National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Dissertation Completion Fellowship

The Dissertation Fellowship Program seeks to encourage a new generation of scholars from a wide range of disciplines and professional fields to undertake research relevant to the improvement of education. These fellowships support individuals whose dissertations show potential for bringing fresh and constructive perspectives to the history, theory, analysis, or practice of formal or informal education anywhere in the world.

The NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship is intended to support the writing of the dissertation rather than data collection or course work. It is the expectation of the NAEd and Spencer that fellows will have a completed dissertation at the end of the fellowship period or soon thereafter.

Research Areas

Although the dissertation topic must centrally concern education, graduate study may be in any academic discipline or professional field. Fellowships have been awarded to candidates in anthropology, architecture, art history, communications, economics, education, history, linguistics, literature, philosophy, political science, psychology, public health, religion, and sociology. Eligibility is not restricted to these academic areas. Candidates should be interested in pursuing research on education once the doctorate is attained.

Eligibility

To receive the fellowship, applicants must:

1. Be candidates for the doctoral degree at a graduate school within the United States. US citizenship is not required.
2. Complete all pre-dissertation requirements by June 1 of the award year.
3. Provide a clear and specific plan for completing the dissertation within one or two-years.
4. Propose an education research project.
5. Submit an individual application as we will not accept group applications.