The Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowship Program seeks to encourage a new generation of scholars from a wide range of disciplines and professional fields to undertake research relevant to the improvement of education. The $25,000 fellowships support individuals whose dissertations show potential for bringing fresh and constructive perspectives to the history, theory, or practice of formal or informal education anywhere in the world. Although the dissertation topic must concern education, graduate study may be in any academic discipline or professional field. Candidates should be interested in pursuing further research in education once the doctorate is attained.

Applicants need not be citizens of the United States; however, they must be candidates for the doctoral degree at a graduate school within the United States. The fellowships are not intended to finance data collection or the completion of doctoral coursework, but rather to support the final analysis of the research topic and the writing of the dissertation. All applicants must document that they will have completed all pre-dissertation requirements by June 1, 2008, and must provide a clear and specific plan for completing the dissertation within a one- or two-year time frame.

The 2008 dissertation fellowship instructions are available at the Spencer Foundation website. The deadline for receipt of all application materials is November 2, 2007.