American Political Science Association Dissertation Improvement Grants

The APSA Dissertation Improvement Grant project provides support to enhance and improve the conduct of doctoral dissertation projects in political science. The program continues the success of the APSA program in place since 2020. Each year the program will provide approximately twenty-five awards that support doctoral dissertation research that advances knowledge and understanding of citizenship, government, and politics.

Along with this direct support, the program provides professional development and public engagement resources, to amplify the effect of the award on the awardee's career and on the impact of their work. This project promotes the progress of science by identifying and supporting doctoral dissertation research projects that have the potential to advance knowledge of citizenship, government, and politics.

In addition, the project supports 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 and the national defense. Along with its direct effects on the potential for supported research to advance knowledge, this project also supports increased participation of women and underrepresented minorities in political science research by recruiting diverse applicant and reviewer pools to support doctoral students from diverse groups and institutions.

In addition, the project supports increased public engagement with political science through ongoing attention to training and support for public engagement to strengthen and enhance the exchange between the public and political scientists.

The APSA Dissertation Improvement Grant project provides support to enhance and improve the conduct of doctoral dissertation projects in political science. The program continues the success of the APSA program in place since 2020. The APSA Dissertation Improvement Grant program awards approximately 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.

Awards support basic research (applied research will not be funded) which is theoretically derived and empirically oriented. Successful proposals focus on research costs not normally covered by the student's university and will be evaluated based on their intellectual merit and broader impact. The program will be executed by APSA staff and supervised by the APSA Executive Director.

In addition, 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. This project advances knowledge through support of highly promising doctoral dissertation research in political science.

Importantly, the program maximizes impact through diversifying the applicant pool, thus identifying and supporting dissertation research that explores solutions to a wide range of institutional, political, and social challenges. Through recruiting diverse applicant and reviewer pools to support doctoral students from diverse groups and institutions, this program also has a broader benefit to society by supporting increased participation of women and underrepresented minorities in political science research and the development of a diverse, globally competitive political science workforce.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.