College and University Fund Graduate Research Fellowships

The Named Fellowships

Each fellowship is offered to a doctoral candidate pursuing original and interdisciplinary research, and honors a scholar whose service shaped the Council and the social sciences.

Evaluating Interventions to Reduce Inequality

Applications to the 2026 CUF GRFs must propose projects that evaluate the efficacy of an intervention to reduce some form of inequality around the globe, including interventions by public, nonprofit, and private organizations. Projects are expected to result in the completion of an article-length paper within one year of the award. The successful applicant’s project will be featured in a brief essay contributed to the SSRC’s digital forum Items: Insights from the Social Sciences. Selected projects will each receive an award of $7,500.

The application consists of a proposal describing the project (maximum 5 pages including bibliography) and a CV. Applicants should (1) clearly identify the intervention central to the research project and describe how they will explore its impact on inequality and (2) include a dissemination strategy for an article-length paper to be completed within one year of the award.