Graduate Research Fellowships

UW doctoral students who have advanced to candidacy by November 2008 are invited to apply for Graduate Research Fellowships to work on their dissertations. Two kinds of Graduate Research Fellowships are awarded in the Fall funding rounds—Society of Scholars Fellowships and Summer Dissertation Research Fellowships.

*Note to applicants and advisors:  These fellowships are designed for dissertators who are in the process of writing up their research.  They favor those who are already in the process of doing so. Advisors should assess and address the applicant's expected stage of development at the beginning of the fellowship term (July 2009 for Summer Dissertators; September 2009 for Society of Scholars) and their anticipated stage of completion at the end of the fellowship term.  A statement of the student's preparedness and readiness to engage in serious dissertation writing and discussion should appear in the letter's first paragraph."

Although the two kinds of fellowships offer different kinds and amounts of support, the application and proposal requirements are the same for both. Graduate applicants should indicate on the cover sheet whether they wish to be considered for one or both awards. Applying for both will put applicants in contention to receive either an SOS award or a SDRF award; no applicant will receive both awards. Unless applicants indicate otherwise in their project proposal narratives, the Board will assume a preference for the SOS scholarship over the SDRF award.

Awards will be based on the scholarly merit of the individual applications. Neither fellowship is appropriate for those whose projects require significant periods of time spent away from the University during the fellowship term.

A.) Society of Scholars Dissertation Research Fellowships
Graduate research fellows of the Society of Scholars will receive two quarters of support, including benefits and a tuition waiver for those two quarters, and will participate in the biweekly meetings of the fellows throughout the academic year. We anticipate making three graduate fellowship awards to the Society of Scholars.

B) Summer Dissertation Research Fellowships
Summer Research Dissertation Fellows receive $4500 to support work on their dissertations and office space in the Simpson Center for eight summer weeks. This award does not require students to carry summer credits and it therefore makes no provision for tuition costs or waivers. It does not provide benefits (but for students who have held academic year GSA appointments, medical benefits are carried over during the summer). The Simpson Center, with support from the Divisional Dean of the Arts & Humanities, expects to support up to six awards in Summer 2009.

Application

1. Submit a proposal (limited to 1,750 words or approximately six double-spaced pages n.b. not 500 words as previously circulated) that describes the research project, addressing the following points in language clear to non-specialists in the field: the project’s objectives, significance, methodology, contribution to the scholarship and debates in the field, and timeline (what has been previously accomplished and what is expected to be accomplished during the year). Also include a bibliography consisting of both primary and secondary sources directly related to the project (limited to 500 words).
   
   
2. Submit a curriculum vita (maximum five pages) with the project description.
   
   
3. Request a letter of support from the dissertation advisor. The letter should be mailed electronically to Renee DeLong at red2@u.washington.edu or sent in hard copy to the Simpson Center. Please see note to advisors and applicants above.
   

Checklist

• Proposal cover sheet (print out and submit to your departmental chair and administrator/fiscal specialist for signatures, return signed hard copy to the Simpson Center)
  Download Word Document
  
  
• Complete our Catalyst survey. This contains the same information as the paper cover sheet: www.simpsoncenter.org/coversheet
  
  
• Project description and curriculum vitae (maximum five pages per person) as a single Word or PDF document: www.simpsoncenter.org/application
  
  
• Letter of support (send as email attachment to red2@u.washington.edu, or in hard copy to the Simpson Center.)
  

Assistance

Assistance using Catalyst Tools is available on the Catalyst Website.

Simpson Center Funding Deadlines and Procedures