Center for Retirement Research Announces Fellowship, Grant Opportunities

The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College has announced two grant and fellowship opportunities for doctoral and post-doctoral students, funded by the U.S. Social Security Administration.

The programs sponsored for junior or non-tenured scholars include a dissertation fellowship program and the Steven H. Sandell Grant Program, both of which have deadlines to apply by January 31, 2025.

Dissertation Fellowship Program

The annual Dissertation Fellowship Program provides funding opportunities for doctoral candidates to pursue “cutting-edge” research on retirement or disability issues. Individuals from historically underserved or underrepresented communities are encouraged to apply.

According to the CRR, applications must demonstrate that a proposal focuses on at least one of the SSA’s research focal areas. Some of these areas include studying the causes and inequities of overpayment and underpayment of Social Security benefits; addressing barriers to disability and Supplemental Security Income programs participation; and identifying disparities by race, ethnicity and sex.

Two $28,000 fellowships will be awarded to doctoral candidates enrolled in an accredited program at a U.S. university. Recipients may be required to present their work to the SSA in Washington, D.C., or Baltimore.

More details can be found here.

Steven H. Sandell Grant Program

The Steven H. Sandell Grant Program is also funded by the SSA and is available to scholars within seven years of receiving their Ph.D. Sandell served as the first director of the SSA’s Division of Policy Evaluation and spearheaded the creation of the Retirement Research Consortium, which includes the CRR.

Similar to the dissertation fellowship, applicants must demonstrate that their proposal focuses on one of the SSA’s research focal areas.

For this program, two $50,000 grants will be awarded based on the quality of the proposals and the proposed budgets. Recipients are required to complete the research outlined in their proposals within one year of the award. The deadline for the program is also January 31, 2025.