SSRC and IDRF are funding International Dissertation Research Fellowships for graduate students regardless of citizenship enrolled in PhD programs in the USA. The program invites proposals for dissertation research conducted, in whole or in part, outside the United States on non-US topics. Please note that the required minimum research outside the United States is dependent upon applicant’s discipline. English language proficiency is required. Eighty fellowships are available annually. Fellowship amounts vary depending on the research plan, with a per-fellowship average of $20,000. The online application process must be filled by 4th November 2014.
Study Subject(s): The program invites proposals for dissertation research conducted, in whole or in part, outside the United States, on non-US topics. Proposals that identify the United States as a case for comparative inquiry are welcome; however, proposals that focuses predominantly or exclusively on the United States are not eligible.
Course Level: Fellowships are available for pursuing PhD program and conducting dissertation research on non-US topics.
Scholarship Provider: SSRC and IDRF
Scholarship can be taken at: USA (Research within the United States must be site-specific (e.g., at a particular archive) and cannot be at the applicant’s home institution unless that institution has necessary site-specific research holdings) and Abroad
User Review
( votes)Eligibility: The program is open to graduate students in the humanities and humanistic social sciences—regardless of citizenship—enrolled in PhD programs in the United States. Applicants to the 2015 IDRF competition must complete all PhD requirements except on-site research by the time the fellowship begins or by December 2015, whichever comes first.
-The program invites proposals for dissertation research conducted, in whole or in part, outside the United States, on non-US topics. 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 United States as a case for comparative inquiry are welcome; however, proposals that focus predominantly or exclusively on the United States are not eligible.
-Applicants from select disciplines within the humanities (Art History, Architectural History, Classics, Drama/Theater, Film Studies, Literature, Musicology, Performance Studies, Philosophy, Political Theory, and Religion) are welcome to request three or more months of funding for international on-site dissertation research in combination with site-specific research in the United States, for a total of nine to twelve months of funding. All other applicants (for instance, those in Anthropology, Geography, History, Political Science, and Sociology, among others) must request nine to twelve months of on-site, site-specific dissertation research with a minimum of six months of research outside of the United States. Research within the United States must be site-specific (e.g., at a particular archive) and cannot be at the applicant’s home institution unless that institution has necessary site-specific research holdings. Please note that the IDRF program supports research only and may not be used for dissertation write-up.
Applicants who have completed significant funded dissertation research in one country by the start of their proposed IDRF research may be ineligible to apply to the IDRF to extend research time in the same country. Eligibility will be at the discretion of the IDRF program, depending on completed research time and funding. The IDRF program expects fellows to remain at their research site(s) for the full nine- to twelve-month funding period. The IDRF program will not support study at foreign universities, conference participation, or dissertation write-up. The program does not accept applications from PhD programs in law, business, medicine, nursing, or journalism, nor does it accept applications in doctoral programs that do not lead to a PhD.
Scholarship Open for International Students: Applicants of all nationalities enrolled in PhD programs in the United States are eligible for these research fellowships.
Scholarship Description: 
The Mellon International Dissertation Research Fellowship (IDRF) offers nine to twelve months of support to graduate students in the humanities and humanistic social sciences who are enrolled in PhD programs in the United States and conducting dissertation research on non-US topics. Eighty fellowships are awarded annually. Fellowship amounts vary depending on the research plan, with a per-fellowship average of $20,000. The fellowship includes participation in an SSRC-funded interdisciplinary workshop upon the completion of IDRF-funded research.
Number of award(s): Up to eighty research fellowships are awarded annually.
Duration of award(s): Fellowships provide support for nine to twelve months of on-site, site-specific dissertation research. No awards will be made for proposals requiring less than nine months of research. The IDRF-funded research must take place in a single continuous period within the eighteen months between July 2015 and December 2016.
What does it cover? Fellowship amounts vary depending on the research plan, with a per-fellowship average of $20,000. The fellowship includes participation in an SSRC-funded interdisciplinary workshop upon the completion of IDRF-funded research. The IDRF grant will cover fellows’ travel, research, and living expenses for nine to twelve months of dissertation research. The IDRF grant will not cover tuition costs, dependent living expenses, taxes, or dissertation write-up.
Selection Criteria: The IDRF competition promotes a range of approaches and research designs beyond single-site or single-country research, including comparative work at the national and regional levels and explicit comparison of cases across time frames. The program is open to proposals informed by a range of methodologies in the humanities and humanistic social sciences, including research in archives and manuscript collections, fieldwork and surveys and quantitative data collection. Applicants are expected to write in clear, intelligible prose for a selection committee that is multidisciplinary and cross-regional. Proposals should display a thorough knowledge of the major concepts, theories, and methods in the applicant’s discipline and in other related fields, as well as a bibliography relevant to the research. Applicants should specify why an extended period of on-site research is critical for successful completion of the proposed doctoral dissertation. The research design of proposals should be realistic in scope, clearly formulated, and responsive to theoretical and methodological concerns. 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.
Notification: Incomplete and ineligible applicants will be informed of their status by December 2014. All other applicants will be contacted by the program, via email or USPS, about their status in February 2015. Fellows will be notified by May 2015.
Online Application: The IDRF application must be filled out online and can be accessed through the SSRC Online Application Portal. You will also use this portal to contact your referees and language evaluator(s), complete the research relevance section, upload your research proposal and bibliography, and send reminders to referees and language evaluators.
Scholarship Application Deadline: The deadline for application is 4th November 2014.
