Center for the Study of Democratic Politics

CSDP encourages scholarly engagement between our students and faculty by subsidizing the employment of CSDP-affiliated graduate students as research assistants. CSDP covers half the hourly wages of eligible students, up to $2000 per student per fiscal year as a 50-50 match, for up to five years. (All CSDP-affiliated graduate students received language to this effect in their offers of admission to the Politics Ph.D. program.)  CSDP faculty affiliates who wish to hire an eligible student as a Research Assistant should meet with the student to agree on the nature of the work, expected duration, and hourly pay rate, and then contact Michele (mdeps@princeton.edu) so she can set up an account and approve the RA’s hours bi-weekly. If you have a project but no specific student in mind, please provide Michele with a brief description and we will attempt to facilitate a match. CSDP-affiliated graduate students are listed on this website.

 

 

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CSDP invites affiliated faculty and visiting scholars to organize small creative Research Workshops on topics related to democratic politics, broadly conceived. The rationale for Research Workshops is to promote a vibrant and innovative intellectual community at Princeton by supporting an interchange of ideas and intensive discussion of faculty research.

 

Research Workshops can take a variety of formats, including paper presentations, readings groups, or book manuscript conferences. They can be one-time-only meetings or series of events. One-time-only workshops will normally run a half or full day. Workshop series meet several times per year.

 

To support Research Workshops, CSDP will provide

·        Organizational and logistical support in scheduling and advertising the event

·        Coverage of travel and lodging expenses for up to two external participants per workshop or one external participant per semester (or summer) of workshop series

·        Refreshments and working lunch or dinner

 

Research Workshops must be organized by a minimum of two Princeton faculty members or CSDP visiting scholars. At least one of the organizers has to be affiliated with CSDP.

 

Proposals for Research Workshops should be brief (no more than 2 pages) and include:

·        A short description of the topic and proposed activities

·        A list of faculty and student participants

·        A commitment by at least 3 Princeton faculty members to attend the entire workshop (most meetings, for workshop series)

·        A proposed workshop date (or dates) that fits the schedules of the workshop’s core audience

 

The large Conference format is familiar to all, and may bring 10-15 outside participants to Princeton, with overall attendees numbering approximately 25-30. Mini-conferences will typically involve six or eight Princeton participants and four to six outside participants, meeting for one to two days at Princeton, to consider a highly focused topic.   The idea of Mini-Conferences is to get ten to twelve people – the right people – in the same room collaborating intensely on a matter of shared intellectual enthusiasm. 

 

Topics for Conferences should engage the interest of a sizeable proportion of the CSDP community. Topics for Mini-conferences should be coherent and focused. Examples might include: the political economy of public education (not, Political Economy); Communication and Political Beliefs (not, Political Psychology); Fire-alarms and Congressional Oversight (not, Congress); Networks and Political Parties (not, Political Sociology).  On the one hand, their tight focus and small size distinguishes a Mini-Conference from the typical Conference. On the other, the larger number of outside participants distinguishes a Mini-conference from a CSDP Research Workshop.

 

Mini-conferences may employ any variant on the standard conference format that the organizers consider best for the topic. A Mini-conference will often be a one-time-only event. But, it might be envisioned as one in a series of linked Mini-conferences to be repeated over several years. CSDP will also consider partnering with another institution to support multiple Mini-conferences, alternating venues between Princeton and the partner institution.

 

 

 

To support Conferences and Mini-Conferences, CSDP will provide:

·        Organizational and logistical support in scheduling the event

·        Reimbursement of travel and lodging expenses for the outside participants

·        Refreshments and working lunch (catered at the meeting location)

·        Funding for one dinner for the Conference or Mini-conference participants.

 

Conferences and Mini-conferences must be organized by a minimum of three Princeton faculty members or CSDP visiting scholars (in any combination). At least two of the organizers have to be affiliated with CSDP.

 

Proposals for Conferences or Mini-conferences should be brief (no more than 2 pages) and include:

  

Funding for Conferences and Mini-conferences is limited and subject to availability. Hence, ceteris paribus more economical proposals will likely have a competitive advantage over less economical ones.
 

Please send your proposal for 2012-2013 to Michele Epstein mdeps@princeton.edu . Selection of proposals for conferences and mini-conferences to be held during the 2012-2013 academic year will begin in May 2012. We will continue to review proposals after that date but our funding is limited.

We are happy to work with you on putting together a compelling conference proposal.


 

CSDP invites CSDP-affiliated graduate students to apply for research funding to support projects relevant to democratic politics. Grant applications will be reviewed by the CSDP Executive Committee and awarded on the basis of scientific merit, feasibility, and likelihood of leading to published research and/or substantial improvement in the student’s  doctoral dissertation. There is no formal grant maximum, but the overall pool of grant money is limited and more economical proposals of similar quality will receive preference. In addition, any proposal requesting in excess of $5000 must include documentation of submission to outside agencies or foundations (such as NSF). Grants are available up to two times during the student’s graduate studies at Princeton. We anticipate that most of these CSDP grants will go to 3^rd and 4^th year graduate students.

Successful applicants will be required to submit to CSDP a brief (no more than one page) statement at the conclusion of the related work, confirming how the grant funds were spent, and summarizing the research methodology and key findings.

Applications must include:
 

 I.        Research proposal (maximum of six double-spaced pages)
 

a.        Statement of the research problem, specific aims, expectations, propositions or  hypotheses

b.        Short description or link to the most significant literature

c.         Preliminary studies by the student, if any (which can show feasibility of research and/or preliminary findings)

d.        Research Plan, including

          · Research Design, with an explicit rationale defending choices in the design

          · Source of data

          · Data analysis plans

e.         Brief statement indicating the connection of the project to the dissertation work
 

II.        Proposed budget . Explain how much funding is needed and for what purpose. Identify the source(s) of any other funding that may already be secured or in process.
 

III.        You will be asked to provide the name of your committee chair or primary adviser, so that CSDP can solicit a note from him/her that indicates his/her confidence in the scientific rigor and value of the proposed research project.
 

IV.        Current CV

V.         Plan for IRB approval. For proposals involving human subjects, approval by the university’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) is required before CSDP will transfer monies or reimburse costs.

 

VI.         Appendices (optional). You may include any additional documentation that would support your application, such as a survey instrument.

 

CSDP will reimburse qualified third- through sixth-year CSDP-affiliated graduate students for up to $350 per fiscal year of eligible travel-related expenses (transportation, accommodation), consistent with the university’s travel policy ( http://finance.princeton.edu/policy-library/travel-entertainment/travel-policy/ ) . CSDP conference funding is intended to be used when other funding has been exhausted.

 

In order to qualify, students must:

 

 

·        submit and document an application to the Graduate School for conference funding in the current year (Dean's Fund for Scholarly Travel, or, for conferences taking place in June-August, the APGA Summer Travel Grant ) . If conference travel funding is available from conference organizers, students must document an application for this funding.