Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA)

About the Award

The Fulbright-Hays DDRA Fellowship Program provides opportunities for doctoral students to engage in dissertation research abroad in modern foreign languages and area studies. The program is designed to contribute to the development and improvement of the study of modern foreign languages and area studies in the United States, and provides grants to colleges and universities to fund individual doctoral students to conduct research in other countries in modern foreign languages and area studies for periods of 6 to 12 months.

Click here to see the DDRA press kit published by the Department of Education.

Click here to see the Award Information (including estimated available funds, average size of award, estimated number of awards, and project period).

Click here to see eligibility information published by the Department of Education.

Agency URL: U.S. Department of Education Fulbright-Hays--Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad
Federal Register: Applications for New Awards; Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship Program

These links will are the primary and most current source of information, directly from the sponsoring agency, regarding agency deadlines*, eligibility, and application process.

*See also the Internal Deadlines section below to meet UCSD timelines for submission.

Date

Timeline

Description

Date

Timeline

Description

January 01, 2025

14 business days before the agency deadline

Completed, individual student applications are due in the G6 web application (submitted by the student)

January 10, 2025

5 business days before the agency deadline

Combined institutional grant application submitted by the Project Director (GEPA) to OCGA for final review

January 15, 2025

Agency Deadline

Agency Deadline (final institutional grant application submitted to the Office of Postsecondary Education, Department of Education).

A single Fulbright-Hays DDRA application must be submitted on behalf of the UC San Diego campus. To ensure the application is submitted on time, GEPA sets internal deadlines so that the Project Director and the Contracts and Grants Officer to review the individual student applications prior to both OCGA review deadlines and the agency submission deadline.

Delaying submission to accommodate one applicant who does not meet the internal deadline would jeopardize all of the other applicants. 

Kuali Record Required

GEPA will coordinate a single institutional Proposal Development record in Kuali Research, and will adhere to the proposal submission timelines (14/5/2) set by OCGA.  In order to meet these timelines, individual students must complete their applications in G5 at least 14 days in advance of the agency deadline (see Internal Deadlines above).

Heads up: ”The U.S. Department of Education (ED) is building G6, a new and modernized grants management system for ED's grant community. As part of the upgrade, all current G5 functionalities are now accessed through this page. Improvements to various grant management functions will be rolled out as the project advances.” – you may see references to both G5 and G6 in the Agency’s documentation, but both refer to the same system.

Students will use the G6 system to affiliate their individual application with UC San Diego, as well as prepare and finalize it for submission. The Program Director then compiles individual doctoral student submissions and incorporates them into the institutional grant application that is submitted electronically through the G6 system. GEPA acts as the Program Director for UC San Diego.

Students will submit a ticket by emailing ddra-pd@ucsd.edu of your intent to apply for the current year Fulbright Hays DDRA Fellowship program.

Application instructions can be found here – please review the entire document closely as it includes budget guidance, allowable costs, the list of documents required for submission and other important details.

Note: pay special attention to the information in the “Guidelines for Student Applicants" section about the required Human Subjects Narrative. If your research involves human subjects - whether UCSD IRB approval is current, pending, or exempt - you will need to provide a separate narrative to the Program Director in a text-editable format (e.g. Google Doc, Word, etc.). This document will be incorporated into the institutional grant proposal compiled by the Program Director (you will not attach the document to your individual application in G5). The narrative you provide will either be an “Exempt Research Narrative” or a “Nonexempt Research Narrative” – please thoroughly review the definitions and required points the narrative must address here: Instructions to ED Supplement to SF 424 (PDF).

For all of the required materials, all attachments and submitted forms must follow Fulbright-Hays DDRA formatting guidelines and page limits. If the application exceeds the page limit, the submission will be rejected.

FAQs