flagler20

The deadline is around the corner and I couldn't find any previous related threads so I thought I'd start a new one. I was just wondering if anyone else has applied for this before? I have a budget related question. It seems the budget is restricted to only travel expenses, "special equipment", and participation costs. That doesn't allow for much. I emailed someone in the program my questions but thought I'd ask here too in case anyone has experience. Although it excludes "cost-of-living" support, do you think it makes any difference if the research is at a field site abroad? I mean it would make sense to exclude living costs if a student is conducting the research while at their university in the US, but if the sole purpose of travelling and living abroad is data collection then I could potentially see an exception to that rule. Also, in the solicitation is this line: "The Economics program supports research designed to improve the understanding of the processes and institutions of the U.S. economy and of the world system of which it is a part." It makes it sound as if the program emphasizes research specifically related to US interests (including the world system but only to the extent that it has implications for the U.S.), and not economics and economic theory in general. Otherwise, why explicitly refer to the U.S. economy? My research has more to do with development in poor countries and I'm wondering if it's not exactly appropriate for this DDRIG.

I haven't had much success at all with research funding but because I almost never get feedback I'm left wondering if its the research proposal itself, or some other factor that spoiled my chances. For my last proposal, which recently got rejected, the funding was up to $10,000 per successful applicant, but it was out of a pot of funding with some fixed amount, meaning theoretically they could fund any number of applicants up until the funding ran out. When I did up my budget for the application though, I had to report existing funding, which would be about $5,000 of the $5,800 that I needed. So my question is do selection committees typically favor applicants with greater need even if there isn't a limited number of awards to give out, only a limited amount of funding? Perhaps considering the "additionality" factor of the award? I'm just frustrated with the number of times I've had my proposal rejected with ambiguity over the cause for rejection.

How many reviewers did you get comments from? From my report I got comments from "reviewer #2" and "reviewer #3" but there was no reviewer #1. Also, my suspicions were confirmed. If you're not using a local language you have no chance. My average score was an 86 out of 110, but if I was to use a local language it would have been a 103.

But the points for field are contingent on meeting the language preference. If your research is in one of the listed fields but you aren't using a listed language then you don't get any of the points for field. And yes, I will describe the kind of feedback I get, but I am doubtful at this point that any feedback is coming. I don't think any comments were left for me but I will confirm Monday when my email to my coordinator is responded to.

I looked at the rubric again and it isn't so clear cut. Out of a total of 110 points I lost 7 points off the bat for not using a foreign language (out of 10 for meeting area and language preferences of the State Department). Then there is another 15 points for "proficiency in language to be used or measures to be taken to overcome language barriers" and I had intended to use a translator for the one part of the study in which I wouldn't be using English and that probably didn't merit the full 15 points, but I don't know how many I lost there. So if your friend got the full points (100 or 110?) I think it's pretty clear that if you aren't going to be using a foreign language then your chances of getting the Fulbright-Hays are very slim. By the way, how did your friend know how many points they got? Is that only disclosed to the winners?

Also, does anyone know how to view the comments the reviewers left? I got a follow up email shortly after I was rejected which had a link to the "workspace" and below it said this: "The proposal referenced above has been withdrawn or funding has been denied with the following comments: Click the link above to access the proposal workspace." Does that mean there were no reviewer comments left for me, or is the "comments" referred to above not the same thing as reviewer comments and I should wait for those, or are the comments hidden somewhere in the workspace?

Got word that I was rejected. I really wish there was somewhere to get non-generic advice on writing a Fulbright-Hays proposal. I think my major mistake was being too honest. Even though I can speak an obscure local language in my study area I don't really have a need to speak it for the purpose of my research so I was automatically docked something like 13 points. I should have just worked it in somehow. If anyone has any insights into the scoring, what is the average score of a winning proposal? edit: The two awardees from my University are both anthropology students and I've noticed a lot of example proposal essays are from anthropology. Obviously a greater proportion of anthropology students probably apply for the F-H than students from other departments, but is the F-H also biased towards anthropology?

Thanks for that reply. Very helpful advice.

My adviser is great and I have no complaints about my committee (which is very small by typical PhD standards), but none of my committee members are experts in a certain set of methods I want to use. I have identified a professor from a different University (in the foreign country where my research will be based) who is an expert in the methods, and has actually applied them in the same area where I will conduct my research. I would very much like to reach out to this professor and pick his brain and hopefully get some good guidance, but I don't know what would be in it for him. I don't want to repeat his work exactly, but rather build on it and use similar methods to answer what I think are some very interesting questions that he has neglected. I've never talked to the guy before and I'm afraid that if I sat down and discussed my research with him and asked him for advice he might take some of my ideas. On the other hand he could potentially be very valuable in helping me with data collection and analysis. So I was wondering what incentive he would have to help me, and specifically whether an invitation to serve on my committee as an external member would be seen as an attractive offer. I suppose he might see it as securing co-authorship on a resulting paper, which I wouldn't mind. Does anybody have experience with anything similar? How would I reach out to him initially?

When I checked the status of my proposal I was given the following message: Our records indicate that the following Final Project Report(s) are due or overdue for the Award(s) listed below. Please submit the report(s) as soon as possible using the Project Reports System within FastLane. The report(s) will be considered overdue if not submitted by the Report Overdue Date mentioned for each report. Having an Overdue project report will affect/delay NSF actions on any other award related to the PI/Co-PI: It then gives the award number and says that the final report is overdue (was due back in 2013). This was for an award my adviser received and when I spoke to him about it he said basically it's not his fault because the co-PI was supposed to submit the report, or something to that effect. Does anybody know if this will undermine my chances with the NSF DDIG, or will this just delay the award if otherwise my proposal is approved?

I'm wondering what the average score is for those offered the award. It's nice that there's a rubric outlined in the application instructions, but I have no idea what a competitive score is. I am worried because my research will not require the use of a foreign language, though the proposal should be strong on all other accounts.

I created my own thread on this forum to ask a fulbright related question but no one has responded, so I'll ask it in this thread. I was wondering who to go to for one of my references for the Fulbright-Hays fellowship. Note that this is somewhat different from the normal Fulbright fellowship. Is it important for the reference to know about your past research experience abroad, or is it more important for them to be able to speak to the merits of your current research project? Apparently there is a form that they fill out and specific questions that they answer, so it's not just a standard reference letter that they write. But I have not seen this form so I don't know what they're asked.

I can't find any information on what the reference form looks like or what specifically the referee should be able to comment on about me so that means I'm not sure who would be best to ask to fill out a form on my behalf. Should the person I ask for a recommendation from be able to speak to my past research experience abroad? Or should they be more familiar with what it is I plan to do with my current research, the feasibility of it and its intellectual merits? If the former I would go with my adviser for my masters program for one recommendation, but he has no idea what I'm currently researching. If the latter I will just stick with my current PhD committee members who know somewhat about what I've done in the past, and I suppose could comment more on that if i gave them my CV, but they wouldn't immediately be able to speak to those qualities. Anybody have any advice?

T The problem with numerical references is that you trade-off upfront brevity for back-end length because then you have no choice but to include full citations at the end. Using in-text citations with author names allows you to omit a full reference section at the end, but takes up words in the body of the proposal. But I don't really have a choice and will probably have to go with numerical references anyways because the citations I would be using are not for foundational papers which would be recognized with just the author and year.

Ok, thanks for the advice. The thing is though that it's a word limit, not a page limit. So then the question becomes, do I save words at the end for references, or do I not worry about going over the word count with references? Unfortunately I don't have time to ask anyone. I had written the proposal without references and it is ready to submit, but I'm having last minute doubts. I guess I shouldn't expect any definitive answers on here. So I'll just use 2-3 references and include them in the word count. Also, all of my research will be done abroad so all of my expenses are travel expenses.