Fellowship for International Research

While there is no citizenship restriction, students are responsible for ensuring their eligibility to travel abroad (including, in some cases, to their home country) to conduct dissertation research. Due to federal sanctions, research in Iran, Syria, Cuba, North Korea, and Russia, regardless of a student’s citizenship, is not permitted. The University cannot approve individuals to conduct research in these embargoed countries: Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine, and Syria. Students are strongly discouraged from applying for funds to do research in Ethiopia, China, South Sudan, Sudan, Ukraine, and any country with a Level-4 federal travel advisory, e.g., Afghanistan, Belarus, Burkina Faso, DRC, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, Niger, Somalia, and Venezuela. (This list is not exhaustive; see the State Department link below.)  There are many countries for which the University would need to obtain an export license in order to approve and that process could take more than a year.

International students must consult the Office of International Services about visa implications of this fellowship. Furthermore, from an HR/Payroll perspective, the length of time spent abroad receiving a stipend and/or working for the University may have tax implications.

Applicants must be “all but dissertation” (ABD) by December 1, 2024 with their status confirmed by their director of graduate studies within the application, or, if necessary, via subsequent correspondence. Failure to reach ABD status by that date may delay funding or eliminate eligibility.

The humanities and humanistic social sciences are defined as PhD programs in our “Arts and Humanities” and “Behavioral and Sciences” academic divisions (see link below) if the methods and subject are humanities and/or social science in nature. We updated our divisions effective Fall 2023.

Recipients of large external fellowships (Boren, Fulbright, Fulbright-Hays, NSF-GRFP, etc.) are not eligible with the exception of a Foreign Student Fulbright. Recipients of the Graduate College’s research awards (AGR, PGRA) are eligible with adequate justification.

IRB and privacy regulations? Proposed research (even if exempt) must go through the UIC Office for the Protection of Research Subjects (OPRS) prior to applying. Approval will be required prior to departure.

Applicants will be evaluated for academic excellence and potential on the basis of post-secondary record, letters of recommendation, research statement, linguistic preparation, and other criteria as deemed appropriate by the committee.

Regardless of FTE, an individual with an Academic Professional (AP or BA), a Civil Service (CS), or an Extra Help (HP) position at the time of appointment is ineligible.

There is currently no limit to the number of nominations per doctoral program. If an applicant is eligible and the application is complete, the program submits the application package (as a single PDF) to Box.

• Travel Advisories
• OPRS (IRB, consent, privacy)
• IRB compliance (exemption)
• Graduate College Disciplinary Divisions

The fellow’s director of graduate studies (or proxy) must inform the Graduate College’s Fellowships & Awards Coordinator by December 1 if the fellow has been elevated to PhD candidacy. Failure to do so may the annul the fellowship.

Stipend

The FIR is a non-renewable, one-time fellowship for doctoral students conducting research abroad. Conceived as a six-month fellowship (with a gross monthly stipend of $2,500), we recognize that one’s visa status or family situation may restrict one’s research to four months overseas. (For a shorter duration, we encourage students to apply for our AGR or PGRA.) There are is no added support for dependents.

Concurrent Employment

While the fellowship is intended to facilitate full-time research, a FIR fellow might be able to hold concurrent employment as a virtual RA, TA, GA, or grad-hourly; however, there are several caveats, e.g., visa, nation of origin, destination country, and UI System HR. See the link below to the UIC policy on working outside of Illinois. If permitted, campus-based employment may not exceed 0.5 FTE (“50%”). Applicants intending to hold concurrent employment are strongly encouraged to reach out to their supervisor and their unit’s HR person–they can then contact Eric Ferguson, International Employment Coordinator, UI System HR (ericf@uillinois.edu) with any questions.

Foreign Source Income (FSI)

For foreign national students, additional steps may be required. See Payments to Foreign National Employees Working outside the U.S. website. If the fellowship recipient is a nonresident alien (defined as an individual who is not a U.S. citizen, permanent resident, or resident alien for tax purposes), their stipend earnings must be coded as FSI for the period of time working outside the United States. In addition, once the FIR fellow returns to the U.S., they must work with their department to ensure any future earnings are coded as regular earnings in order to comply with U.S. tax withholding and reporting rules.

International Travel Safety Enrollment

Fellows are required to enroll in the International Travel Safety Policy.

Deferral

The fellowship may be deferred up to twelve months in extreme cases handled on a case-by-case basis.

Registration and Waivers

Fellowship recipients may be eligible for a full tuition and partial fee waiver from the Graduate College for the spring semester and, if applicable, summer semester. The waiver covers tuition (including differential, if applicable), service fee, health service fee, academic facilities maintenance fund assessment, and the library and information technology assessment. If students do not opt out of CampusCare, there may be a partial subsidy. All other fees (travel, visa/passport, unwaived UIC fees, travel insurance, etc.) are the responsibility of the student.

Students supported by these fellowships are required to complete 9 or more semester hours in the spring semester. Fellows receiving a summer waiver may register for 3 or more hours.

It is the student’s responsibility to know and understand the regulations of the fellowship and those of any other award (see Policies below).

• Foreign National Employees
• Payments to Foreign Nationals Working Outside of the U.S.
• UIC Policy on Working Outside of ILL
• International Travel Safety
• Graduate College Waivers

Taxation

The stipend portion of the award may be taxable income; however, per guidelines set by the Internal Revenue Services (IRS), the University is not responsible for withholding or reporting income taxes on fellowship payments.

Fellows do not receive a W-2 for their fellowship income nor does the University report the fellowship payment as taxable income to either the state or federal government. However, the University is required to report fellowships to the IRS for informational purposes on Form 1098-T, Tuition Statement. Taxability of the fellowship payment is a matter between the Fellow and the IRS.

More information on taxation of fellowships can be found in IRS Publication 970: Tax Benefits for Education (PDF), or by calling 1-800-829-3676.

Students who are obtaining federal loans from Financial Aid: Obtaining a fellowship WILL significantly affect your financial aid eligibility. Check with the Office of Student Financial Aid on eligibility requirements and for further information.

Compliance

I would strongly encourage you to reach out to Patricia Pfister, Export Control Compliance Officer, in the Office of Research Integrity to discuss your research and any potential export control compliance licensing requirements.

In addition, OIS would need to know if the international student plans to return to the U.S. from their home country to complete their degree.  If so, then they would be limited to 5 months abroad to maintain visa status.  A longer duration may restart the immigration clock and return to the U.S. with an initial I20.  This could impact their ability to apply for OPT.

• Travel Safety
• Form 1040-ES
• Tax Benefits for Education
• UIC Financial Aid

The doctoral student is responsible for marshalling documents to the director of graduate studies or the DGS’s proxy. The student provides some documents directly; they will arrange for other materials to be sent to the DGS, e.g., letters of recommendation and affiliation, language evaluation(s). Carefully follow the maximum word limits, where noted, and expect for each program to set an internal deadline for gathering documents.

The FIR requires (in this order):

1. Transmittal (see link below)
2. Fellowship Application (see link below)
3. Statement of research plans describing the project, research goals, methods, sources, prior preparation, and provisional timeline in a document of no more than seven (7) pages double-spaced, with one-inch margins, including all tables, charts, images, notes (foot-, end-, bibliographical), and appendices. Suggested font: Times New Roman 10- to 12-point font. This document should clarify the “who, what, where, when, why, and how?” of your project. Be sure to address the language(s) used in research.
4. CV (maximum of three pages – extraneous pages will be deleted prior to review)
5. Two letters of recommendation written within the last six months; additional letters will be removed prior to review. Use best judgement as to whom to ask.
6. Letter(s) of affiliation strongly recommended for each country in which research will be conducted. An in-country affiliation could be a faculty member or staff/administrator at an educational institution, library/archive, or nongovernmental organization. The letter must be in English. It should be written in or translated to English, printed on official letterhead, and should be signed by the author. If you are translating the letter, submit both the original and the translation. Whom to ask? Current or former professors might suggest appropriate people in the host country. The goal is to demonstrate that you will not be proverbially lost at sea. Do not request funding from nor for the affiliate(s).
7. Language evaluation(s) to be completed by a professional language instructor—for less commonly taught languages, a college-educated native speaker of the language may complete the form. One for each language to be utilized; not required of a native language. (See link below).
8. UIC transcripts (unofficial transcript from Registrar, Student Self-Service, or Banner)

• FIR Transmittal Form
• FIR Application
• FIR Language Evaluation

The selection criteria include:

1. Project quality (hypotheses, linkage to theoretical issues in the field, methods, originality)
2. Preliminary research (both domestic and abroad)
3. Justification for overseas research
4. Qualifications (academic record, language preparation, references, affiliations)

The Director of Graduate Studies or their proxy assembles the application package. The DGS completes the Transmittal Form (fillable form), adding it as the cover page. Save the forms/documents listed above as one single PDF per nominee using the following naming convention: FIR_Year_DepartmentAbbreviation_NomineeLastNameFirstInitial.pdf.   Do not use spaces in the pdf name.

Here is an example of Chuck Baudelaire’s application from History: FIR_2024_Hist_BaudelaireC.pdf.

The PDF file must be emailed to the Graduate College using the relevant secure Box folder below. Some users may need to copy the email address to their email client.

*NOTE:  The department/program has to review all student requests prior to submitting the documents to the Graduate College by the deadline. Potential nominees should consult with their program to determine its internal deadline. 

The Graduate College is seeking support for our new fellowship program that will empower the next generation of humanistic and social science experts. Fellowships provide funding for crucial on-site international research that will enable future analysts, translators, historians, social scientists, and teachers to address numerous global concerns. From climate change to political conflicts, from global hunger to mass migration, your generosity will propel our scholars to address some of the most complex issues our world faces.

Your gift could fund one fellowship, one cohort, or the entire program! If you would like to make a gift or if you would like more information, please contact Sheila O’Donnell, Executive Director of Development for the Graduate College sheilao2@uic.edu

• $10,000 can fund a four-month fellowship
• $15,000 can fund a six-month fellowship
• $100,000 can fund a full cohort of 8+ fellows
• $250,000 can endow one fellowship in perpetuity