Dissertation Writing Fellowship

In an effort to support UConn graduate students writing doctoral dissertations with a human rights focus, the Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute will select one $5,000 dissertation fellowship awardee for the 2023-24 academic year.

2023 Dissertation Writing Fellowship Recipient

Eilyn Lombard
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Literatures, Cultures and Languages

"Power, Performance, and Poetry in Latin America (1970-2020)"

Eilyn Lombard is a Doctoral candidate at the Department of Literatures, Cultures and Languages of the University of Connecticut, where she teaches Spanish language and literature. Project manager of Justicia 11J. Co-director of Candela Review. As a poet, she has published Todas las diosas fatigadas (2011; All the Tired Goddesses), Las tierras rojas (2019; The Red Lands), and Bienvenido a Facebook (2022; “Eilyn Lombard has updated her status”), Días de pelea (2023, Fighting days) and tres veces (2023, three times).

Former Recipients

2022

  • Imge Akaslan
    Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Political Science
    "Global Labor Rights Enforcement in Small and Medium-sized Textile Firms – Lessons from Turkey"

2021

  • Shamayeta Bhattacharya
    Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Geography
    "SHAKTHI: Substantive Health and Human-rights Access among Kothi, Transgender, and Hijra Individuals"

Eligibility Criteria

  1. Open to UConn doctoral students (ABD) in all disciplines from any UConn campus.
  2. Applicants must have successfully defended a dissertation prospectus by time of application.
  3. Applicants must be actively writing their dissertation.
  4. Students may receive this award once during their tenure in the Ph.D. program.
  5. In any given year, a student may receive either the Dissertation Research Fellowship or the Dissertation Writing Fellowship, but not both.

How to Apply

Access the application via Microsoft Forms. The application requires the following materials:

  1. Narrative description of the dissertation project (five pages, double spaced, 12 point font) that includes:
    1. What are the basic ideas, problems, works, or questions the study will examine? What is the planned approach or line of thought?
    2. What contribution is the project likely to make to the field of human rights?
    3. How does this fit with HRI’s mission?
  2. Detailed timeline of the plan for completion of your doctoral dissertation (no more than one page), describing precisely where you are in your analysis and writing process, what remains to be done, and when you will do it.
  3. One-page bibliography for the project
  4. Current CV
  5. Unofficial transcript
  6. Statement from your advisor/dissertation supervisor or a faculty member supervising your research, detailing how the funding will advance the completion of your dissertation. The committee encourages letters that include specific illustrations of your achievements and your capacity to contribute to human rights scholarship and activity. The statement should be submitted electronically via: https://forms.office.com/r/uNhcjRgDsi.

 Application Deadline for 2024: April 1st

Evaluation of Applications

The dissertation project should demonstrate overall excellence with a focus on human rights issues, understood broadly. Projects should make a significant contribution to ongoing scholarly, policy, or practice debates in the field of human rights. Priority will be given to applications that evidence human rights coursework and/or prior substantive human rights engagement.

All proposals will be reviewed and ranked by a multidisciplinary review committee chaired by the Director of Graduate Programs, and comprised of members of the Gladstein Human Rights Committee.