A special fellowship opportunity has emerged out of a partnership that the Graduate Center (GC) has recently established with the Social Science Research Council (SSRC).  The SSRC has agreed to dedicate up to eight fellowships from its prestigious Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship Program (DPDF) for GC students in the upcoming award cycle.  The DPDF competition is open to students in the humanities and social sciences who are beginning to undertake preliminary work towards formulating their dissertation proposals.  This partnership with the SSRC will further assist the GC in developing a local CUNY version of the DPDF.  The application deadline is October 15th.  I am writing to ask for your help in disseminating information about this opportunity so that our students can get a head start on their applications.
The DPDF Program is an interdisciplinary training program that helps early-stage doctoral students formulate their dissertation research proposals for external funding agencies.  The DPDF provides students with up to $5,000 for pre-dissertation exploratory summer research, preceded and followed by intensive multi-day workshops where students participate in proposal critique and writing sessions.  In the workshops, fellows work with faculty mentors and students from other disciplines and institutions, so as to introduce them to theories, literatures, methods, and intellectual traditions of disciplines outside of their own.
GC DPDF fellows will receive additional mentoring and support through workshops and training sessions at the GC.  Additionally, 2016 GC DPDF fellows will have to demonstrate by February of 2017 that they have applied for at least one additional external fellowship award to support their dissertation research.  More information about the program and eligibility can be found through the links below.