I am not attending a U.S.-based Ph.D. program and/or I do not have a U.S. citizenship; am I eligible to apply?
Applicants must be attending a program in a U.S.-based college or university.  There is no citizenship requirement.  Applicants are reminded that one element of the proposal evaluation process is based on the topic’s relevance to a U.S. policy audience.

What kind of research is “policy relevant?"
Policy relevant research can directly inform debates and thinking in the U.S. policy community.  This Fellowship is not intended to support abstract theoretical research that is principally designed to influence debates within an academic discipline.

What kinds of research activities can be supported by the Fellowship?
The Fellowship may be used for both direct research – including travel, archival research, fieldwork, and other related activities – and for supplemental efforts, most notably including language training.

May I defer the use of some or all of the Fellowship funds until a subsequent year?
No.  All funds are to be used during the authorized twelve-month grant period, which typically begins in early February.

If I win the Fellowship competition this year, am I ineligible for funding in the future?
The Foundation will consider repeat applications, fully understanding that dissertations typically take several years to complete.  Repeat applicants, however, will need to show that they have effectively used their Fellowship (e.g., chapters of the dissertation based on the activities supported by the Fellowship, or published policy-relevant).

I don’t need the full $7,500 Fellowship for my planned research; should I ask for less?
While applicants can indeed budget for and request less than the $7,500 Fellowship amount, it will not positively influence their chances for acceptance.  Applicants are encouraged to find a secondary use for the remainder of the funds rather than asking for a smaller amount.

When I complete the Fellowship and submit my narrative report, what should it consist of?
The purpose of the narrative report is to explain how fellowship activities advanced the dissertation and how the funds were expended.  This requirement should not be viewed as exclusively descriptive of fellowship activities; rather, the Foundation welcomes and encourages fellows to elaborate on any insights, revisions of hypotheses, or tentative conclusions that resulted from activities supported by the fellowship, as well as published work written by the fellow.