Doctoral Student Research Award Testimonials

"The Canadian Embassy’s Doctoral Student Research Award was an invaluable resource for completing the field research portion of my dissertation. Without the Embassy’s help, costs associated with travel and data collection would have been close to prohibitive."

Sharon Ann Manna, Department of Political Science
State University of New York at Buffalo

"The fellowship allowed me to spend a relatively brief period of concentrated archival and interview research in Ontario and Quebec. Most significantly, the interviews allowed me to construct one of the first accounts of the politics of the 1998 reform of the Canada and Quebec Pension plans — a reform of major significance for the sustainability of Canada’s retirement security arrangements, and of major cross-national, comparative interest."

Alan Jacobs, Department of Government
Harvard University

"Receiving the Doctoral Student Research Award gave me confidence in my research project, as well as providing me with the necessary funding for my field research. I had been postponing my field research, but within a few weeks of receiving the grant, I was in Clayoquot Sound, doing interviews with forest activists. The grant helped me increase the pace of my research."

Sarah B. Pralle, Department of Political Science
University of Washington

"The Canadian Embassy Doctoral Student Research Award opened a lot of doors for me during my year of research in Canada. As a Canadian award, it conveyed the message that my research was judged *by Canadians* to be of importance to Canada, a point that was favorably noted several times and made me feel especially welcome. The program staff were helpful and accessible throughout the year, and kept me informed of conferences and other activities of interest. The contacts that I made during my year under the auspices of this program remain valued colleagues in my continuing research."

Linda Cumberland, Departments of Anthropology and Linguistics
Indiana University at Bloomington

"The Doctoral Student Research Award was an invaluable resource for me in completing my dissertation research. I would never have been able to obtain the wealth of information that I did while living in the US. Not only did I have access to numerous research archives and libraries in Canada, I was also able to immerse myself in Canadian life and culture, an essential experience for me, since my work is on Canadian film and cultural policy. In addition, since many Canadian films never make it to US theaters, living in Canada was the only way to see them. I cannot overstate the importance of the Embassy’s grant for my dissertation and I cannot thank them enough for supporting young scholars like myself."

Jennifer L. Gauthier, Cultural Studies Program
George Mason University

"Although I received a relatively small research grant from the Canadian Embassy, it was invaluable in permitting to travel to Saint John, New Brunswick, to conduct my research. My experience is that any research grant, no matter how small, becomes quite reasonable when one crosses the border because of the exchange rate."

Joshua M. Smith, Department of History
University of Maine at Orono

"The Canadian Doctoral Student Research Award has proven to be an extremely valuable supplemental resource for my dissertation research. It has provided me with an opportunity to a significant amount of field research in Canada, exposed me to the ASCUS community, and in general helped in ensure a better dissertation than would have been possible without it."

Frank R. Alcock, Political Science Department
Duke University