Finding and applying to sources of funding during a Phd program has been strongly encouraged at my program. I made it a goal to apply to at least one grant or fellowship opportunity each academic year. Not only is it great practice, but you often get feedback on your applications that help you become better at applying to other opportunities in the future. Below I have listed a few funding opportunities along with links to more information.
AAUW Dissertation Fellowships The purpose of the American Dissertation Fellowship is to offset a scholar’s living expenses while she completes her dissertation. The fellowship must be used for the final year of writing the dissertation.
ASA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants 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. Application deadline is November 1st.
ASA Minority Fellowship Program provides a stipend of $20,000 for each annual award (August 1-July 31) and works with departments to try to arrange for the payment of tuition for the academic year. The Fellowship includes designated cohort programming at the ASA Annual Meeting, travel support for scientific conferences, and the opportunity to become part of a distinguished network of sociologists.
Center for US-Mexican Studies Visiting Fellows Program Applications are accepted from Ph.D. candidates who are ABD and have completed a substantial portion of their dissertations. Residential periods must be between three and nine months in duration beginning in Sept. 2023 or Jan. 2024. Fellowships may not be over the summer months (July – August). Stipends average $1,000/month for visiting professors and $3,000/month for pre-doctoral students and are determined by University of California general policies and funding availability.
Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowships The dissertation fellowships provide one year of support for individuals working to complete a dissertation leading to a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) or Doctor of Science (Sc.D.) degree. The Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship is intended to support the final year of writing and defense of the dissertation.
Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship This competition year the program will award approximately 75 predoctoral fellowships. These fellowships provide three years of support for individuals engaged in graduate study leading to a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) or Doctor of Science (Sc.D.) degree.
Fulbright Student Fellowships The Fulbright U.S. Student Program provides grants for individually designed study/research projects or for English Teaching Assistant Programs.
Fulbright-Hays DDRA This program provides grants to colleges and universities to fund individual doctoral students who conduct research in other countries, in modern foreign languages and area studies for periods of six to 12 months.
Horowitz Foundation Grants Its general purpose is to support the advancement of research and understanding in major fields of the social sciences. Its specific purpose is to provide funding to aspiring PhDs in support of research that is innovative and addresses urgent social policy issues.
Law & Science Dissertation Grant program provides financial support for graduate students in diverse law-and-science disciplines to conduct their doctoral dissertation research. The program is funded by an award from the Law & Science program at the National Science Foundation (SBE #2016661) to Arizona State University (ASU).
Mellon Foundation Fellowship in Latino Studies Two nine-month residential fellowships in Latino Studies are available pending approval. Scholars with doctorates at the assistant professor level who plan to complete book-length projects and PhD candidates who plan to write their dissertations are eligible.
NSF National Graduate Research Fellowships The NSF GRFP recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported STEM disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited US institutions. The five-year fellowship includes three years of financial support including an annual stipend of $34,000 and a cost of education allowance of $12,000 to the institution.
Paloheimo Foundation Fellowship One nine-month residential fellowship created to honor the legacy of the three women of the Acequia Madre House, Eva Scott Fényes, Leonora Scott Muse Curtin, and Leonora Curtin Paloheimo, is available for scholars working in the humanities or social sciences. PhD candidates who plan to write their dissertations are eligible. Fellows receive a stipend of $35,000 in addition to low-cost housing and free office space on the SAR campus.
RAND Graduate Student Summer Associate Program The Summer Associate Program introduces outstanding graduate students to RAND, an institution that conducts research on a wide range of domestic and international social policy issues and matters of national security. The program runs in the summer months only. Summer Associates work at RAND full-time for a 12-week period. The summer earnings for 2023 will be approximately $14,000 (before taxes) for the 12 weeks of full-time research.
SSRC International Dissertation Research Fellowship offers six 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 about US Indigenous or non-US cultures and societies. The IDRF program especially welcomes applications from underrepresented institutions.
The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans supports thirty New Americans, immigrants or the children of immigrants, who are pursuing graduate school in the United States. Each Fellowship supports one to two years of graduate study in any field and in any advanced degree-granting program in the United States.
UC Center Sacramento STEM Solutions in Public Policy Award The award will recognize one or more outstanding proposals for new California state legislation from University of California Graduate Students in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, or mathematics). The winner(s) will receive $750 in research support and – should their idea advance through the legislative process – travel support to confer with legislators and/or legislative staff in Sacramento and potentially testify before legislative committees.
UC Center Sacramento Emerging Scholars Award for Excellence in Research and Public Policy The UC Center Sacramento announces its seventh annual Emerging Scholars Award for Excellence in Research and Public Policy. The award will recognize excellence in graduate student research with a direct impact on public policy. The recipients of the Emerging Scholars Award will receive a $750 prize and will deliver an invited policy lecture at the UC Center.
UCI Initiative to End Family Violence IEFV Graduate Student Fellowships support graduate students whose research has the potential to prevent, intervene in, or end family violence or gender-based violence. Graduate students are eligible to apply. IEFV Student Fellows will each receive up to $3,000 to support their research or conference travel expenses (for the presentation of research regarding family violence). IEFV Student Fellowships are intended to supplement, not replace, any funding that students may already be receiving.
Wenner-Gren Dissertation Fieldwork Grants are awarded to doctoral research. Application deadlines are May and November 1st. The Foundation supports research that demonstrates a clear link to anthropological theory and debates and promises to make a solid contribution to advancing these ideas. The Foundation particularly welcomes proposals that employ a comparative perspective, can generate innovative approaches or ideas, and/or integrate two or more subfields.