Research Fellowships and Conference Stipends
Questions about the funding process and fellowships? Email Finley.
Questions about your research and conference plans? Email Marais or Darlene.
Research Funding Overview
Doctoral students at HBS are expected to begin research early on in their program and, depending on the project and type of expense, there are various funding opportunities to support your work:
Early on, research projects will typically be co-authored with HBS faculty members, where research related expenses are covered by faculty research budgets or grants.
When dissertation research is sole-authored and funding is not available from co-authors, students may request funding through the Doctoral Programs Office.
Small research expenses, such as datasets that don't require a DUA or software expenses not covered by RCS, should be paid for with your Small Research and Conference Fellowships.
Faculty Co-Authored Research
When an HBS doctoral student assists with a ladder faculty member’s research, the faculty member may use their research budget to pay all of the associated research expenses (e.g., travel for research, subject payments, data purchases, transcriptions).
When an HBS doctoral student who has not yet entered candidacy collaborates with a ladder faculty member on joint research, the faculty member may use their research budget to pay all of the associated research expenses.
When an HBS doctoral student who has entered candidacy collaborates with a ladder faculty member on joint research, the doctoral student is expected to pay all incremental costs incurred due to their participation in the research (e.g., travel, individual data access fees). The faculty member may use their research budget to pay all other associated research expenses.
For independent research, a doctoral student is expected to fund all incremental costs incurred due to the research. The student is not expected to cover fixed costs that the School has already incurred (e.g., for a dataset that the School has already purchased).
The Doctoral Office provides funding, subject to their policies, for research software for doctoral students. A faculty member may use their research budget to pay for software for an HBS doctoral student only when nonstandard software is needed exclusively for assistance with the faculty member’s research or joint research.
Students are expected to cover small research expenses for their own research (software not licensed through RCS and data sets under $100) through their conference and research allocation.
Pre-candidacy - Assistance with Faculty Research: Faculty member pays all research expenses; Joint Research: Faculty member pays all research expenses; Independent Student Research: Doctoral student pays all costs incurred due to the research
Post- Candidacy - Assistance with Faculty Research: Rare because students at this stage usually conduct independent research. But when it occurs, faculty member pays all research expenses.; Joint Research: Doctoral student pays incremental costs incurred due to his or her participation. Faculty member pays all other research expenses.; Independent Student Research: Doctoral student pays all costs incurred due to the research.
| Assistance with Faculty Research | Joint Research | Independent Student Research | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-candidacy | Faculty member pays all research expenses | Faculty member pays all research expenses | Doctoral student pays all costs incurred due to the research |
| Post- Candidacy | Rare because students at this stage usually conduct independent research. But when it occurs, faculty member pays all research expenses. | Doctoral student pays incremental costs incurred due to his or her participation. Faculty member pays all other research expenses. | Doctoral student pays all costs incurred due to the research. |
Sole-Authored Research
When dissertation research is sole-authored and funding is not available from a co-author a student may request funding from the HBS Doctoral Programs through the Doctoral Research Fellowship Application.
A student must obtain their advisors' approval of their research design/agenda prior to requesting reimbursement and it is recommended that students not incur any expenses prior to obtaining confirmation that the expense is eligible for reimbursement.
Application Process
Students may submit an application for a Doctoral Research Fellowship at any time during the year. The Doctoral Programs will review completed applications and respond to the student within 2 weeks of the submission.
The application is hosted by Qualtrics and can be found here.
Applications must include the following information:
Primary Advisor
Title/Topic of Project
Co-authors, if applicable
Project Overview/Abstract
Research Proposal
Documented Faculty Approval of Project*
Timeline for project
Detailed budget
Research Expense examples
Data
Students should work with Baker Library prior to purchasing data; they can help negotiate favorable contracts and license terms, identify cost-share partners and let you know if the data you seek is already available via Harvard connections
Field Research
Experimental Studies
Other research related expenses as approved by the Doctoral Programs Office
Fellowship Award Details
Applications for less than $2,000 will generally be awarded assuming the student’s faculty advisor signs their approval of the research proposal and design, the student is in good standing, and have proven good stewards of HBS funds in the past. Applications over $2,000 will be reviewed by the Doctoral Programs Office Managing Director and may require additional time to discuss with faculty advisors. Awards will be given based on faculty advisor’s support for the project, availability of funds, the individual student’s historic requests and research expenses, and the availability of external funds for the project.
There is no limit to the number of applications a student may submit over the course of their 5 year program. On average, HBS doctoral students spend between $5-6,000 on research during their entire doctoral career. The upper limit for an individual student to be awarded will be $10-12,000. The Doctoral Programs Office will maintain records of requests and awards, including spending on individual projects. In addition, students are expected to maintain their own records. Students are encouraged to submit applications to external grants, as well as to HBS Doctoral Research Fellowships.
Please note: these funds are awarded as fellowships and are subject to the same tax obligations as a student stipend, scholarship, or other type of fellowship. More information regarding taxes is available via Harvard University Student Financial Services and the IRS tax topics page.
Presenting Faculty Co-Authored Work at Conferences
The Division of Faculty Research and Development (DFRD) policies allow faculty members to use their School research budgets to reimburse students in specific situations. The DFRD policy states: "A faculty member may use their research budget to pay travel and conference costs for an HBS doctoral student only when the student is presenting a paper at a research conference in place of a faculty member who is unable to attend."
Budget Limitations
The Doctoral Programs is fortunate to have the ability to fund student research above and beyond what individual faculty members contribute to projects. However, there is a limited amount of funding, and allocations are carefully considered. Given the limits of the budget, however, the Doctoral Programs Office places these types of time-saving expenses at a lower priority than requests for data collection (e.g. experiments or field site visits) and data purchases (e.g. information not publicly available). The Office will strive to meet all reasonable requests for funding and ask that students consider the following guidelines with regard to research assistance:
Software
Students should contact Research Computing Services (research@hbs.edu) in order to obtain common research software. These expenses will be covered by the Doctoral Programs Office and do not require a research fellowship request.
Dropbox subscriptions can be acquired through the Harvard license if they are required to collaborate with faculty. Contact Finley to request a Dropbox account. Note that these Dropbox accounts are retired upon graduation.
Other software should be covered through students' Small Research and Conference Fellowships.
Research Assistance
The Doctoral Programs Office will not fund research assistants (RAs) for doctoral research.
Transcription Services
Students are expected to do their own transcriptions and are encouraged to use technology to support this process.
Sources of External Funding
The Doctoral Programs Office has compiled a list of Sources of External Funding (pdf), both Harvard-related and from outside institutions, that students may apply for to receive grants towards completing their dissertation research, and covering conference or travel expenses. Note that Harvard Business School is not able to act as a grant manager for external funds for doctoral students; students should consider this limitation prior to applying to external funding. Please note that this list is not exhaustive, and students are encouraged to do their own research or consult with others in their department to seek out additional opportunities.