Dissertation Fellowship Program

The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College sponsors the annual Dissertation Fellowship Program in the field of retirement or disability research. The program is funded by the U.S. Social Security Administration and provides funding opportunities for doctoral candidates to pursue cutting-edge research on retirement or disability issues. Research focal areas include:

Trends in disability and survey issues;
Determining disability;
Requirements of work in the modern economy;
Informing long-term projections and models;
Improving communication and outreach;
State and local pensions for non-covered workers;
Modernizing totalization agreements;
Economic security of SSA beneficiaries;
Work-activity retention of disabled beneficiaries with overpayments; and
Improving service delivery.

Fellowship Awards

Up to three $28,000 fellowships are awarded to doctoral candidates enrolled in an accredited program at a U.S. university. Grant recipients may be required to present their work to the Social Security Administration in Washington, DC or Baltimore, MD.

Submission

The deadline for the 2021 Dissertation Fellowship Program is January 31, 2021. Download the proposal guidelines and the dissertation committee chair form. Review sample proposals that received awards: Sample 1, Sample 2.