CISSR Student Fellowships Application FAQs

Graduate students enrolled in the Social Sciences Division are eligible to apply for CISSR student awards. Some graduate students are enrolled in programs co-assigned to Humanities and SSD; these students are eligible. BA/MA and BA students are not eligible

CISSR Dissertation Fellows should be close to completing their PhD (year 5 or later). If you do not complete your dissertation by the end of the CISSR Dissertation Fellowship term, you will not have any consequences. But your desk in Pick 102 is only available for the year of your fellowship, and you cannot receive a CISSR Dissertation award more than once.

Yes, on rare occasions, students can receive this award multiple times. If applying for a second time, the applicant should describe the tangible results from the initial award and the project’s evolution into the next phase. In particular, justify the need for a second award, emphasizing why this timing is critical for your project. Clearly linking your current work to previous awards will provide the CISSR Board with context they need to assess a second application.

Yes, our webpage is under construction; however, you can read about previous awardees’ projects by scrolling through our Student Fellows and Student Alumni directory – each profile has information about the project that CISSR Funded. 

Funds are released in May and should be used by the end of June 30, 2025 (for 2024-25 Applications). The funds are given as one-time stipends. CISSR does not require reimbursements nor an exhaustive list of every penny spent, but CISSR does require all Rudolph fellows to submit a report at the end of the year. The report allows students to explain any significant deviations in spending from what was requested in the proposal. This is important so the Board can understand conditions that cause issues, and will ultimately help support graduate students doing international fieldwork and research.

Dissertation fellows do not need to submit a budget with their application, however we will ask for an explanation of how the award was spent, which we use in annual and program-specific reports to Divisional and University leadership.