IDRF promotes research that is situated in a specific discipline and geographical region but is also informed by interdisciplinary and cross-regional perspectives. Research topics may address all periods in history, but applicants should be alert to the broader implications of their research as it relates to contemporary issues and debates. Seventy-five fellowships are awarded annually. Fellowship amounts vary depending on the research plan, with a per-fellowship average of $18,750. The fellowship includes participation in an interdisciplinary workshop upon the completion of IDRF-funded research.
Eligibility
The program is open to graduate students in the humanities and social sciences — regardless of citizenship — enrolled in doctoral programs in the United States. Applicants to the 2011 IDRF competition must complete all Ph.D. requirements except on-site research by the time the fellowship begins or by December 2011, whichever comes first.
The program invites proposals for empirical and site-specific dissertation research outside the United States. 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 U.S. as a case for comparative inquiry are welcome; however, proposals which focus predominantly or exclusively on the United States are not eligible. Proposals may cover all periods in history, but must address topics that have relevance to contemporary issues and debates.
Students enrolled in Ph.D. programs in public policy, public health, and education, may be eligible to apply if their research projects engage directly with broader theoretical and analytical issues in the humanities and social sciences. The program does not accept applications from Ph.D. programs in law, business, medicine, nursing or journalism. Students who will have undertaken nine or more months of funded dissertation research in one country by July 2011 are not eligible to apply to the IDRF to extend the research time in the same country. The IDRF program will not support study at home institutions, foreign universities, conference participation, short research trips abroad, or projects relying primarily on labwork. For more information on the 2011 IDRF competition, please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions.
Selection Criteria
The IDRF program is committed to empirical and site-specific research that advances knowledge about non-U.S. cultures and societies (involving many kinds of fieldwork and surveys, research in archival or manuscript collections, or quantitative data collection). The program promotes research that is situated in a specific discipline and geographical region and is engaged with interdisciplinary and cross-regional perspectives. Research topics may address all periods in history, but applicants should be alert to the broader implications of their research as it relates to contemporary issues and debates.
The IDRF competition thus 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 social sciences, both quantitative and qualitative, that seek to answer research questions through sustained empirical, site-specific and source-driven investigations.
Applicants are expected to write in clear, intelligible prose for a selection committee that is multi-disciplinary 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. For more information on the 2011 IDRF competition, please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions
Closing Date: 3 November 2010
Program Director
Daniella Sarnoff
Program Coordinator
Elsa Ransom
Contact
• Samuel Zief
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