Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships

Deadline: November 1, 2024

Fri, 1 November, 2024 12:00am

Now in its fifth decade, the Newcombe Fellowship has become a nationally recognized award that distinguishes recipients within their fields. Fellows receive a $31,000 stipend to complete the writing stage of their dissertation. The Newcombe Fellowships have supported over 1400 graduate students who have written dissertations which respond to and participate in, deep and meaningful conversations within religion, values, and ethics. The conversation may be from the ancient past, with modern relevance; it may be a unique perspective on a well-known topic; it may revolve around culture, art, societies, or identity. Those awarded a Newcombe Fellowship are often at the forefront of creative and original scholarship, proposing new insights and ground-breaking work in the questions and conversations surrounding religion, ethics, and values.

Award Type: $31,000 stipend

Eligibility Requirements

Applicants must:

be candidates for Ph.D. degrees in any field of study in the humanities and social sciences at accredited graduate schools in the United States. Candidates working on D.Min., JD, Psy.D., Ed.D. and other professional degrees are not eligible. Students in science, technology, engineering, and math fields may apply provided questions of religious understanding, ethics, or values are central to the dissertation.
be ABD, and have completed all pre-dissertation requirements fulfilled by the application deadline, including approval of the dissertation proposal.
be in the writing stage of the dissertation. Usually, this means that fieldwork or other research is complete and writing has begun by the time of the award.
expect to complete the dissertation between April 1 and August 31, the year of the tenure of the award.
have never held a similar national award for the final year of dissertation writing.

The program of study must:

be campus-based at the institution. This Fellowship Program does not provide funding for distance learning or online programs, or for degrees heavily dependent on distance learning components (research travel excluded).

Additional eligibility notes:

Fellows are not required to live in the U.S. during the tenure of the award.
The Dissertation Fellowship is intended for applicants who are completing their first doctoral degree.

Application Requirements

Start the application process by clicking Apply Now (Use Program Key: CWNF) to create an account through our vendor site and access the application.

There are two rounds of application submission. The initial round opens with the application available to all candidates on August 1 and closes November 1.

First-round applicants are required to submit:

basic demographics and contact information
description of the project’s engagement with religion, ethics, or values
description of the candidate’s career goals
personal statement
description of the project including abstract, design and methodology, timeline, and short proposal
name and contact information for two recommenders (no letters need to be submitted at this time)
curriculum vitae
transcripts (official or unofficial)

These initial applications will be evaluated, and finalists will be selected for additional review.

Finalists will be required to submit:

a full proposal
two letters of recommendation

Candidates are evaluated based on scholarly excellence; quality and originality of the project; and commitment to research that advances religious understanding, ethics, and values.

The application is open primarily to fields of study in the humanities and social sciences. Scholars engaged in science, technology, engineering, and math fields may apply provided questions of religion, ethics, or values are central to the dissertation.