CIS Summer Research Grant

 

The CIS Summer Research Grant provides funding for summer research projects to PhD candidates whose work focuses on international studies. Research on a broad range of issues will be considered; students from all MIT departments are eligible to apply.

The CIS Summer Research Grant may be used to cover travel costs related to field work (e.g., airfare, lodging, meals) or research-related costs (e.g., data collection). The maximum grant is $4,000. Students may receive no more than two grants during their studies at MIT.

The CIS Summer Research Grant process includes the Jeanne Guillemin Prize, earmarked for woman-identifying PhD candidates studying international affairs. 

Questions? Email cis-info@mit.edu.

Summer Study Grant Recipients

Funding opportunites are open to PhD students in international affairs at MIT, regardless of their home department. This year, seventeen doctoral students were awarded grants to help support their summer studies. Learn more about the recipients here.

Application and Deadline

To apply:

Complete the application form.

In the application form, upload one PDF document containing:

  • Statement of research problem
  • CV
  • Faculty letter of support

The deadline for the current round is Friday, March 15, 2024 by 11:59 EDT.

Results will be announced in mid-April.

Student Status and Eligibility

Applicants must have registered student status over the summer in order to receive a CIS Summer Research Grant. It is the applicant’s responsibility to comply with MIT and departmental requirements regarding payment of tuition and fees.

Grant Payment

Summer Research Grant funds are paid by direct deposit at the beginning of the project.

Travel Policy

All grantees must comply with the MIT student travel policy.

Summer Research Grant 2023 Awardees

  • Wenyan Deng, Political Science, “Trade Policy as a Tool of Authoritarian Political Control”
  • Jerome Patrick Diaz de Rivera Cruz, Political Science, “The Diasporic Origins of the Global Knowledge Economy: Diasporic Networks, Adaptive Governance, and the Making of the Knowledge Services Trade in the Global SouthType”
  • Daniel Erkel, AeroAstro, “Portfolio-based Space Strategy Optimisation in Emerging Space Nations”
  • Suzanne Freeman, Political Science, “The Spy and the (Autocratic) State: Theory and Politics of Civil-Intelligence Relations”
    Suzanne Freeman was awarded the fourth annual Guillemin Prize
  • Mariel Garcia-Montes, HASTS, “Birds on the Wire: The Sociotechnical Dimensions of Mexico’s Surveillance Culture”
    Mariel Garcia-Montes was awarded the fourth annual Guillemin Prize.
  • Ahmet Gulek, Economics, “Who are the winners and losers from Immigration? Evidence from the Syrian Refugees in Turkey"
  • Eyal Hanfling, Political Science, “Lurking but Learning: The effects of WhatsApp on Intergroup Cooperation in India ”
  • Jared Kalow, Political Science, “Concrete Politics: Mass Infrastructure and electoral Accountability in Urban Africa ”
  • Rorisang Lekalake, Political Science, “Property, Place, and Politics: Essays on the Political Economy of Land in South Africa ”
  • Timothy Loh, HASTS, “Assistive Technologies for Deaf People in Jordan: Entanglements of Language, Religion, and Disability”
  • Gokul Sampath, DUSP, “Investigating the Social Determinants of Arsenic Exposure in Rural India”
  • Kunal Singh, Political Science, “Aborting the Bomb: Strategies of Counterproliferation”
  • Wright Smith, Political Science, “Disunited Fronts: State Strategies for Multifront War”
  • Katharin Tai, Political Science, “The Bureaucratic Ghost in the High-Tech Machine: How Government Bureaucracies shape, limit and enable High-Tech Governance”
  • Hao Zhang, Political Science, “Commerce, Coalitions, and Global Value Chains”