Ph.D. TRAINING

 

Fellowship awards

Please note that the Multidisciplinary Program in Inequality & Social Policy is open only to Harvard Ph.D. students—students already enrolled in a Harvard Ph.D. program—who apply to at the end of their first or second year of graduate study. Prospective applicants to Harvard who are seeking admission to a Ph.D. program in this area may wish to investigate the Harvard Ph.D. Program in Social Policy, which confers a Ph.D. in Government & Social Policy or a Ph.D. in Sociology & Social Policy.

CATEGORIES OF FELLOWSHIPS

The Multidisciplinary Program in Inequality & Social Policy anticipates selecting 7-8 fully-funded Inequality Doctoral Fellows, who will be funded through the program’s principal National Science Foundation grant. In addition, we are pleased to announce the creation of a new fellowship—a designated Doctoral Fellow in Inequality and Criminal Justice, made possible through the generous support of the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. The newly developed fellowship is designed to foster innovative multidisciplinary research on issues of crime, criminal justice policy, and inequality.

In addition to the fully-funded Doctoral Fellowships, the program also anticipates selecting 2-4 partially-funded participants, designated here as Inequality Scholars. The terms of participation remain identical for both groups; they differ principally in the amount of funding provided.

Applicants will be automatically considered first for one of the Doctoral Fellow designations, and then for Inequality Scholar in turn. The selection committee may take into account financial need in making the final award determinations, particularly for students who already hold extensive external fellowship resources—i.e., stipend coverage that effectively extends over five or more years of graduate school. In these circumstances, the program would likely award a smaller but more flexible research fund in lieu of a stipend, similar to the Inequality Scholar award packages described more fully below.

International students are encouraged to apply to the program and may participate in all program activities, although there are greater constraints on funding that the program can offer to students who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents. National Science Foundation rules preclude providing support to international students from the program’s principal grant, but the program has worked hard to secure alternative sources of funding (described more fully below) that make it possible to extend its opportunities in some measure to international students.

We recognize the importance of bringing diverse international perspectives to the table and hope that international students will find the Inequality & Social Policy program a stimulating community for their work.

 

RESOURCES IN DETAIL

The resources provided in each of the award categories are described more fully below:

1. INEQUALITY DOCTORAL FELLOWS

Over the course of the program, those named as Doctoral Fellows will generally receive:

• A $30,000 dissertation stipend, designed to be used in the G-4 year, so that fellows may focus intensively on dissertation research and writing.

• Individual research funds ($2,500), to be used for field research expenses, data purchases, transcription, undergraduate RAs for routine data coding, conference presentations, and the like.

• European Network on Inequality (ENI) research placement and stipend designed to cover full travel and living expenses for a stay of approximately two months.

• Access to well-equipped computer facilities designed to facilitate empirical work. In some cases, shared office space may be available on a limited basis for dissertation-stage students in the Kennedy School of Government’s Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy.

2. CRIMINAL JUSTICE DOCTORAL FELLOW (new!)

Applicants will be considered for this fellowship on the basis of the research interests outlined in the statement of purpose. Those not selected in this category will be automatically considered for each of the other categories in which they are eligible.

• A $30,000 dissertation stipend, designed to be used in the G-4 year, for dissertation research and writing.

• (If NSF-eligible) Individual research funds ($2,500), to be used for the same purposes described above.

• (If NSF-eligible) European Network on Inequality research placement and stipend designed to cover full travel and living expenses for a stay of approximately two months.

• Access to well-equipped computer facilities and/or shared office space.

 

3. INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS—DOCTORAL FELLOW DESIGNATION

For international students named as Doctoral Fellows, the program can offer:

• A $15,000 dissertation stipend, designed to be used in the G-4 year.

• Access to well-equipped computer facilities and/or shared office space.

• Access to well-equipped computer facilities and/or shared office space.

 

4. INEQUALITY SCHOLARS

Students selected instead as Inequality Scholars will receive:

• Individual research funds (~ $5,000), which may be used for the same purposes identified above.

• (If NSF eligible) European Network on Inequality research placement and stipend designed to cover full travel and living expenses for a stay of approximately two months.

• Access to well-equipped computer facilities and/or shared office space. 

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