Dissertation Writing Groups

The invites applications for Humanities Dissertation Writing Groups. These competitive grants will encourage supportive and critical discussion of dissertation prospecti and drafts of dissertation chapters in the humanities.

The funds will provide support for small groups of interdisciplinary graduate students to convene regularly to share drafts of dissertation chapters and to discuss research and writing strategies for approaches to the group's common interdisciplinary focus. The selected groups of graduate students will meet throughout the 2024-25 academic year and, preferably, through the summer of 2025.

Grants of $250 per participant will be made available to groups of 4-5 participants who can demonstrate that their research interests productively converge. These groups would include students working in at least two different humanities graduate fields or groups within a single field whose research lends an interdisciplinary approach to their fields. The use of these funds will be flexible, from copying and dinner/refreshments to financial support for special research materials or trips to be shared by the group.

Applications should include a schedule of meetings (roughly one every 2-3 weeks) to be held in the course of the academic year, which would necessarily include regular circulation to the group of chapters-in-progress by each member. Such sessions should offer substantive response and discussion by the group of each individual chapter. If the groups consist of students who have very recently passed the A-Exam, their sessions could be focused on penning a prospectus.

All applicants must have completed the A-Exam by September 15, 2024, with at least two members of the group having completed the A-Exam by September 1, 2024. 

The competition will be adjudicated by the Humanities Council.

Application Guidelines

Applications for Humanities Dissertation Writing Groups should be submitted by one member who will assume organizational responsibility for an additional stipend. Each writing group should consist of a minimum of four members (with no more than five). Groups should be prepared to convene by September 1, 2024.

Applicants should submit the following materials as one .pdf file:

1. A dissertation writing group title and statement of no more than 750 words describing a rationale for linking the work of participants from different disciplines or disciplinary perspectives. The statement should show how each participant's perspective would contribute to elaborating and enriching a common context for writing.

2. A one-paragraph description of the dissertation project from each participant.

3. A CV for each member of the group.

4. A schedule of meetings and activities for the coming year. The basic requirement is a series of meetings organized around the circulation, presentation, and discussion of 2 chapters in progress by each member (a prospectus counts as a chapter).

No budget proposal is necessary.

Deadline: March 22, 2024

Please send all application materials in a single .pdf to Amanda Brockner at alb448@cornell.edu.

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