In order to fulfill the doctoral requirement of nine months of fieldwork abroad, most students need to seek external funding. The nature of such funding proposals varies in accordance with the region within which fieldwork is to be pursued. However, in general, proposals must be filed an entire calendar year prior to the time at which the student plans to engage in fieldwork. Since many, if not most, relevant fellowships require applications to be submitted anywhere from mid-summer to December, the summer and fall of one’s final year of course work is the optimal time to first submit fieldwork funding proposals.
The success of such proposals is in large part determined by the research plan as expressed in the proposal, and the student’s prior fieldwork experience in the region (and consequently extent of contacts, etc.). Thus it is imperative that proposals be prepared well in advance of the due date, so that relevant faculty can give critical feedback for the final revision. In addition, a student is highly encouraged to use summers or a semester to do preliminary exploration on site during their studies. Most fellowship committees will have a formal rating sheet which their evaluators use in giving a point total to each application. Thus for each criteria they give a number - ranging from outstanding to unacceptable - and then the total for all criteria together constitutes the applicant’s score. Thus it is important to say things specified as important in application procedures even if they seem obvious, because otherwise you will get a zero on that criteria.
For example, one technical review sheet has:
And so forth....
For research in India, three most important fellowship opportunities are from the American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS, , http://humanities.uchicago.edu/orgs/aiis/hp.htm ), the Fulbright-Hayes, and Fullbright IIE. AIIS applications are generally due in mid-summer, and the other two in early fall. The two Fulbright programs are also available in Nepal.
In China, the central funding agency is the Committee for Scholarly Communication with China (CSCC). For more anthropological studies, there are various funding agencies dedicated to the social sciences.
In addition, there are various less known fellowships, and it is important to pursue such opportunities in addition to the more mainstream options. For example, The Rock Foundation (2905 Springhurst Steet; Yorktown Heights, NY 10598; Tel. 914-962-4208; fax 914-962-0038) has offered several fellwships for Ph.D. students and dissertators majoring in Buddhist Studies. The Foundation is dedicated to the study of Buddhism in general and Chinese Buddhism in particular in the US. They support three dissertators and seven Ph.D. students. The Fellowship administrator is Henry Chang (). The dissertation fellowship come with a stipend of $10,000 for Ph.D. candidates who complete all doctorate requirements except the dissertation. Pre-dissertation research fellowship comes with a stipend of $5,000. The fellowship is renewable. Selection is based on scholastic standing, a recent scholastic paper (Buddhism related), religious commitment, and financial need.
The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) is another funding possibility for students with an anthropological interest.
International Dissertation Field Research Fellowship Program: this provides support for humanists and social scientists to conduct dissertation field research in all areas and regions of the world. The program is administered by the Social Science Research Council in partnership with the American Council of Learned Societies. Funds are provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The fellowships enable doctoral candidates to use their knowledge of distinctive areas, cultures, languages, economics, polities, and historical experiences, in combination with their disciplinary training, to address issues that transcend their disciplines or area specializations.
The program is open to full-time graduate students in the humanities and social sciences - regardless of citizenship - enrolled in doctoral programs in the United States. Applicants must have completed all Ph.D. requirements except the field research component by the time the fellowship begins or by December of that year, whichever comes first. In exceptional circumstances the candidate may propose less than nine months of field work, but no award will be given for less than six months of field work.
The IDFR program helps promising young scholars launch their careers with substantive knowledge about societies, cultures, economies, and/or polities outside the United States. It promotes scholarship that treats place and setting in relation to broader phenomena as well as particular histories and cultures. The proposed research will be assessed in terms of the probability that it can inform debates that go beyond the specific topic and place chosen for study. Applications should exhibit a grounding in the methods and theories of a particular discipline or sub-discipline, but also must demonstrate cross-disciplinary interest. Deadline is usually in November. For more information, contact International Dissertation Field Research Program (IDRF), Social Science Research Council, 810 Seventh Avenue, 31st floor, NY NY 10019. Tel 212-377-2700; fax 212-377-2727; email: WEB: http://www.ssrc.org
The South Asia Program of the Social Science Research Council offers support for graduate research and training in the humanities and social sciences on South Asia. These consists of "Pre-dissertation Fellowships" and "Dissertation Field Research Fellowships".
The former are designed to support field trips for preliminary dissertation field activities, such as investigating potential research sites and research materials, development of language skills, and establishing local research contacts. It includes short-term (three month) fellowships designed for students to explore the feasibility of dissertation topics and field sites as well as scholarly resources (maximum award $5,000), and long-term fellowships (nine months, maximum award $11,000) for language study.
The latter are available for up to twelve months of doctoral dissertation field research in Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, or Sri Lanka in the social sciences and humanities. The maximum award is $15,000. For applications (deadline usually in November) and further information, contact South Asia Program, Social Science Research Council, 810 Seventh Avenue, New York NY 10019; 212-377-2700; fax 212-377-2727; WEB: http://www.ssrc.org