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2019 Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowships Deadline

The national deadline for the 2019 Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) competition cycle has been announced by the program director as Monday, March 25.

Our campus deadline is Monday, March 11 at 12:00 PM. Please email Stephen Hill in the Office of Fellowships as soon as possible if you would like to apply in this current cycle.

The DDRA provides opportunities to doctoral candidates to engage in full-time dissertation research abroad in modern foreign languages and area studies. The program is designed to deepen research knowledge and increase the study of modern foreign languages, cultural engagement, and area studies not generally included in US curricula. 

Program Features

The institutional project period is 18 months. Students may request funding for a period of no less than six months and no more than 12 months. Funds support travel expenses to and from the residence of the fellow and the country or countries of research; maintenance and dependent allowances based on the location of research for the fellow and his or her dependent(s); an allowance for research related expenses overseas; and health and accident insurance premiums. Projects may focus on one or more of the following geographic areas: Africa, East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, South Asia, the Near East, Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and the Western Hemisphere (excluding the United States and its territories).

The guidelines for the 2019 Fulbright-Hays competition remain similar to last year. This year, there are again only two competitive priorities, and applicants will receive points independently in each priority category:

  • Priority #1 is for use of Less Commonly Taught Languages* in the research project (3 points).
  • Priority #2 is for projects in the following fields (2 points):
    • Computer Science
    • Economics
    • Engineering
    • Education
    • Health Sciences
    • International Development
    • Political Science

* Less Commonly Taught Languages recognized by Fulbright-Hays:
Akan (Twi-Fante), Albanian, Amharic, Arabic (all dialects), Armenian, Azeri (Azerbaijani), Balochi, Bamanakan (Bamana, Bambara, Mandikan, Mandingo, Maninka, Dyula), Belarusian, Bengali (Bangla), Berber (all languages), Bosnian, Bulgarian, Burmese, Cebuano (Visayan), Chechen, Chinese (Cantonese), Chinese (Gan), Chinese (Mandarin), Chinese (Min), Chinese (Wu), Croatian, Dari, Dinka, Georgian, Gujarati, Hausa, Hebrew (Modern), Hindi, Igbo, Indonesian, Japanese, Javanese, Kannada, Kashmiri, Kazakh, Khmer (Cambodian), Kirghiz, Korean, Kurdish (Kurmanji), Kurdish (Sorani), Lao, Malay (Bahasa Melayu or Malaysian), Malayalam, Marathi, Mongolian, Nepali, Oromo, Panjabi, Pashto, Persian (Farsi), Polish, Portuguese (all varieties), Quechua, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Sinhala (Sinhalese), Somali, Swahili, Tagalog, Tajik, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Tibetan, Tigrigna, Turkish, Turkmen, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uyghur/Uigur, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Wolof, Xhosa, Yoruba, and Zulu.

Eligible Applicants

Institutions of higher education (IHEs) in the United States are eligible to apply for grants under this program. As part of the application process, students submit individual applications to the IHE. The IHE then submits all eligible individual student applications with its grant application to the U.S. Department of Education. A student is eligible to receive a DDRA fellowship from their IHE if he or she

  • is a citizen, national, or permanent resident of the United States;
  • is a graduate student in good standing at an IHE;
  • is admitted to candidacy in a doctoral degree program in modern foreign languages and area studies at that institution when the fellowship period begins;
  • is planning a teaching career in the United States upon completion of his or her doctoral program; or
  • possesses sufficient foreign language skills to carry out the dissertation research project.

Please refer to the official Federal Register notice for detailed information about the FY 2019 competition. 

Please note: There are several countries that are closed to Fulbright researchers, click here to view the list of countries.

Fulbright-Hays Workshops 2019

Learn about program priorities and application strategies at a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Abroad Award informational workshop.  Stephen Hill will describe the program, outline the qualities of strong candidates, and answer your questions. 

All workshops held in the Conference Room in the Office of Fellowships (1940 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208).

No registration needed. Workshops will last 50 minutes. 

  • Wednesday, February 6 at 12:00 PM
  • Monday, February 11 at 12:00 PM
  • Thursday, February 14 at 9:00 AM
  • Monday, February 18 at 3:00 PM
  • Thursday, February 21 at 12:00 PM
If you have additional questions, please email Stephen Hill, Sr. Associate Director, Office of Fellowships at s-hill@northwestern.edu.

Categories: Fellowships