Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship (DPDF) Faculty Field Competition

The Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship (DPDF) Faculty Field Competition is open to tenured humanities and social sciences faculty interested in creating or reinvigorating interdisciplinary fields of study through the training of the next generation of researchers. Selected research directors guide the development of effective doctoral dissertation proposals within innovative fields by helping fellows sharpen the focus of their research and identify appropriate methods of investigation and analysis.

Annually, the DPDF program selects up to five research fields, each proposed by two senior faculty with different institutional affiliations and, as relevant, different disciplinary specializations. Faculty selected as field research directors design and lead two workshops for student fellows, in coordination with DPDF staff, and serve as mentors to the fellows during the course of their summer pre-dissertation research.

Research Fields

Proposed research fields should be domains of inquiry centered on a core set of issues and questions that can be valuably addressed by diverse scholarship. Fields should address topics of broad public concern that can be approached from multiple intellectual, societal, and geographic orientations. Fields should also address topics that encompass broad geographic areas rather than focus on one specific country. Research fields proposed by pairs of faculty who bring distinct perspectives from any different disciplines are welcome, but fields stemming jointly from the humanities and social sciences are particularly encouraged. Up to five research fields are selected each year. View past research field descriptions here.http://www.ssrc.org/fellowships/dpdf-faculty-fields-competition/#apply