STUDY AND RESEARCH ABROAD

In addition to formal coursework (and in consultation with faculty advisors), PhD students are typically expected to spend one or two summers and/or one academic year engaged in advanced language training abroad. In most cases, PhD candidates are also expected to spend at least one year abroad doing fieldwork in South Asia as part of their dissertation research.

There are a wide range of competitive funding options available for both language study and research work abroad. Funding above and beyond the five-year PhD funding package includes both external funding competitions (e.g. American Institute of Indian Studies, American Institute of Sri Lankan Studies, American Institute of Pakistan Studies, Fulbright-Hays, Social Science Research Council, Wenner-Gren Foundation, and the National Science Foundation), as well as internal university competitions (e.g. School of Arts and Sciences Dissertation Research Fellowships, SAS Dissertation Completion Fellowships, the South Asia Studies Department's Briton Martin Fellowship, etc.). PhD students in the Department of South Asia Studies have had an extremely high rate of success in obtaining fellowships and grants for research and language study abroad. Periodic workshops led by faculty in the department also help students to develop and hone their abilities to effectively write competitive fellowship and grant applications--an essential skill for any career in academia.