellowships of $10,000 each to active members who are doctoral candidates and are completing dissertations. The fellowship supports students in the dissertation writing stage of doctoral study. Awards are for 12 months of dissertation writing. All pre-dissertation requirements should be met by the application deadline, including approval of the dissertation proposal. The Dissertation Fellowship is open to all active (dues current) Phi Kappa Phi members who attend a U.S. regionally accredited, doctoral-granting institution of higher education.
Kerstin Leitner Berlin Fellowships
The Berlin Program offers up to one year of dissertation or postdoctoral research support at the Freie Universität Berlin. It is open to scholars in all social science and humanities disciplines, including historians working on German and European history since the mid-18th century. The fellowship offers a stipend of EUR 1550-1800 per month and a travel reimbursement. Applicants must be enrolled as full-time graduate students in a Ph.D. program in a humanities or social science discipline at a university in Africa or China.
Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship
ACLS invites applications for Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship, which provides a year of support for doctoral students preparing to embark on innovative dissertation research projects. Fellowships support graduate students in the humanities and social sciences who show promise of leading their fields in important new directions. The fellowships are designed to intervene at the formative stage of dissertation development before research and writing are advanced. ACLS will award up to 45 fellowships in this competition. Award $40,000 stipend for the fellowship year, plus up to $8,000 for project-related costs. Applicants must be PhD students in the humanities or social science department in the United States.
Dissertation Completion Fellowship Program
The FINRA Foundation Dissertation Completion Fellowship program seeks to expand the pipeline of researchers from racial and ethnic backgrounds whose underrepresentation in the U.S. professoriate has been severe and longstanding. To achieve that goal, the fellowship will provide an award of up to $40,000 to advanced doctoral candidates within their last year of Ph.D. dissertation writing to support the completion of their dissertation research and writing. The program will support doctoral candidates who are pursuing dissertation research centrally concerning financial services and the capital markets. Graduate study may be in any academic discipline.
John Hope Franklin Dissertation Fellowship
The John Hope Franklin Dissertation Fellowship is designed to support an outstanding doctoral student at an American university or an exceptional American doctoral student abroad who is completing the dissertation. Fellows must be admitted to candidacy, have completed all other coursework, and be prepared to devote full time for 12 months – with no teaching obligations – to dissertation research and writing. The award is for $28,000 and above.
David Center for the American Revolution Predoctoral Fellowship
The 12-month fellowship is intended for advanced Ph.D. students working toward the completion of the dissertation. The caliber of the project, the need to use the collections of the David Center for the American Revolution at the APS Library & Museum and other research institutions in the Philadelphia area, and evidence that the project will be completed on time, are the three most important criteria for selection. Applicants may be U.S. citizens or foreign nationals. Applicants will receive a stipend of $25,000 to support twelve months of work on projects about the American Revolution and the Founding Era.
Horowitz Foundation Grants for Social Policy
The Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy supports emerging scholars as they work on projects that address contemporary issues in the social sciences. The foundation supports projects with a social policy application on either a global or local level. Grants are worth a total of $10,000; $7,500 is awarded initially and $2,500 upon completion of the project. Applicants must be current Ph.D. candidates who are working on a department-approved dissertation. Applicants can be from any country and any university in the world. US citizenship or residency is not required.
Louisville Institute Dissertation Fellowship
The Dissertation Fellowship program is designed to support the final year Ph.D. or Th.D. dissertation writing for students engaged in research about North American Christianity, especially projects with the potential to strengthen the religious life of North American Christians and their institutions, including seminaries, while simultaneously advancing American religious and theological scholarship. Applicants must be candidates for the Ph.D. or Th.D. degree in an accredited graduate school in the U.S. or Canada. Dissertation Fellowships will provide a stipend of $35,000 for 12 months.
Center for Engaged Scholarship Dissertation Fellowships
Our dissertation fellowships are for Ph.D. students in the social sciences whose work is of high quality and that has the potential to contribute to making U.S. society less unequal, more democratic, and more environmentally sustainable. Each fellowship winner will receive $25,000 over a nine-month period. Students enrolled in a U.S. PhD program in the following areas of study may apply anthropology, economics, geography, history, political science, social psychology, and sociology. This includes foreign nationals and undocumented individuals.
AERA Minority Dissertation Fellowship in Education Research
The Council of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) established the fellowship program to provide support for doctoral dissertation research, to advance education research by outstanding minority graduate students, and to improve the quality and diversity of university faculties. This fellowship targets members of racial and ethnic groups historically underrepresented in higher education (e.g., African Americans, Alaskan Natives, American Indians, Asian Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islanders). Eligible graduate students for the AERA Minority Dissertation Fellowship in Education Research will be at the writing stage of their dissertation by the beginning of the fellowship. Include a $25,000 stipend to study education, teaching, learning, or other education research topic.
Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Predoctoral Fellowship
The purpose of the Kirschstein-NRSA predoctoral fellowship (F31) award is to enable promising predoctoral students to obtain individualized, mentored research training from outstanding faculty sponsors while conducting dissertation research in scientific health-related fields relevant to the missions of the participating NIH Institutes and Centers. Applicants for the F31 must be candidates for the PhD degree and have identified a dissertation research project and sponsor(s). The fellowship may provide up to five years (typically 2-3 years) of support for research training which leads to the PhD or equivalent research degree, the combined MD/PhD degree, or another formally combined professional degree and research doctoral degree in the biomedical, behavioral, or clinical sciences.
ASF Fellowships for Americans in the Nordic Countries
The American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) offers year-long fellowships of up to $23,000 and short-term (1-3 months) fellowships of up to $5,000 to graduate students (preferably conducting dissertation research) and academic professionals interested in pursuing research or creative-arts projects in the Nordic region (Denmark, Greenland, Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sámpi, and Sweden). ASF’s award program for study and research abroad has been the Foundation’s most long-standing commitment to educational exchange. Awards are made in all fields.
Josephine De Karman Fellowships
DeKarman fellowships are open to PhD students in any discipline, including international students, who are currently enrolled in a California-based partner university (see website for list). Approximately six dissertation fellowships of $25,000 for doctoral students will be awarded for the regular academic year. Special consideration will be given to applicants in the Humanities.
American Academy in Rome Prize
For over a century, the American Academy in Rome has awarded the Rome Prize to support innovative and cross-disciplinary work in the arts and humanities. Prize recipients are invited to Rome, Italy for five months or eleven months to immerse themselves in the Academy community. Each Rome Prize winner is provided with a stipend, meals, a bedroom with a private bath, and a study or studio. Those with children under 18 live in partially subsidized apartments nearby. Winners of half-term and full-term fellowships receive stipends of $16,000 and $30,000, respectively.
Cohen-Tucker Dissertation Research Fellowship
The Stephen F. Cohen–Robert C. Tucker Dissertation Research Fellowship (CTDRF) Program for Russian Historical Studies supports the next generation of US scholars to conduct their doctoral dissertation research in Russia. The program will provide up to six annual fellowships, with a maximum stipend of $25,000, for doctoral students at US universities, who are citizens or permanent residents of the US, to conduct dissertation research in Russia. The Program is open to students in any discipline whose dissertation topics are within 19th – early 21st-century Russian historical studies.
Interested in finding more dissertation research fellowships? Sign up for the free ProFellow database , which includes more than 2,800 funding opportunities for graduate study, research, and more.
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The dissertation prospectus is a proposal for the PhD student’s dissertation work. The purpose of the prospectus process is to help the student formulate and refine the contents of the dissertation. The faculty aim is to be constructive in considering the scope, viability, and details of the students’ planned research. An approved dissertation prospectus signifies that there is a shared understanding between the student and the committee of the scope of work that (assuming it is completed to a high quality) would result in the successful completion of a PhD.
This guide describes the components of the dissertation prospectus, and the steps that need to be completed during the prospectus process. We will also comment on the timeline of the dissertation prospectus, although there is substantial variability across students in exactly when these steps are completed.
I. Establish Dissertation Advisory Committee (DAC). S tudents will identify a committee of at least three faculty members to comprise their Dissertation Advisory Committee (DAC). The DAC participates in both the prospectus and dissertation processes. Additional member(s) of the DAC can be added before or after the prospectus is complete.
The GSAS DAC guidelines can be found here . In considering committee members, the student’s primary faculty mentor is always included and will serve as the DAC Chair. At least two committee members, including the Chair, must be ladder faculty at Harvard. The third committee member may also be a non-Harvard faculty of equivalent appointment rank to Harvard ladder faculty, or a non-ladder faculty member at Harvard (such as Senior Lecturer). DACs must be approved by the DGS.
Action item : Students should invite potential committee members to join your dissertation committee, following consultation with your primary mentor. When inviting faculty members, note that their agreement entails a) evaluating your dissertation prospectus, b) reading your dissertation and taking part in your eventual dissertation defense, and c) being available for guidance/input on your dissertation work. Please note that faculty members are not required to say yes. There are valid reasons a particular faculty member might not be available for your committee (e.g., an impending leave). If any student is having difficulty finding committee members, please consult with the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS).
Students should submit your planned committees for DGS review using this form at least two weeks before the prospectus meeting. Students will need to submit a CV for any requested non-Harvard committee members. After submitting the form, students will receive confirmation of approval or other follow-up from the DGS before the prospectus meeting. If students choose to change or add committee members post-prospectus, you should complete the form again to revise your committee composition.
Timeline : Students must submit their planned committees for approval at least two weeks before the prospectus meeting.
II. Prepare and submit written dissertation prospectus. The prospectus itself should be in as polished form as possible, using APA journal article style. The goal of the prospectus is to provide the committee a full plan of the scope of research activities the student plans to complete as their dissertation. Students should discuss the scope of research that should comprise a dissertation with their mentor. A typical prospectus will not exceed 30 pages (excluding appendices), but the length should be sufficient to cover the steps detailed below.
- Describe the general context. How does the area of study fit into broader issues, and why are they significant? The review of literature starts here.
- Describe the particular area in detail. This section should state the need for research in the area.
- Pose the specific research question and hypothesize the results that will be found.
- Describe the proposed methodology, including all important details: what needs to be controlled for, what kind of data analysis will be used, etc. Give information on the characteristics of subjects to be recruited. Any pilot data should be included here. The proposals in the methods section should be specific, rather than options; it is recognized that many changes may happen in the prospectus meeting, but committee members need to be given the student's best ideas rather than several avenues that could be taken. Include as an appendix copies of any measures planned.
- Predicted results and theoretical interpretation
Action item : Students should write a dissertation prospectus and disseminate it to their committee and to the Graduate Program. Students are welcome to seek feedback on drafts of the proposal and engage in discussions with their mentor and/or committee members (or others) as they are preparing the proposal.
Timeline : Students should submit the written proposal to their advising committee at least two weeks before their scheduled prospectus meeting (see Item III).
III. Hold prospectus meeting. Students should hold a prospectus meeting attended by their advising committee (remote attendance such as via Zoom is allowable, especially for out-of-town committee members or during COVID surges). This meeting is an opportunity for students to receive feedback from their committee about the content, quality, and scope of their dissertation. The meeting is also intended for faculty to evaluate whether the dissertation, as proposed, is well-suited for attainment of a PhD or whether it needs to be revised. Faculty will have read the written proposal before the meeting (having received it two weeks before the meeting).
The meeting starts with a short presentation by the student describing the proposed research and including any "fine tuning" that the student has done since the written prospectus was submitted. The presentation should be considered semi-formal, and students may find slides helpful. Students often bring discussion about specific questions or challenges associated with the project for committee input. Committee members often bring questions they had when reading the proposal for clarification or open discussion. Note that there is some variability in this meeting’s length and format, so students should consult their mentors on specific expectations.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the committee will judge whether the project is satisfactory for a dissertation, and what kinds of revisions the student should consider to their research plan. Since the purpose of the prospectus meeting is to help students do as high-quality research as possible, it is likely that at least some modifications will be made. In some cases, the modifications will be so extensive that the committee needs to reconvene for another meeting with the student, but it is expected that only in extreme cases will the student have to "go back to the drawing board." The committee will complete and sign a Prospectus Approval Form , which will also list any required modifications. After the meeting, the student will draft a memo of understanding describing the results of the prospectus meeting and stating how they will incorporate the modifications and suggestions made by the committee. This memo will be reviewed and signed by the student's mentor.
If a student takes a leave of absence or withdraws from graduate study after getting the prospectus approved, they should consult with the CHD to make certain that the previously approved prospectus still stands. Action item s: a. Schedule meeting. Students are responsible for scheduling the meeting and providing confirmation of the meeting’s date, time, and location. If remote participation is needed, students should coordinate that as well. Note that coordinating faculty schedules can be challenging, and faculty often schedule meetings weeks in advance. Therefore, students should work to schedule this meeting several weeks before the target meeting date.
b. Prepare for meeting. Students should speak with their mentors about the expected format for their meeting and prepare accordingly. Students are expected to answer questions about all details of their proposed project, report on its progress to date, any roadblocks, and comment on a timeline for the project’s completion. Students should also expect to receive extensive feedback from their committee which often entails revisions to the dissertation prospectus.
c. Paperwork. Students should bring the Prospectus Approval Form to the meeting and should collect their advising committee’s signatures indicating whether they “sign off” on the proposal as-is or require revisions. This form should be returned to the Graduate Program Office.
Timeline : The timeline for prospectus completion depends on the student’s planned timeline for completing the program. Many students apply for the Dissertation Completion Fellowship (DCF) to fund their final year in the program. The DCF pays full year tuition and a 10-month living stipend, typically August - May. Students must obtain dissertation prospectus approval before they can apply for the DCF. As such, the timeline for DCF application often guides students’ prospectus timelines. Note that prospectus meetings often do result in same-day approval (with or without revisions), but some meetings result in approval pending the need for more extensive revisions that would need to be re-reviewed by the committee. Students should consider this possibility when setting their dissertation prospectus timeline and should appreciate the substantial risk involved with holding their committee meetings in very close proximity to the DCF application deadline.
The deadline to apply for the DCF is typically in February of the penultimate year of study in the program. For example, if a student wishes to obtain a DCF for the 2025-2026 year and graduate in 2026 (May or November), then students will need to apply for the DCF by February 14, 2025 . Students should consult the Graduate Program or the Harvard Griffin GSAS website for the specific DCF deadline as it varies from year to year.
VI. Committee evaluation. During the prospectus meeting, after the student presentation and discussion, the committee will ask the student to leave the room and discuss the work and level of student preparedness. They will use the Prospectus Approval Form to guide this discussion. The committee can decide among the following actions:
- The prospectus is approved without required revisions.
- The prospectus is approved with required revisions, as detailed on the form. The primary mentor will be responsible for overseeing these revisions. No subsequent meetings or committee-level reviews are necessary.
- The prospectus has potential but is not approved yet as it requires major revisions, as detailed on the form. The committee will need to meet again once the revisions have been addressed by the student. At this subsequent meeting, the committee will judge the revisions and whether they have resulted in an approvable prospectus.
- The prospectus is not approved and is not on track to be approvable even if revisions were made. In this case, the DAC Chair will work with the CHD to determine the appropriate next-steps.
If students would like to make substantive changes to the content and/or format of the dissertation after prospectus approval, they must revise their prospectus and obtain approval of the revised version from all committee members. Another meeting of the prospectus committee may be required if the changes are substantial.
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Funding Opportunities
F.J. McGuigan Dissertation Award
The F. J. McGuigan Dissertation Award, supports dissertation research that addresses any aspect of mental function (e.g., cognition, affect, motivation) and seeks to understand the mind from both a behavioral and neural perspective.
Proposed research should be compatible with McGuigan’s overall goals and may fall within any area of contemporary behavioral or brain science (including more recent forms of cognitive psychology).
Eligibility
APF encourages applicants from diverse backgrounds with respect to age, race, color, religion, creed, nationality, ability, sexual orientation, gender, and geography.
Applicants must:
- have completed doctoral candidacy, including dissertation approval by doctoral committee
- have a demonstrated commitment to stated program goals (Dualistic approaches characteristic of much contemporary cognitive research are specifically ineligible.)
Application Instructions
Application Materials:
- project proposal
- project timeline (not to exceed one page; typically, APF grants are for 1 year)
- detailed budget and justification (not to exceed one page)
- abbreviated CV (not to exceed five pages)
- recommendation letter from academic advisor (requested through application portal)
Evaluation Criteria Applications will be evaluated on:
- conformance with the stated program goals
- quality, viability, and potential impact of the proposed project
- originality, innovation, and contribution to the field
- applicant’s demonstrated competence and capability to execute the proposed work
- allocation of resources and criticality of funding for execution of work (particularly if part of a larger funded effort)
Please be advised that APF does not provide feedback to applicants on their proposals.
Please review our Program FAQs for important details on the application process.
Recent Recipient
Rebecca revilla.
University of South Carolina
“Unraveling Neural Mechanisms of Adolescent Prosocial Behaviors: A Brain to Behavior Approach”
Past Recipients
Rebecca Revilla, University of South Carolina “Unraveling Neural Mechanisms of Adolescent Prosocial Behaviors: A Brain to Behavior Approach”
Linlin Fan, University of Texas at Dallas “Neural Stimulation for Reducing Paranoia and Improving Social Functioning in Schizophrenia”
Kenneth J. Thompson, Alliant International University “Differentiating Two Subtypes of Alexithymia: Internal Deficits Versus External Influences”
Honorary recipient: Kathryn Predergast, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Marta Stojanovic, Washington University in St. Louis
Kaylie Carbine, Brigham Young University
Megan Speer, Rutgers University
Michael Sun, University of California, Los Angeles
Forest Gruss, University of Florida
Rachel K. Bencic Hamilton, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Kathleen Hazlett, Marquette University
Ross MacLean, Pennsylvania State University
Marc Coutanche, University of Pennsylvania
Anna Docherty, University of Missouri, Columbia
Elizabeth Shulman, University of California, Irvine
Lauren M. Bylsma, University of South Florida
- Professional Development Courses
- Undergraduate Student Education Research Training
- AERA Fellowship Program on the Study of Deeper Learning
- Funded Dissertation Grants
- Funded Research Grants
- External Fellowship and Funding Opportunities
- AERA Online Job Board
- Virtual Research Learning Center
- Voices from the Field
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The purpose of the Dissertation Research Award program is to assist science-oriented doctoral students of psychology with research costs. The current program offers three grants of $10,000 and seven grants of $5,000 to students whose dissertation research reflects excellence in scientific psychology. Applicants must have psychology as the ...
Funding and financing for your research. Almost all colleges and universities have expectations that faculty help bring in funds to support both the institution's education and research missions. In order secure external funding, you have to first understand why organizations provide funding support, how our research fits their missions, and ...
Located in Washington, D.C., The Catholic University of America is the national university of the Catholic Church, founded by the U.S. bishops and the pope, faithful to the teachings of Jesus Christ as handed on by the Church. Dedicated to advancing the dialogue between faith and reason, Catholic University seeks to discover and impart the truth through excellence in teaching and research. It ...
Find research funding, scholarships, honors and awards from APA and other psychology-related organizations. Federal Research Funding for Psychology Subscribe to APA's Science Spotlight newsletter to be the first to hear about open calls for papers, grants, and funding opportunities.
The Russell Sage Foundation (RSF) has established a dissertation research grants (DRG) program to support innovative and high-quality dissertation research 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,
Budget. A budget is not required at the time of submission. The budget will be finalized with the grantee, their university's research office, and RSF after the approval of the grant. The maximum allowable budget is $10,000 for a one-year grant. RSF does not allow indirect costs on Dissertation Research Grants.
The purpose of the Dissertation Research Award program is to assist science-oriented doctoral students of psychology with research costs. The current program offers three grants of $10,000 and seven grants of $5,000 to students whose dissertation research reflects excellence in scientific psychology. Awardees will also receive travel funds of ...
Applicant Eligibility. Dissertation Grants are available for advanced doctoral students and are intended to support the student while analyzing data and writing the doctoral dissertation. Proposals are encouraged from the full range of education research fields and other fields and disciplines engaged in education-related research, including ...
The Dissertation Research Grant supports the dissertation research of an outstanding graduate student member of APA and Division 7. Deadline: April 8, 2024. Sponsor: Division 7. Submissions accepted January 1-March 15. Between one and three $500 grants are awarded each year. The in-progress research must significantly advance content ...
Below you will find a full listing of APF programs ordered by application deadline. Use the dropdowns to narrow your search based on eligibility, topic, sponsor, or program type, or search for a specific program! Please note that programs for which the current funding year deadline has passed will not appear in the search. Visit our program ...
Research funding for outstanding dissertation proposals. Three (3) awards of $10,000 and seven (7) awards of $5,000 are offered each year. APF/COGDOP Graduate Student Scholarships. Deadline: June 26, 2024. Recognizes outstanding graduate student research in psychology. Twenty-one (21) awards of $2,000-$5,000 are offered each year.
The CISSR Dissertation Completion Grant provides funding and office space for doctoral students in the final year of the dissertation. CISSR supports doctoral research on international, transnational, and global questions. Dissertation fellows are expected to engage with others at CISSR and contribute to intellectual life of the Center.
The AHRQ Grants for Health Services Research Dissertation Program (R36) provides dissertation grants for doctoral candidates. This program supports dissertation research that addresses AHRQ's mission and priorities and welcomes any areas of health services research as dissertation project topics. ... political science, social psychology, and ...
Prospectus. The dissertation prospectus is a proposal for the PhD student's dissertation work. The purpose of the prospectus process is to help the student formulate and refine the contents of the dissertation. The faculty aim is to be constructive in considering the scope, viability, and details of the students' planned research.
There are several compelling reasons to apply for grants and fellowships in graduate school. First, funding can enable you to conduct your own independent research. Funds can also be used for travel to present at meetings, attend conferences, etc. Second, grants and fellowships are important for your c.v. and show that you are on the
The F. J. McGuigan Dissertation Award, supports dissertation research that addresses any aspect of mental function (e.g., cognition, affect, motivation) and seeks to understand the mind from both a behavioral and neural perspective. Proposed research should be compatible with McGuigan's overall goals and may fall within any area of ...
For a list of APA dissertation grants is available online. • Tap other psychology groups. Another source is the American Psychological Foundation/Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology Graduate Research Scholarships in Psychology, administered by APA's Science Directorate. The program offers 13 grants from $1,000 to $5,000 each.
Both Research Grants (for those who have earned a doctoral degree) and Dissertation Grants (for advanced doctoral students) are offered. Researchers who receive support come from a wide variety of disciplines, such as education, sociology, economics, statistics, demography, and psychology, with researchers often working across disciplines.
Fellowships for Graduate Study and Dissertation Research in Psychology Updated: Summer 2013 Fellowship Deadline Area Stage Funding NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program ... (AERA) dissertation grants program Varies see link Education Dissertation Up to $20,000 for 1-year projects (Not renewable) ...
The dissertation grant is intended to fund doctoral level graduate psychology students, enrolled in a New Jersey doctoral level psychology program, to support the process of their doctoral dissertation. The grant money is not meant to cover tuition obligations. 3. The number of grants awarded is not limited by year. 4.
The Graduate Psychology Education (GPE) program is a direct result of advocacy efforts by APAGS ten years ago, in collaboration with APA and other groups. GPE funds professional training in psychology at the internship and postdoctoral levels. In 2009, APAGS and APA were successful in getting funding for the GPE increased by almost 50% for the ...
AAPA Dissertation Research Grant Proposals should be for the initiation or completion of a dissertation, which has implications for the field of Asian American Psychology. A grant will be awarded to the student with the most outstanding research proposal. There will also be two honorable mentions; all three students will present their research ...
Funding for dissertations, graduate school, and research can come from many sources, such as APA, state psychological associations, private foundations, and the National Institutes of Health. ... scholarships and awards with the aim of advancing the science and practice of psychology. Search APA's database by deadline date, award topic ...