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Graduate Funding

College of Arts and Science graduate students have access to various funding opportunities from sources both within and outside Vanderbilt. Please note that these grants each have their own specific eligibility requirements and application procedures.

These sources are by no means exhaustive. Your dissertation adviser, your department's Director of Graduate Studies, the A&S Office of Research, or other mentors can assist you in locating funding sources in addition to those listed here.

Vanderbilt Awards for Doctoral Discovery (VADD)

  • Overview

    Vanderbilt Awards for Doctoral Discovery (VADD) is a program designed to help graduate students with outstanding potential to accelerate progress on their research, proceed to candidacy, and/or complete their dissertation research in a timely manner. Awarded funding could be used for research expenses related to the doctoral thesis, other advanced research projects, or scholarly activities that significantly advance professional development. VADD is granted on a competitive basis.

    VADD is not a substitute for, nor a supplement to, graduate stipends. Award funds will either be provided directly to vendors upon receipt of an invoice or will be provided to award recipients in the form of reimbursement for expenses. Funds are intended to support students’ work for the dissertation, dissertation proposal, or other scholarly projects; they are not to be used to support Vanderbilt coursework.

    Students may request awards of up to $5,000; however, the college may not be able to grant the full sum requested by every successful applicant. In determining the amount of each award, the Committee on Graduate Education will consider the degree of need demonstrated by the proposal and budget, the number of meritorious applications, and the total available funds.

     

  • Application Process

    Nominations

    The Office of the Dean will rely on departmental expertise to procure and rank nominations for these awards. Each department is given a maximum number of nominations to submit to the Committee on Graduate Education via the Office of the Dean. This process will most likely vary for each department, and can include all faculty members, the DGS only, or a committee tasked with selecting the top nominations. There is no proscribed nomination process; rather, departments can define their own process for gathering nominations. Each DGS should submit a single PDF with ranked nominations, including a written rationale for the rankings, a short summary of the nomination process, and a justification for each ranking.

    The information listed below, including CV, proposal, budget, and letters of support for all nominations, should be sent in a separate PDF file. The Committee on Graduate Education will evaluate the departmental rankings along with the applicant’s application packet.

    Eligibility

    Doctoral students in good standing making satisfactory progress toward the degree are eligible for VADD. A student may receive this award no more than twice during their career at Vanderbilt.

    Application Materials

    Each student’s application should include the following:

    1. CV: 2-page maximum, including year in Ph.D. program, education, relevant experience, and products (publications, presentations, software products, performances, and other forms of creative expression).
    2. 1-2 page proposal: This should be written for non-specialists, convey the nature and importance of the research, and describe in specific terms the activities to be pursued during the summer. A brief explanation of how this additional training is integral to your degree completion (i.e., to advance to candidacy and/or to complete dissertation research) should also be included. NOTE: If other funding sources are available to supplement VADD support (for example, Graduate School Travel Grants, departmental awards, or relevant external fellowships), the proposal should identify them and indicate that the applicant will apply for them. If no other funding sources are available, the applicant should provide a statement to that effect.
    3. Budget: This should outline in detail the costs to complete the proposed research: travel, lodging, equipment, supplies, and/or other expenses.
    4. Two 1-page letters of support: One of these must be from a faculty member who will supervise the proposed research.

    Submission of Application

    • Applicants should submit the CV, research proposal, and budget to the Director of Graduate Studies as a single PDF. Because DGS’s forward applications to the Dean’s Office, all applicants should contact their DGS well in advance of the deadline, note an intention to submit an application, and request a date by which to submit their materials to the DGS.
    • Writers of recommendations should submit letters to the DGS in advance of the deadline.
    • DGS's should send the departmental rankings, memo of support for the nominations, and applicant materials to Zoe Canales. These materials are due no later than the deadline listed on the call for applications.

    Final Report

    Award recipients must submit a two-page final report to Senior Associate Dean John McLean, care of Zoe Canales, and their DGS. The report is due no later than the deadline listed on the call for applications. Department DGS's can provide this date for each academic year. Reports should provide an account of the outcome of the efforts supported by the award and a description of how the recipient will develop this work in the future.

    Contact

    Please direct questions to your department's DGS.

     

Other Internal Funding Opportunities

  • The Provost’s Pathbreaking Discovery Awards (PPDA) recognizes exceptional academic excellence. Graduate students receive a one-time $2,500 stipend and are honored at the annual Graduate School Honor’s Banquet. The award is highly selective, and nominations are submitted by individual departments.
  • The Vanderbilt Graduate School provides various funding sources, including for travel and research and regalia. They also offer Launching Student Success grants to new, incoming students and Candidacy Success grants to students who reach candidacy, among other funding options.
  • The Heard Libraries provide research funding resources for graduate and professional students. They also offer the Buchanan Library Fellowship program, which supports hands-on student learning opportunities.
  • The Curb Center’s Graduate Public Scholars Program supports graduate students working on arts-based projects.
  • The Writing Studio hires hourly Graduate Writing Consultants, where you can gain valuable pedagogical experience working directly with students.

External Funding Opportunities

There are various external sources that curate funding opportunities available to graduate students. Some include UCLA GRAPES and the University of Chicago’s Fellowships Database.

Dissertation Funding

How To Find Dissertation Funding

You should begin looking for dissertation funding well before you anticipate beginning your work. A good rule of thumb is to begin identifying opportunities at least 18 months before you plan to start your research or writing, and to begin drafting your proposal 3–6 months ahead of a submission deadline. There are several productive ways to identify sources of funding for research and writing:

  • Ask your peers, adviser/mentor, and other faculty in your department.
  • Consult journal articles and scholarly books in your discipline, which often include an acknowledgment of the source(s) of funding that supported the associated research.
  • Use a grants search database to identify opportunities that match your status and needs. All Vanderbilt students, using their Vanderbilt e-mail address, have free access to SPIN, a searchable grants database that contains thousands of external funding opportunities, including long-term funding for dissertation research and writing.

Keep in mind: the most critical elements of the dissertation research proposal are usually the central research question/hypothesis/problem, your proposed methodology, your preliminary research and findings, and your qualifications to carry out the proposed research.

Funding Options:

  • Private foundations or institutions
    • German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). DAAD supports research and study in Germany on a wide variety of topics. Because Vanderbilt is a partner university with DAAD, student applications are reviewed first by a Vanderbilt panel before they are nominated for submission. Information about the review process and internal deadlines is sent to departments early in the fall semester. The internal Vanderbilt deadline for submission to the selection committee is in early to mid-October, and the DAAD submission deadline is usually in late October or early November.
    • Mellon/American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS). An ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship funds a year of research and writing for advanced graduate students in the humanities and related social sciences. Applicants must be in the final year of dissertation writing. The deadline is usually in late October.
    • Social Science Research Council (SSRC). The SSRC sponsors many types of fellowship opportunities for doctoral students, including the International Dissertation Research Fellowship (IDRF). The IDRF supports students conducting dissertation research on non-U.S. topics. The submission deadline is usually in late October or early November.
  • U.S. government
    • Fulbright U.S. Student Study/Research Grants. These awards are available for study or research in approximately 140 countries. Applicants design their own projects and typically work with advisers at foreign universities or other institutes of higher education. Fulbright funding is administered by the Vanderbilt Career Center's Fellowships Team, which offers workshops as well as application and submission support. The Fulbright deadline is usually in mid-October.
    • Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Research Abroad (U.S. Dept. of Education). The Fulbright-Hays program provides grants through colleges and universities to fund doctoral students who conduct research in foreign countries. Research must be in modern foreign languages and/or area studies. The program is usually announced mid-spring, with an early May deadline.
    • National Science Foundation (NSF). The NSF administers grants by discipline or clusters of disciplines in the natural and social sciences. Each group has specific instructions and deadlines. NSF also supports the Graduate Research Fellowship Program, a three-year fellowship administered at Vanderbilt by the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Innovation. Students must apply for the fellowship during either the senior undergraduate year or first or second year of graduate study. Deadlines for NSF fellowships vary by discipline, but are usually in late October.

Contact

For more information about graduate student funding, or for support in applying for funding, please contact the College of Arts and Science Office of Research.