apsa doctoral dissertation improvement grant

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Eligibility

The APSA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants are available to all US-based graduate students who are at the point of initiating or are already conducting empirical dissertation research focused on advancing knowledge and understanding of citizenship, government, and politics. 

APSA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants are intended to support basic, empirically-oriented, research. This grant cannot support applied research. Basic research is experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts, without any particular application or use in view. Although basic research could result in a solution to a practical problem, that is not its primary aim. Applied research is designed to answer specific questions aimed at solving practical problems. Applied research is likely to directly make improvements on existing products, technologies and processes.

• Applicants must be enrolled at a doctoral degree granting university at the time of application.
• Applicants must be enrolled at a university accredited in and having a campus physically located in the United States.
• Applicants must have completed all preliminary degree requirements at the time of their application, including having successfully completed comprehensive exams and a dissertation prospectus defense.
• Applicants must be sponsored by their dissertation adviser.
• Applicants must be endorsed by their graduate institution. If the grant application is successful, grant funds will be distributed through the student’s host institution. 

Successful Applications

• Be theoretically derived and empirically oriented, with the potential to advance basic understanding and methods in political science and to advance the frontiers of knowledge.
• Focus on research costs not normally covered by the student’s university that will have a significant and identifiable effect on increasing the intellectual merit and broader impact of the overall dissertation research.
• Be based on already significant research that will be strengthened by the proposed dissertation improvement activities.

Review Criteria

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American Political Science Association (APSA) Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (DDRIG)

• Social Sciences
• Spring Quarter (April-June)
• International Research or Work
• Research Grant
• No citizenship requirements

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has made two awards to APSA to administer the Political Science Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (DDRIG) program. UChicago doctoral candidates should consult the SSRC DDRIG toolkit for program dates, timelines and other institutional support.

Fieldwork Expenses

This grant is intended to provide funding for research costs not normally covered by the grantee’s university. Examples include:

• costs associated with travel and related expenses to conduct research at field sites, archives, specialized collections, and/or facilities away from the student’s campus
• costs for data-collection activities, including the conduct of surveys, questionnaires, and/or focus groups or the purchase of extant data
• costs for equipment necessary for the conduct of the project that will be devoted to the project over the duration of the award
• costs for payments to research subjects and/or informants
• costs for non-routine materials and supplies required for the conduct of the project
• costs for data transcription
• analysis and research services not otherwise available
• costs for training in qualitative and quantitative methods required to complete the dissertation

Eligible Research

This program supports scientific research that advances knowledge and understanding of citizenship, government, and politics. Research proposals are expected to be theoretically motivated, conceptually precise, methodologically rigorous, and empirically oriented. Substantive areas include, but are not limited to, American government and politics, comparative government and politics, international relations, political behavior, political economy, and political institutions. This encompasses projects on bargaining processes; campaigns and elections, electoral choice, and electoral systems; citizen support in emerging and established democracies; democratization, political change, and regime transitions; domestic and international conflict; international political economy; party activism; political psychology and political tolerance.

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Graduate Student Bo Feng Wins the APSA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant

• By: Liam Dingle
• February 7, 2024

Bo Feng , PO PhD candidate, won the APSA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (2023)  for his dissertation project “ Strategic Allocation of Discretionary Power in Authoritarianism: Political Control, Politicians’ Preferences, and Policy Trade-offs in China .” His dissertation will examine how Chinese political elites allocate discretionary power to subordinates.

View all posts

Pamela Nwakanma has been awarded an APSA doctoral dissertation research improvement grant

The Voice of Political Science around the World

APSA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants

American Political Science Association

United States

Deadline: Tue, 15 Jun 2021

Contact: [email protected]

The American Political Science Association is now accepting applications for the 2021 Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant.

The Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (DDRIG) program provides support to enhance and improve the conduct of doctoral dissertation research in political science. Awards will support basic research which is theoretically derived and empirically oriented. The APSA DDRIG program will award up to twenty grants yearly of between $10,000 and $15,000 to support doctoral dissertation research that advances knowledge and understanding of citizenship, government, and politics.

APSA invites eligible graduate students to apply for the DDRIG. The deadline to apply is June 15, 2021. More information about eligibility and the application process is available here .

In addition, as APSA assembles a review panel for the new APSA DDRIG, we are committed to selecting excellent scholars that are diverse on a variety of characteristics. To achieve this goal, we rely on the membership to help us develop a diverse pool from which we can assemble a balanced and representative review panel. If you or other members of your faculty are interested in volunteering to serve as a reviewer, please sign up here .  

For more information on the APSA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants visit our website, or email Jessica or Meghan at [email protected] .

Application and Eligibility The APSA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants are available to all US-based graduate students who are at the point of initiating or are already conducting dissertation research focused on advancing knowledge and understanding of citizenship, government, and politics. Learn more.

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Science of Science - Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (SoS DDRIG)

Status: archived, important information for proposers.

All proposals must be submitted in accordance with the requirements specified in this funding opportunity and in the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) that is in effect for the relevant due date to which the proposal is being submitted. It is the responsibility of the proposer to ensure that the proposal meets these requirements. Submitting a proposal prior to a specified deadline does not negate this requirement.

This funding opportunity is no longer current and has been archived.

Discovery, Communication, and Impact

The Science of Science: Discovery, Communication, and Impact (SOS:DCI) program is designed to understand the scientific research enterprise and increase the public value of scientific activity. The program pursues this goal by supporting basic research in three fundamental areas: 

• How to increase the rate of socially beneficial discovery; 
• How to improve science communication outcomes; and 
• How to expand the societal benefits of scientific activity. 

The  SOS:DCI  program, which builds upon the former SciSIP program, funds research that builds theoretical and empirical understandings of these three areas. With this goal in mind, proposals should: 

• Develop data, models, indicators, and associated analytical tools that constitute and enable transformative advances rather than incremental change. 
• Identify ethical challenges and mitigate potential risks to people and institutions. 
• Provide credible metrics and rigorous assessments of their proposed project’s impact.  
• Include robust data management plans, preregistration plans where appropriate, and related commitments that increase the usability, validity, and reliability of scientific materials.  

  Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (DDRIGs)                                                                  

The Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants funding opportunity is designed to improve the quality of dissertation research. DDRIG awards provide funds for items not normally available through the student's university such as enabling doctoral students to undertake significant data-gathering projects and to conduct field research in settings away from their campus. DDRIGs do not provide cost-of-living or other stipends or tuition. Outstanding DDRIG proposals specify how the knowledge to be created advances science of science.

Program contacts

For full proposals submitted via FastLane: standard  NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide  proposal preparation guidelines apply.

For full proposals submitted via Grants.gov: the  NSF Grants.gov Application Guide: A Guide for the Preparation and Submission of NSF Applications via Grants.gov Guidelines  applies. (Note: The  NSF Grants.gov Application Guide  is available on the Grants.gov website and on the NSF website at:  http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=grantsgovguide )

Important Information for Proposers

A revised version of the  NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide  (PAPPG) (NSF 19-1), is effective for proposals submitted, or due, on or after February 25, 2019. Please be advised that, depending on the specified due date, the guidelines contained in NSF 19-1 may apply to proposals submitted in response to this funding opportunity.

Awards made through this program

Organization(s).

• Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE)
• Division of Social and Economic Sciences (SBE/SES)

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APSA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant Now Accepting Applications!

The Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant project provides support to enhance and improve the conduct of doctoral dissertation research in political science. Awards support basic research which is theoretically derived and empirically oriented. The APSA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant program awards up to twenty grants yearly of between $10,000 and $15,000 to support doctoral dissertation research that advances knowledge and understanding of citizenship, government, and politics. 

Eligibility :

The APSA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants are available to all US-based graduate students who are at the point of initiating or are already conducting empirical dissertation research focused on advancing knowledge and understanding of citizenship, government, and politics. 

Applicants must meet the following qualifications

• Applicants must be enrolled at a doctoral degree granting university at the time of application.
• Applicants must be enrolled at a university accredited in and having a campus located in the United States.
• Applicants must have completed all preliminary degree requirements at the time of their application, including having successfully completed comprehensive exams and a dissertation prospectus defense.
• Applicants must be sponsored by their dissertation adviser.
• Applicants must be endorsed by their graduate institution. If the grant application is successful, grant funds will be distributed through the student’s host institution. 

For more information about the grant, the application, and eligibility, visit the APSA DDRIG website . The application can be found here . If you have any additional questions, please contact Elizabeth or Meghan at [email protected]

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