National Institute of Social Sciences (NISS) – 2025 Dissertation Grants Program
The limited competition (up to two nominees from UIC) is now open.
April 4, 2025 Update:
The competition is open. The campus deadline is April 18. For this Limited Competition, the Dean of the Graduate College or his designate will determine the university's final slate of nominees who will be officially nominated by the Provost.
Eligible disciplines: For 2025, NISS seeks nominations in the fields of Anthropology, Economics, History, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology. Interdisciplinary projects that include one or more of these fields as a major component may also be considered.
Benefits include: For 2025, NISS anticipates making several grants up to $5,000 each. Grants may be used to cover any necessary expenses related to completing a dissertation, including but not limited to travel to a library or archive, photography or photocopying, field research, and conference support.
details
Since UIC can nominate only a finite number of students, the Graduate College is running a limited competition.
Each nomination must include the following information, emailed with an attached single PDF file named as LASTNAME.pdf as instructed below (with numbered pages that include your name and university name in the footer):
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Completion of the NISS 2025 Dissertation Grant Application Cover Sheet (click to open fillable pdf for downloading and printing)
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The nominee’s CV
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The nominee’s personal statement of no more than 750 words describing the project and the planned uses for money requested
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A one-page project budget
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A letter of support from the nominee’s academic sponsor that addresses the nominee’s academic qualifications and the merits of the nominee’s research
Eligibility and research areas of focus
Students must:
- Be enrolled in PhD program at UIC.
- For 2025, NISS seeks nominations in the fields of Anthropology, Economics, History, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology. Interdisciplinary projects that include one or more of these fields as a major component may also be considered.
criteria
Not provided by the sponsor.
Nomination Procedures
See the sponsor’s specifics above.
Submissions
Given that the application includes confidential letters of recommendation, the head/chair, DGS, mentor, or a grad staff member is expected to submit the nomination file. Nominations must be sent as an email attachment (with all the materials in a single file) to the Graduate College’s Limited Competition folder in Box (a FERPA-compliant cloud storage service):
The PDF files should be saved using the following naming convention: Niss2025_LastNameFirstInitial.pdf
Example of Chuck Baudelaire’s application from Anthropology without using spaces in the file name: Niss2025_BaudelaireC.pdf
Should you have a common name, e.g., John Smith, please spell out your first name to avoid confusion with Jane Smith.
Deadline: 4 p.m. (CT), April 18, 2025.
FAQs
Why is there a limited competition? The university is permitted only TWO nominations and tasked with submitting the nominations. Since students could be based in a number of different programs/departments, it falls to the Graduate College to coordinate.
Who is the Graduate College contact? Benn Williams, Fellowships and Awards Coordinator (bwilli7@uic.edu)
What if I have grant specific questions? Contact Suzanne Farrell, Grants Committee Co-Chair at grants@socialsciencesinstitute.org.
deadline
DEADLINE: May 1, 2025.