AAR Dissertation Research Grants

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About

The Dissertation Research Grants program is designed to support AAR student members who are working on completing their dissertation. Grants are intended to help candidates complete their doctoral degrees by offsetting dissertation research-related expenses.  The Dissertation Research Grant is for a student working in any sub-discipline within religious studies.

Grant Amount: up to $5,000 USD

The AAR will make grants only if there is a sufficiently diverse and rich pool of applicants.

View previous winners

Criteria

To be eligible to apply to the grant program, applicants must have:

• Current AAR Membership. Applicants must be AAR student members in good standing at the time of application and throughout the grant period.
• Current status as a graduate student.
• Completed all requirements for the doctoral degree except the dissertation by the time of application.

Previous applicants may reapply for a grant; however, previous recipients of an AAR Dissertation Research Grants are not eligible.

Ineligible Expenses

• Tuition
• Donations
• Indirect or overhead costs
• Travel to attend the AAR November Annual Meeting, including lodging, ground transportation, meals, or other related expenses.

How to Apply

Applicants must submit the application form and required materials through the AAR Grant Application Submission System.

Hard copies, emailed, late, or incomplete applications and/or materials cannot be accepted.

Only the letter of support from the dissertation supervisor may be emailed.

Application Materials

• Completed Application Form
• Proposal Documents – Applicants should be prepared to upload the following required proposal materials, all of which must be compiled into a single document in PDF or Word format:
• a) Cover Page:
  • Applicant name
  • Applicant’s institutional affiliation
  • Project title
  • Name of Dissertation Supervisor
  • Amount Requested (USD)
• b) Project Description: a description (no more than 3 pages) of the research project and how support for on-site research is critical for the completion of the dissertation
• c) Budget and Timeline:
  • Completed budget template (use the template provided)
  • 1-2 page description of the research expenses with itemized costs
  •  Project Timeline – 1-2 page description
• Current CV
• Signed Consent: Signed consent that the project information (including applicant/grantee name, project title, project abstract, and portions of the narrative report) may be used on the AAR website or in related AAR publications. There is no required formatting, but the signed consent must be included as a separate document/page.
• Letter of Support: a letter of support from the applicant’s dissertation supervisor

Please note: Dissertation supervisors must send letters of support electronically to grants@aarweb.org. To be eligible for consideration, the letter of support must be received by the application deadline.

Additional materials cannot be accepted.

Selection Process

All eligible grant proposals will be reviewed and assessed by the AAR Student Awards Jury using the following criteria:

• Clarity and focus of the research to be pursued
• Adequacy of the overall work plan, including goals, objectives, and time frame for the completion of the research

Application Status Notification

• Notification of application status will typically be sent to the applicant via email in January.

Grant Award Period

• For awarded projects, research expenses can be undertaken anytime within the calendar year of the award year.
• The grant period starts on January 1 and ends on December 31. Successful applicants will have the entire calendar year to complete the grant funded activities.

Grant Winner Expectations

• For awarded projects, grant funds will be made payable to the applicant/grantee.
  Note: grant funds cannot be remitted to a grantee’s institution or someone other than the individual grantee.
• The grant payment will be made in the form of an electronic funds transfer.
  Grantees need to have a bank account that accepts wire transfers in order to receive the grant.
• For awarded projects, grant funds will be disbursed until June 30 of the award year.
  The required forms must be submitted to AAR Accounting by May 31.
• The AAR will issue the grant recipient a Form 1099 in the amount of the grant for income tax use. The grant recipient will be responsible for any applicable income taxes due on the grant revenue.
• A final report is due within 30 days of completion of the grant. By January 31 of the following calendar year, the grant recipient must submit the required grant report.

Grant Reports

Grant recipients must submit the following reports by January 31 of the following calendar year:

• A written report of their research, including a budget narrative.

Questions

For any questions, please send an email to grants@aarweb.org.