Small research grant funds have been exhausted for the 2024-2025 academic year.
The Center for Social Science Scholarship Small Research Grants for UMBC PhD students are intended to provide crucial support for research, presentation, and travel for research purposes.
Awards are made to students pursuing a PhD in the social sciences at UMBC who have already exhausted all other relevant/available university support—including but not limited to such sources as DRIF, departmental funding, and GSA funding. For students who are enrolled in joint degree programs (e.g., across UMB-UMBC), preference will be given to those whose primary affiliation or placement is at UMBC and/or whose primary research advisor is a faculty member whose primary affiliation is at UMBC.
Please note, as of 10/11/21: Applicants should not simultaneously apply to more than one CAHSS research center small grant programs for faculty and PhD students (e.g., the Dresher Center’s Scholarly Completion Fund, Scholarly Development Fund, or Rapid Response Awards, or CIRCA’s Contingency Fund). Applicants should first apply to the center that best suits the nature of their project and receive a determination on that application, before requesting funding from another center. In such cases, please indicate whether funding has already been applied for and/or received from one of the other centers.
An individual PhD student may receive a maximum of $750 per award. Expenses will be incurred by the awardee, and the final reimbursable amount will be transferred to the awardee’s home department. Note that salary support for the applicant is not permitted, and funds must be requested from CS3 within a calendar year of any award notice.
Awards will be made on a rolling basis and will be offered until the center’s available funding for this program has been exhausted. Preference will be given to faculty/PhD students who have not recently received (within the past 6 semesters) a prior CS3 Small Research Grant and according to the strength of the justification for the request.
Students wishing to apply should prepare a brief (less than one page) letter of need explaining the research-related purpose for the funds, a projected timeline for their use, the precise amount of the request, and why a Small Research Grant would make a difference in the scholarly goals of the applicant. Reference should also be made to which funds the applicant has already used and why no other support is available/sufficient for this need.
Students should submit their application here. In addition, an email (to socialscience@umbc.edu) is required from the Department Chair or Graduate Program Director, affirming that all other relevant/available funds have been exhausted; this email must be received before the application can be considered.
Once completed applications are received, materials will be reviewed as soon as possible in consultation with Advisory Board members, and the Acting Director will respond with a determination on the request. All efforts will be made to provide a decision to the applicant within two weeks.