asa doctoral dissertation research improvement grant

ASA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant

The ASA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (ASA DDRIG) program supports theoretically grounded empirical investigations to advance understanding of fundamental social processes. Up to 25 awards of a maximum of $16,000 will be given each year. Topics can include, but will not be limited to, organizations and organizational behavior, health and medicine, crime and deviance, inequality and stratification, population dynamics, social movements, social groups, labor force participation, stratification and mobility, family, social networks, socialization, gender, race, ethnicity, and the sociology of science and technology.

Zhuofan Li Named 2023 ASA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant Research Scholar

American Sociological Association (ASA) Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (DDRIG)

• Social Sciences
• Fall Quarter (September-December)
• International Research or Work
• Research Grant
• No citizenship requirements

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has made two awards to ASA to administer the Sociology Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (DDRIG) program. This program supports theoretically grounded empirical investigations to advance understanding of fundamental social processes. Up to 25 awards of a maximum of $16,000 will be given each year.

UChicago doctoral candidates should consult the SSRC DDRIG toolkit for program dates, timelines and other institutional support.

Eligible Research

Topics can include, but will not be limited to, organizations and organizational behavior, health and medicine, crime and deviance, inequality and stratification, population dynamics, social movements, social groups, labor force participation, stratification and mobility, family, social networks, socialization, gender, race, ethnicity, and the sociology of science and technology. Projects that explore new methodologies, including but not limited to computational sociology, big data, large scale modeling, and innovative use of emerging technologies, will also be welcomed.

Grant funds can be used for costs directly associated with conducting research, such as dataset acquisition, statistical or methodological training, equipment, payments to research subjects or research assistants, data transcription, and costs associated with conducting archival research or field work. Living expenses, including dependent care, are also allowed, as are travel expenses to attend professional meetings, including the ASA Annual Meeting. Indirect costs are not permitted.

Eligibility

Doctoral students attending PhD-granting institutions of higher education accredited in, and having a campus located in, the United States, are eligible to apply. Proposals must be submitted by a research scholar with support from a research sponsor. The research scholar is the doctoral student whose dissertation research will be supported and should be the one to submit the application. Doctoral students who have previously received an NSF-funded DDRIG, whether administered directly by NSF (such as the DRMS DDRIG), by ASA, or by another organization (such as the APSA DDRIG or ASU LSDG), are ineligible to apply for additional funding through this program.

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Two grad students receive ASA DDRIG grants

Benny Witkovsky and Madison Garcia received ASA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (ASA DDRIGs) , which support theoretically grounded empirical investigations to advance understanding of fundamental social processes.

Benny Witkovsky’s dissertation is titled “Fig Leaves or Fortresses: Nonpartisan Politics in a Polarized Time.”

For more than a century, all city politics in Wisconsin—and in 75% of cities across the country—have been officially nonpartisan. Today, these institutions contend with a partisan polarization that has grown more encompassing, intense, and intimate. Nowhere is this more evident than in small cities, which combine robust nonpartisan institutions with deep partisan divides. This project pursues a qualitative, comparative study of nonpartisan municipal politics in four Wisconsin cities. Using innovative methods and data, including analyzing video recordings of city council meetings, reviewing local political party social media activity, compiling new datasets of local election results and voting patterns on city councils, and conducting extensive archival research, I examine how local nonpartisan actors resist, exploit, and succumb to partisan polarization. This research highlights the real pitfalls of one of the nation’s greatest experiments in mitigating partisan conflict—one that should be a lesson for future reforms. The tense relationship between nonpartisan government and partisan polarization is not merely a parochial issue of urban politics. It should concern anyone who studies development, public health, policing, election administration, and other issues shaped by local government.

Madison Garcia’s dissertation is titled “‘We Can Get You More Money:’ The Opportunities and Challenges of Nonprofit-Based Solutions for Inequities in the Transition to College.”

In the U.S. context of declining public education funding, legal attacks on affirmative action, and persistent inequities in higher education, college access nonprofit organizations (CANs) have stepped in to support the transition to college among students from systematically marginalized groups. CANs have had varied success in overcoming college-going barriers. Less is known, however, about why they work and how the challenges they face– as nonprofits supporting multiply marginalized youth– influence their operation and, thereby, success. Using multi-level data from 15 months of ethnographic observations and interviews at one site, Pathways–South L.A. (PSLA; a pseudonym) that is part of a larger college access nonprofit organization, I examine how the organization’s staff attempt to promote college-going among low income, first-generation Latinx youth of varying citizenship and immigrant statuses. I also examine how the organizational challenges PSLA faces influence their work and ability to achieve their goals. This research has implications for addressing inequalities in college attendance and persistence. This work furthers understanding of what’s working in CANs, the constraints that undermine their impact, and more broadly, advances understanding of the implications of leaving nonprofit organizations to fill gaps in promoting college-going among systematically and multiply marginalized groups.

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ASA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (ASA DDRIG)

American sociological association.

The ASA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (ASA DDRIG) program supports theoretically grounded empirical investigations to advance understanding of fundamental social processes. Up to 25 awards of a maximum of $16,000 will be given each year. Any doctoral student at an institution accredited with a campus in the U.S. working on a scientifically rigorous project grounded in sociology and helping advance sociology is eligible to apply. Proposals must be submitted by a research scholar with support from a research sponsor. Grant funds can be used for costs directly associated with conducting research including living expenses and dependent care.

• Deadline: Nov 04, 2024 (Confirmed)*
• Work Experience: Any
• Location: North America
• Citizenship: Any
• Residency: United States

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National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (NSF DDRI) awards are now known as American Sociological Association Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (ASA DDRI).

Previous NSF DDRI Grant Recipients:

2019 laura adler ; advisor: frank dobbin ; project: "pay-setting for new hires" kristina brant ; advisor: mario l. small ; project: "parental opioid addiction and kinship care" jared schachner ; advisor: robert j. sampson ; project: " skill-based sorting into neighborhoods and schools", 2018 blythe george ; advisor: william julius wilson ; project: " employment of native americans with criminal records" barbara kiviat ; advisor: frank dobbin ; project: " the moral foundations of the big data economy" amy tsang ; advisor: michele lamont ; project: " how people become urban" linda zhao ; advisor: jason beckfield ; project: " spatial inequality in birth outcomes - testing classes of proximate mechanisms", 2017 nathan wilmers ; advisor: bruce western ; project: "the role of employers in rising wage inequality" thomas wooten ; advisor:  mary c. waters ; project: "the transition to college experience of low-income students", 2015 carly knight ; advisor: frank dobbin ; project: "the development of corporate personhood law in comparative perspective, 1886-2014" jasmin sandelson ; advisor: matthew desmond ; project: "unaccompanied homeless youth" chi wang ; advisor: bart bonikowski ; project: "the process and consequences of the work of 911 dispatchers", 2013 christopher muller ; advisor: bruce western ; project: "racial disparity in american incarceration, 1868-1950" kimberly e. pernell ; advisor: frank dobbin ; project: "the causes of divergent banking regulation, 1988-2006" eva rosen ; advisor:  mary c. waters ; project: "post-public housing spatial concentration", 2012 jovonne bickerstaff ; advisor: orlando patterson ; project: "how attitudes and practices shape enduring relationships", 2010 nathan fosse ; advisor: michele lamont ; project: "low-income youth and perceptions of mortality" chana teeger ; advisor: mary c. waters ; project: "apartheid education and race relations", 2009 christopher bail ; advisor: michele lamont ; project: "a multi-level study of symbolic boundaries towards muslims, 2001-2007" jeffrey denis ; advisor: william julius wilson ; project: "native and non-native group interactions" jiwook jung ; advisor: frank dobbin ; project: "shareholder value and the new american workplace: investor-driven downsizing, 1980-2007" laura tach ; advisor: christopher jencks ; project: "the social consequences of neighborhood economic diversity", 2008 simone ispa-landa ; advisor: orlando patterson ; project: "urban-to-suburban racial desegregation: a natural experiment" mark pachucki ; advisor: nicholas christakis ; project: "health behaviors and social networks", 2007 lydia bean ; advisor: jason kaufman ; project: "a comparative study of political socialization in religious groups in the united states and canada" maria rendon ; advisor: mary c. waters ; project: "transition out of school and into young adulthood:the role of neighborhoods in education and work outcomes of mexican american youth" lauren rivera ; advisor: michele lamont ; project: "hiring and inequality in high prestige professions", 2006 elisabeth jacobs ; advisor: christopher jencks ; project: "the perception and management of family economic risk" zoua vang ; advisor:  mary c. waters ; project: "spatial assimilation or residential segregation a comparative study of racial and ethnic minority residential patterns in ireland and the u.s.", 2004 jal mehta ;  advisor: christopher jencks ; project: "the transformation of american educational policy, 1980-2001" natasha warikoo ; advisor: mary c. waters ; project: "bringing culture back in: cultural assimilation and the second generation in the global city", 2003 david j. harding ; advisor: katherine newman ; project: "linking culture and structure to adolescent outcomes in poor neighborhoods" dongxiao liu ; advisor: theda skocpol ; project: "how world conferences matter: transnational influences and organizational change in two national women's movements, 2002 tomas jimenez ; advisor: mary c. waters ; project: "the effects of mexican immigration on mexican american ethnicity", 2000 irene bloemraad ; advisor: theda skocpol ; project: "the political incorporation of immigrants: citizenship and participation in the united states and canada" ziad munson ;  advisor: theda skocpol ; project: "mobilization in the american pro-life movement".

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY

Kristina lee awarded asa's doctoral dissertation research improvement grant.

July 25, 2024

Congratulations to Kristina Lee, who has been selected as a 2024 ASA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants Research Scholar.

Kristina's project is titled: "The Transnational Racial State: Afro-descendant Inclusion and Shifting Antiracist Frameworks in Latin America after the World Conference Against Racism."

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Melissa Villareal received the ASA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (DDRIG)

Melissa received the ASA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (DDRIG) for her dissertation project, “Documenting the Undocumented: How Mexican Immigrants Navigate Long-Term Post-Disaster Recovery.” She was selected to receive funding in the amount of $14,157 to cover research costs related to her dissertation, including research equipment, participant incentives, and the cost of relocation to her research site, Houston, Texas. In addition to the award amount, she received a one-year membership to ASA as well as conference registration for the ASA Virtual Annual Meeting, August 6-10, 2021.

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Doctoral Candidate Sara-Laure Faraji awarded ASA’s Dissertation Research Improvement Grant

CCJS Doctoral Candidate Sara-Laure Faraji was awarded the American Sociological Association’s Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (ASA DDRIG) for 2023-2024 for her project, “The Defendant Wears Prada: Evaluating the Impact of Defendants’ Sartorial Choices on Criminal Justice Outcomes.”

Her dissertation combines experimental survey methods with AI techniques to assess how criminal justice decision-making differs based on defendants’ clothing. Faraji investigates whether the relationship between a defendant’s clothing and decisionmakers’ attitudes towards guilt and punishment are contingent on defendants’ gender, race, and the nature of the offense.

“By exploring a potential explanation for some of the disparities identified in the criminal justice system, this study will have practical implications. Identifying how clothing may elicit or exacerbate biases in decision-making is the first step in reducing a source of potential bias that could be contributing to existing disparities in the criminal justice system,” Faraji said. “Meanwhile, the absence of a relationship could suggest other ways to allocate resources in a defendant’s defense.”

Sara-Laure owes much gratitude to her dissertation committee.  First, she thanks Dr. Bobby Brame, her dissertation chair, for his unwavering support, open-mindedness and mentorship. Sara-Laure also thanks her advisor, Dr. Greg Midgette, who was incredibly generous with his time and instrumental in the development of her dissertation research topic. Dr. Sally Simpson’s wide-ranging expertise and Dr. Brian Johnson’s work on the influence of defendants and appearance were foundational sources of inspiration while thinking through logistical, methodological, and theoretical issues of the dissertation project. Finally, Sara-Laure is also very grateful for the guidance of Dr. Peter Steiner, an expert on vignette studies, to identify the causal relationship between clothing and criminal justice decision-making.

In addition to benefiting from the invaluable support of her dissertation committee members, Sara-Laure received substantive feedback from Dr. Shichun (Asminet) Ling, whose multiple and thorough reviews of her proposal drafts strengthened her proposal to the ASA.

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Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has made two awards to APSA to administer the Political Science Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (DDRIG) program. The NSF awarded APSA $1,410,000 to administer the DDRIG program from 2020 to 2023, and they renewed this award to continue its administration from 2023 to 2026.

“APSA is excited to support the advancement of knowledge of citizenship, government, and politics by providing funding for highly promising doctoral dissertation research. The program also plans to draw upon APSA’s networks and programming to promote diversity and representation throughout the recruitment, selection, and support of awardees.”   

– Steven Rathgeb Smith, Executive Director of APSA

The Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant project provides support to enhance and improve the conduct of doctoral dissertation research in political science. Awards will support basic research which is theoretically derived and empirically oriented. The APSA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant program will award between twenty and twenty-five grants yearly of between $10,000 and $15,000 to support doctoral dissertation research that advances knowledge and understanding of citizenship, government, and politics. The 2024 cycle of APSA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants opens April 1, 2024 and closes June 15, 2024.

The program will also connect awardees to APSA’s extensive professional development and public engagement networks and resources, to amplify the effect of the award on the awardee’s career and on the impact of their work as they explore solutions to a wide range of institutional, political, and social challenges. In addition, it will support the advancement of national health, prosperity, and welfare, by supporting projects that identify ways to use knowledge of citizenship, government, and politics to benefit society. The APSA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants was funded under  NSF award number 2000500  and under NSF award number 2317099 .

Advancing diversity and inclusion in the profession is a key priority of the association and the  APSA Strategic Plan . As such, APSA is committed to identifying and supporting especially promising doctoral dissertation research, particularly research by scholars from groups, institutions, and geographic areas that are underrepresented in political science. The APSA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants Program is dedicated to recruiting diverse applicant and reviewer pools to fund doctoral students from diverse groups and institutions, and ultimately support increased participation of women and underrepresented minorities in political science research.

For more information, contact  [email protected] .

All proposals for APSA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants must include the following:

These frequently asked questions will be helpful to PhD students who are considering applying for the APSA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant.

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Karolina Dos Santos Recieves ASA Dissertation Grant

Karolina Dos Santos has received a 2020 ASA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant for her project, “ Wards of Action: Internal and International Migration to Newark, NJ ”. In addition to the $16,000 award, she will receive a one-year membership to ASA as well as conference registration for the ASA Virtual Annual Meeting, August 6-10, 2021.

The Grants program supports theoretically grounded empirical investigations to advance understanding of fundamental social processes. Only 25 awards will be given each year. The two primary criteria for funding are intellectual merit and broader impact, according to the ASA.

Congratulations, Karolina!

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Cultural Anthropology Program - Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (CA-DDRIG)

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ASA DDRIG Frequently Asked Questions and Resources

Proposal submission, eligibility, terms and definitions, data management and sharing.

• Resources and Support 

Q: What is the relationship between the NSF Sociology DDRIG and the ASA DDRIG? A: NSF has discontinued its Sociology DDRIG program. The ASA DDRIG is a new opportunity for sociology graduate students to get support for their dissertations. The ASA DDRIG mirrors the NSF DDRIG closely, but with important distinctions particularly in terms of allowable expenses. Applicants should follow the ASA RFP guidelines when preparing their proposals. The ASA DDRIG is not a federal program; the ASA DDRIG is not considered an NSF subaward.

Q: How do I apply for an ASA DDRIG grant? A: The application link is found on the  ASA DDRIG program page. You can preview the application there. When you are ready to submit an application, you will need to create an account in the grant portal or, if you have previously applied for an ASA grant, log in with your username and password. If you are creating a new account, you will need to complete a registration form providing basic information about yourself, including your email address. Please use your institutional rather than personal address when creating an account. Once you have filled out the registration form, be sure to check that you have received an email confirmation and click the box confirming you have received it. It’s important to be sure your spam filters are set properly so that you can receive emails from the system. Step by step instructions can be found in the “Grant Portal Instructions” document in the Resources section. You can also  click here  for a short video on how to use Foundant, the ASA grant platform (note, this is a more general video, the instructions we provide are more specific to ASA).

Q: Who submits the application, the research scholar or the research sponsor? A: The Research Scholar should be the one to create the account, upload all applicant documents, and submit the application.

Q: Should proposals be single or double-spaced? A: Proposals should be single-spaced. Applicants must adhere to the ASA DDRIG proposal format guidelines listed on the main page and should ensure that their proposal is easy to read.

Q: Will there be an opportunity to revise and resubmit my proposal? A: Occasionally proposals that would otherwise receive funding, but are missing some minor element, may be invited to resubmit with revisions. Revisions will be due within two weeks and reviewed by ASA DDRIG program staff. An invitation to revise is not a guarantee of funding.

Q: Do I need to be an ASA member to apply? A: Neither the research scholar nor the research sponsor needs to be an ASA member to apply. Research scholars who are awarded an ASA DDRIG will receive a one-year membership to ASA as part of their award.

Q: Do I need to be pursuing a PhD in sociology to apply? A: Applicants do not need to be in sociology PhD programs, but their projects should utilize a sociological perspective, be based in the sociological literature, and clearly contribute to the advancement of sociological knowledge.

Q: I am close to finishing my dissertation, am I still eligible to apply? A: Start dates for grants cannot be before May 1, nor after Dec 1, of the year they are granted. All funds must be used during the grant period and before the applicant’s degree is conferred. If there is an aspect of the dissertation that the grant can help improve before its completion, you are eligible to apply.

Q: Can I apply if I previously received an NSF or ASA DDRIG? A: Doctoral students who have previously received an NSF-funded DDRIG, whether administered directly by NSF (such as the DRMS DDRIG), by ASA, or by another organization (such as the APSA DDRIG or ASU LSDG), are ineligible to apply for additional funding through this program. See also information below (in budget section) on concurrent funding.

Q:   If my proposal is declined, can I reapply the next year? A: Yes, you may reapply as long as you still meet the eligibility requirements. Declined proposals that are resubmitted will be treated as new proposals. While reviewer feedback is provided on submitted proposals, this feedback is intended to help students improve their projects and should not be taken as directions that, if followed, would lead to a proposal being accepted in the next round. Reviewer and applicant pools change yearly, therefore, each application round is considered new.

Q: Can you have more than one Research Sponsor? What if I have dissertation co-chairs? A: You can only have one Research Sponsor. In the case of co-chairs, please choose one to be the designated sponsor.

Q: Is there a limit on the number of times someone can serve as a Research Sponsor? A: There is no limit on the number of times that a person can serve as a sponsor, either during a specific funding round or over the course of the faculty member’s career.

Q: Is there a limit on the number of applications that can be submitted from one institution? A: There are no restrictions on the number of applications that can be submitted from a single institution.

Q: The ASA DDRIG guidelines state that ASA officers cannot serve as research sponsors. Who is considered an ASA Officer? A: According to Article IV of the  ASA bylaws , Officers of the Association are the President, Immediate Past President, President-Elect, Vice President, Immediate Past Vice President, Vice President-Elect, Secretary-Treasurer, and Executive Director.

Q: What do the terms “research scholar” and “research sponsor” mean? A: The research scholar is the doctoral student applying for the ASA DDRIG. The research sponsor (previously referred to as the Principal Investigator in the NSF DDRIG) is the student’s advisor or mentor. Every research scholar applicant must have a research sponsor who has agreed to collaborate in the development of the proposal and to play an ongoing role in helping to ensure the success of the project. The research scholar and research sponsor will spell out their shared expectations for this ongoing collaboration in “The Statement on Departmental Context and Scholar-Sponsor Collaboration” section of the proposal. ASA Officers (as defined in Article IV of the  ASA bylaws ) are not eligible to be research sponsors on ASA DDRIG proposals.

Q: What is meant by “primary place of performance?” Is that where I collect my data? A: Primary place of performance (PPP) refers to the place where the researcher will be based during the bulk of the project. If you have to go to a research site to do data collection for the bulk of your grant period, then it would be the primary location where you are based during that time. If you are taking a series of limited-time trips away from your home institution to collect data, and then returning to your home institution to analyze the data and write, the home institution would be your primary place of performance. Please do not include personal addresses when identifying your PPP.

Q: What is an “outside collaborator?” A: Outside collaborators are people, groups, or organizations outside your institution with whom you need to collaborate in order to gain access to participants, conduct broader impacts activities, or without whom you would not be able to conduct an essential part of the project. These are not dissertation advisors or others with whom you would typically interact as part of the dissertation project. People at your institution outside the dissertation committee who might provide project support or resources can be discussed in the departmental context statement.

Q: In the biosketch, what is meant by “synergistic activities?” A: Synergistic activities relate to the broader work you are doing in service of the discipline, institution, broader community, or society. Think about other kinds of work related to your research/teaching/outreach beyond the specific research project itself. This could be special tools or classes you’ve created or helped create; committees you’ve served on; organizations you’ve worked with; consulting or mentoring you’ve done, etc. You may wish to consult the resources related to broader impacts for additional ideas. Here is NSF’s definition .

Q: What costs are allowed? What costs are prohibited?  A: Grant funds can be used for costs directly associated with conducting research, such as travel expenses to research sites, data collection activities, data transcription or translation services, equipment, payments to research subjects or research assistants, and any necessary training. Living expenses, including dependent care, are also allowed, as are travel expenses to attend professional meetings, including the ASA Annual Meeting. Indirect costs are not allowed . ASA DDRIG research scholars receive a one-year membership to ASA and registration for that year’s ASA Annual Meeting, so you do not need to include those costs in your budget. Scholars must use the provided ASA DDRIG budget template (see main page).

Q: Are there budget limits related to different spending categories? A: The only budget limit in ASA DDRIG proposals is the maximum amount of the grant ($16,000). There are no sub-category limits regarding how those funds are used. Budget requests should be reasonable and appropriate to the project. Budget justifications should be specific, providing details on how each line item amount was determined.

Q: What can be included under living expenses? A:  Living expenses include those for housing, utilities, food, clothing, personal care products and services, dependent care, and those miscellaneous expenses that the individual can establish as being ordinary and necessary to living. The IRS has established national and local standards with respect to living expenses. Please refer to these guidelines for food, clothing, and other items  and for  housing and utilities  in determining your reasonable living expenses requests. These standards are meant as a guide, actual expenses should be used when known. In addition, medical expenses and insurance can be included as living expenses for the purposes of the ASA DDRIG; these expenses should be listed under “personal care products and services” or “miscellaneous” on the living expenses budget sheet, depending on the nature of the expense. (The Resources section below contains information on international standards for living expenses.) Living expenses may only be requested for the scholar and dependents (this does not include spouses or domestic partners, see below for more details on who qualifies as a dependent).

Q: Are living expenses eligible if the student is not traveling to another location? A: Living expenses relate to wherever the student is conducting their project and not just for research-related travel. If you are staying at your home institution to collect your data or do your analysis or writing, you may ask for eligible living expenses.

Q: What qualifies as dependent care? A: The IRS provides guidelines regarding who qualifies for dependent care . A list of eligible dependent care costs can be found here .

Q: Is tuition an eligible expense for the DDRIG? A: If you pay your own tuition or fees, then you may include them as eligible expenses.

Q: Can the DDRIG be held concurrently with other awards? A: The ASA DDRIG can be held concurrently with other awards and funding sources provided that the funds are not for the same expenses during the same time period (“double dipping”). However, a scholar may not accept more than one NSF-funded DDRIG, regardless of whether administered directly by NSF (such as the DRMS DDRIG), by ASA, or by another organization (such as the APSA DDRIG or ASU LSDG). Applicants must report other sources of current and pending support in their proposal.

Q: What does it mean to say that awards will be disbursed through my home institution? A: ASA will send the full grant award to your institution, which will pass on 100% of the funds to you. There is no administrative overhead (indirect costs) allowed in this grant. Please consult with your sponsor and your institution’s office of sponsored research to determine how they will disburse funds to you should you receive the grant.

Q: Regarding the data management plan, if I am conducting interviews, will I be expected to share my transcripts? A: The researcher decides which data to share and how to share it. We expect researchers will follow the rules of their IRB for IRB-approved projects. We encourage you to devise your plan with an eye toward balancing the privacy of participants with methodological transparency and the potential for replicating your research. If you cannot share de-identified transcripts, then you might consider sharing your interview guide or recruitment process, and a demographic profile of your respondents. The Resources section below contains more information on DMPs.

Q: When will awards be announced? A: Award notifications will be emailed in April. Please be sure to check your spam filters and add [email protected] to your safe senders list in order to be able to receive emails from the grant platform.

Q: Can I choose the start date for my grant? A: DDRIG recipients may choose the start date of their grant, but it can be no earlier than May 1st and no later than December 1st of the ASA DDRIG award year. Activities for which grant funds are used must be limited to the time when the grant is active. You cannot apply funds retroactively. Please keep in mind that funds will only be disbursed once all required paperwork (including IRB) has been submitted. Applicants are advised to discuss the timeline with their grant administrator in order to pick a start date that allows for the institution to process the grant paperwork and for ASA to disburse the funds.

Q: How long is the grant period? A: Most ASA DDRIG grants will be awarded for one year, although projects can be extended across two years if justified by the structure of the dissertation project. Scholars indicate the grant start and end dates when they apply.

Q: Do I need to finish my dissertation during the grant year? A: The full dissertation does not need to be completed during the grant period.

Q: What happens if I do not finish my project in the grant time period? A: Applicants should submit proposals that reasonably can be completed in the proposed timeline. However, ASA recognizes that there may be unexpected delays or changes in research plans that make it difficult to maintain the proposed project timeline. In this case, grantees may apply for a no-cost extension for one year. ASA will review and make determinations regarding applications for no-cost extensions.

Q: If I receive an ASA DDRIG, what are my responsibilities in terms of reporting? A: Recipients will be required to submit a final report with an expenditure statement at the end of their project. Two-year projects will also require an interim report after the first year.

Resources and Support

Q: What other resources can I use in preparing my proposal? A: The Resources section below contains links to documents and websites that may be helpful in writing your proposal. Keep in mind that while the information on these websites may help you with idea development, the proposal itself must adhere to the rules and requirements set out in the  ASA DDRIG Proposal Guidelines . In addition, you should consult your research sponsor and your home institution’s Office of Research for help with your proposal.

Q: Whom should I contact if I have any questions with the proposal preparation or submission process? A: Contact the ASA DDRIG Program Officer, Carolyn Vasques Scalera, at any time with questions: [email protected] or 202-247-9847.

(We will continue to update this section over time. If you have resources that you think would be helpful to add, please feel free to send them to [email protected] .)

Grant Portal Instructions

Proposal writing

ASA DDRIG Workshop Slides 2024 Annual Meeting ASA DDRIG Proposal Checklist NSF Proposal Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) The Case for Writing Plainly  (Article)

Broader impacts NSF Broader Impacts framework Broader Impacts Toolkit Broader Impacts Improving Society

Data management plans NSF’s policy on data managemen t NSF SBE directorate-wide guidance Qualitative Data Sharing: Data Repositories and Academic Libraries as Key Partners in Addressing Challenges  (Article) ICPSR Guidelines for Effective Data Management Plans Qualitative Data Repository Dataverse Your university may have its own institutional repository or information on how to share data.

International Standards for living Expenses U.S. Department of State Fulbright-Hays Program  (see pp.52ff)

• ASA Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants
• Annual Meeting Travel Fund Awards
• Community Action Research Initiative Grants
• Howery Teaching Enhancement Fund Grants
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Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Program - Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Awards (HEGS-DDRI)

View guidelines, important information about nsf’s implementation of the revised 2 cfr.

NSF Financial Assistance awards (grants and cooperative agreements) made on or after October 1, 2024, will be subject to the applicable set of award conditions, dated October 1, 2024, available on the NSF website . These terms and conditions are consistent with the revised guidance specified in the OMB Guidance for Federal Financial Assistance published in the Federal Register on April 22, 2024.

Important information for proposers

All proposals must be submitted in accordance with the requirements specified in this funding opportunity and in the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) that is in effect for the relevant due date to which the proposal is being submitted. It is the responsibility of the proposer to ensure that the proposal meets these requirements. Submitting a proposal prior to a specified deadline does not negate this requirement.

Supports doctoral dissertation research on the nature, causes and consequences of the spatial dimensions of human activities and/or environmental processes across a range of scales.

The objective of the Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Program is to support basic scientific research about the nature, causes and/or consequences of the spatial distribution of human activity and/or environmental processes across a range of scales. Contemporary geographical research is an arena in which diverse research traditions and methodologies are valid. Recognizing the breadth of the field's contributions to science, the HEGS Program welcomes proposals for empirically grounded, theoretically engaged, and methodologically sophisticated, generalizable research in all sub-fields of geographical and spatial sciences.

Because the National Science Foundation's mandate is to support basic scientific research, the NSF Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences program does not fund research that takes as its primary goal humanistic understanding or applied research. HEGS welcomes proposals that creatively integrate scientific and critical approaches, and that engage rigorous quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods in novel ways. However, a proposal that applies geographical/spatial methods to a social problem but does not propose how that problem provides an opportunity to make a theory-testing and/or theory expanding contributions to geographical science will be returned without review. HEGS supported projects are expected to yield results that will enhance, expand, and transform fundamental geographical theory and methods, and that will have positive broader impacts that benefit society. A proposal to the HEGS Program must also articulate how the results are generalizable beyond the case study. 

It should be noted that HEGS is situated in the Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences Division of the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate at NSF. Therefore, it is critical that research projects submitted to the Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Program illustrate how the proposed research questions engage human dimensions relevant and important to people and societies.  

A proposal that fails to be responsive to these program expectations will be returned without review.

Program contacts

For all general inquiries to the HEGS program, please email [email protected] .  This email will reach all current HEGS program officers and one of them will reply to you.

Program Director

	(703) 292-9068	SBE/BCS
Program Director		(703) 292-9068
Program Director		(703) 292-2206	SBE/BCS
Program Specialist		(703) 292-7388	CISE/IIS

Program events

• February 1, 2023 - Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Office Hours
• January 25, 2023 - Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Office Hours
• January 18, 2023 - Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Office Hours
• January 11, 2023 - Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Office Hours

Additional program resources

• Other Programs in the Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences (BCS)
• Programs in the Division of Social and Economic Sciences (SES)
• NSF programs to stop accepting proposals via FastLane website

Awards made through this program

Related programs.

• Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences Program (HEGS)
• Cultural Anthropology Program Senior Research Awards (CA-SR)
• Cultural Anthropology Program - Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (CA-DDRIG)

Organization(s)

• Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE)
• Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences (SBE/BCS)