Social Science Research Council

The program is open to full-time graduate students in the humanities and social sciences -- regardless of citizenship -- enrolled in doctoral programs in the United States. Applicants must complete all Ph.D. requirements except on-site research by the time the fellowship begins or by December 2009, whichever comes first.

The program invites proposals for empirical and site-specific dissertation research outside the United States. It will consider applications for dissertation research grounded in a single site, informed by broader cross-regional and interdisciplinary perspectives, as well as applications for multi-sited, comparative, and transregional research. Proposals that identify the US as a case for comparative inquiry are welcome; however, proposals which focus predominantly or exclusively on the United States are not eligible. Proposals may cover all periods in history, but must address topics that have relevance to contemporary issues and debates.

Students enrolled in Ph.D. programs in public policy, public health, and education, may be eligible to apply if their research projects engage directly with broader theoretical and analytical issues in the humanities and social sciences. The program does not accept applications from Ph.D. programs in law, business, medicine, nursing or journalism. Students who have already received nine months or more of support for dissertation research in one country are not eligible to apply to the IDRF to extend the research time in the same country.  The IDRF program will not support study at foreign universities, conference participation, short research trips abroad or projects relying primarily on labwork.

Photo Credits: Puay Sang Long ceremony, Thailand (Jane Ferguson, 2005); Mother and baby, India (Beatrice Jauregui, 2005)