Funding: Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship

Deadline: February 18, 2020

The Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) Fellowship Program provides opportunities to doctoral candidates to engage in full-time dissertation research abroad in modern foreign languages and area studies. The program is designed to deepen research knowledge and increase the study of modern foreign languages, cultural engagement, and area studies not generally included in U.S. curricula. 

Program Features

Students may request funding to support overseas research for a period of no less than six months and no more than 12 months. Funds support travel expenses to and from the residence of the fellow and the country or countries of research; maintenance and dependent allowances based on the location of research for the fellow and his or her dependent(s); an allowance for research-related expenses overseas; and health and accident insurance premiums. Projects may focus on one or more of the following geographic areas: Africa, East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, South Asia, the Near East, Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and the Western Hemisphere (excluding the United States and its territories).

Eligible Applicants
Institutions of higher education (IHEs) in the United States are eligible to apply for grants under this program. As part of the application process, students submit individual applications to the IHE. The IHE then submits all eligible individual student applications with its grant application to the U.S. Department of Education. A student is eligible to receive a DDRA fellowship from their IHE if he or she

  • is a citizen, national, or permanent resident of the United States;
  • is a graduate student in good standing at an IHE;
  • is admitted to candidacy in a doctoral degree program in modern foreign languages and area studies at that institution when the fellowship period begins;
  • is planning a teaching career in the United States upon completion of his or her doctoral program; or
  • possesses sufficient foreign language skills to carry out the dissertation research project.

Application

IFLE expects to make 100 new awards totaling approximately $3.5 million under the fiscal year (FY) 2020 DDRA program competition. The FY 2020 application is available online through the U.S. Department of Education’s G5 system between Dec. 17, 2019 and Feb. 18, 2020.

Please refer to the official Federal Register notice for detailed information about the FY 2020 competition.