The Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute will fund one $5,000 dissertation research fellowship for the 2026-2027 academic year to support primary research activities. Applicants must have successfully completed their qualifying exams and dissertation prospectus by time of application.
2026 Dissertation Research Fellowship Recipient
Craig Mortley
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Social Work
“The Architecture of Precarious Belonging: How Asylum Law and Institutional Practice Shape the Structural Conditions of Belonging for LGBTQ+ Asylum Seekers”
About the Project
This dissertation examines how U.S. asylum law, immigration enforcement regimes, and institutional practices shape access to protection, safety, and belonging for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers. Grounded in Critical Social Theory and Queer Legal Theory, and using a constructivist grounded theory approach, the study draws on semi-structured interviews with institutional actors and longitudinal document analysis to investigate how interpretations of “membership in a particular social group” are operationalized in practice. The project introduces the concept of precarious belonging to explain how legal recognition can coexist with instability and constrained access to human rights protections.
Impact
This research addresses urgent human rights concerns by demonstrating that legal recognition through asylum does not, on its own, guarantee safety, inclusion, or social belonging for LGBTQ+ individuals fleeing persecution. By illuminating how gaps between legal status and lived experience shape ongoing vulnerability, the study will inform more equitable asylum policies, strengthen rights-based service provision, and support advocacy efforts to reduce structural barriers to protection and prevent refoulement.
Former Recipients
2025
- Catalina Alvarado
Ph.D. Candidate, Anthropology Department
“Mapuche Creative Spirits: Collective Healing of the Colonial Trauma of Wallmapu”
2024
- Madeline Baird
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Anthropology
"Embodied Borders: Navigating Transit Migration to the U.S.-Mexico Border"
2023
- Emily Loveland
Ph.D. Candidate, School of Social Work
"Reframing The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): Applying a Human Rights Framework to Federal Food Assistance in the United States"
2022
- Madri Hall-Fau
Ph.D. Candidate, School of Social Work
"The Role of Devolution in Social and Economic Rights Fulfillment: The Case of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families in Connecticut"
Eligibility Criteria
- Open to University of Connecticut doctoral students (ABD) in all disciplines from any UConn campus.
- Applicants must have successfully defended a dissertation prospectus by time of application.
- Students may receive this award once during their tenure in the Ph.D. program.
- In any given year, a student may receive either the Dissertation Research Fellowship or the Dissertation Writing Fellowship, but not both.
How to Apply
The proposal process encourages doctoral students to model and meet the requirements for succeeding in competition for funds by defining a problem, a research project, and a timeline for completing the dissertation research.
Access the application via Microsoft Forms. The application requires the following materials:
- Narrative description of the proposed research (three pages, double spaced, 12 point font) that contains the following:
- Project Rationale: Please describe your reasoning for undertaking this research project and the impact you believe your project will have on understandings of, or policies affecting, human rights.
- Impact: Identify the expected contribution your research will make to the field of human rights.
- Methodology: Explain how you will conduct your research. Be explicit in describing the types of methods employed and the advantage of using these particular methods.
- Anticipated budget and budget justification (Download the Anticipated Budget and Budget Narrative Template)
- Detailed timeline for the completion of your dissertation (no more than one page), describing precisely where you are in your research, what remains to be done, and when you will do it.
- Current CV
- Unofficial transcript
- Short statement from your advisor/dissertation supervisor that addresses the status of your dissertation research and your eligibility for the award. This should not be an evaluative statement about your actual dissertation research. The statement should be submitted electronically via https://forms.office.com/r/uNhcjRgDsi.
Applications for the current cycle closed on April 3, 2026. Check back here in Fall 2026 for application instructions for the 2027 cycle.
Evaluation of Applications
The dissertation project should demonstrate overall excellence with a focus on human rights issues, understood broadly. The dissertation research is expected to make a significant contribution to the scholarly, policy or practice literature in human rights. Priority will be given to applications that evidence human rights coursework and/or prior substantive human rights engagement.
Students are encouraged to use the award as support for activities related to dissertation research, including data collection and travel.
All proposals will be reviewed and ranked by a multidisciplinary review committee chaired by the associate director of the Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute and comprised of members of the Gladstein Human Rights Committee. The number of grants will depend on the number of applications ranked ‘excellent’ by the review panel.