Dissertation Research Awards

Research by past awardees has explored:

• The influence of social support and positive psychological well-being on physical health outcomes
• The impact of vicarious trauma on the physical health of nurses and patient care workers
• The connection between urban agriculture and health in Philadelphia using an environmental justice approach
• The health impact of community development interventions
• The influence of psychological resilience from early adversity on cardiometabolic health
• The role of psychosocial stressors and resources across the life span

Eligibility

• Applicants must be enrolled full-time in a doctoral program at any of the Harvard graduate schools
• Applicants should be actively working on their dissertation
• Dissertation proposals must have been approved by applicant’s dissertation committee prior to application
• The dissertation research must be in the field of positive health science or a closely related field
• Funds must be spent within two years of award or prior to dissertation defense, whichever comes first

Eligible research expenses include:

• Data collection expenses, such as travel, research participant stipends, database access, RA costs
• Data analysis expenses, such as software, equipment, transcription services
• Conference registration (only for conferences where the student will be presenting), including membership fees, conference registration fees, travel costs related to attending the conference, poster printing costs
• Publication fees, particularly for open access publications

Application Requirements

1. Signed Application Form (access here).
2. Cover Letter: Briefly describe your research interests and experience and your career plans. The letter also should explain how the topic of the dissertation fits with the mission of the Center. Two-page maximum.
3. Research Statement: Must include a summary of the dissertation research as relevant to the Center, including project background and rationale, explanation of research design (methods, procedure, analysis plan, etc.), and other important aspects of the project. If you are requesting funds to support data collection, you must include information about your methodological plan (e.g. measures, sampling strategies, etc). Five-page maximum.
4. CV in Harvard format (For more information about format: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/faculty-affairs/forms/)
5. Budget and Budget Justification: The award must be used to support expenses that are directly related to the dissertation research (the funds cannot be used for living expenses) and should not exceed $2500. All expenses must be detailed and a rationale for each expense should be provided. Two-page maximum.
6. Academic Transcript: Provide a current transcript of your graduate work
7. Copy of Dissertation Proposal: Provide the copy of the proposal that was submitted to your dissertation committee.
8. Letter of recommendation from mentor/advisor: Your professor should email this letter separate from the application and include “letter recommendation for [student’s name]” as a title to centerhealthhappiness@hsph.harvard.edu on or before the submission deadline. Two-page maximum. This must be submitted separately and directly from your mentor/advisor. It should NOT be included as part of your application!

Instructions for Application Submission

Dossier, including all of the documents listed above (with the exception of letter of recommendation), must be submitted by email to centerhealthhappiness@hsph.harvard.edu (as one single PDF document; individual documents will not be accepted) on or before the application deadline. 

As stated above, your letter of recommendation must be submitted separately and directly from your mentor/advisor by email to centerhealthhappiness@hsph.harvard.edu on or before the application deadline. Late applications will not be considered.

Evaluation Criteria

Selection will be based on quality of the research and relevance to the Center’s mission. Evaluation criteria will include the importance of the proposed issue, the strength of the research design, feasibility of the proposed work, importance to public health, and relevance for positive health science or translation of positive health science.

Reporting Requirements

Grant awardees are required to submit a brief interim (less than 2 pages) progress report and presentation mid-way through the grant period as well as a final closeout report. Guidelines for each report will be distributed after award is granted.