Dean’s Research Fellowship

The Dean’s Research Fellowship (DRF) is directed through the Office of the Dean of Humanities and administered by the Undergraduate Research Center – Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences.

The Dean’s Research Fellowship is awarded to juniors and seniors who have a strong commitment to research and who are completing a comprehensive independent research project, capstone project, or a departmental honor’s thesis under the mentorship of a UCLA faculty member. Program participants are referred to as Dean’s Research Fellows.

Applicants must be doing research in one or more of the disciplines below to receive the DRF:

• African American Studies
• American Indian Studies
• Anthropology
• Archeology
• Art History
• Asian American Studies
• Asian Languages & Cultures
• Chicano/a and Central American Studies
• Classics
• Communication
• Comparative Literature
• English
• Economics
• European Languages and Transcultural Studies
• Gender Studies
• Geography
• History
• Indo-European Studies
• Labor Studies
• LGBTQ Studies
• Linguistics
• Near Eastern Languages & Cultures
• Philosophy
• Political Science
• Slavic, East European & Eurasian Languages & Cultures
• Sociology
• Spanish & Portuguese

If you do not see your research discipline listed above but are doing research in HASS, i.e. psychology or the creative arts, we recommend that you apply to the Undergraduate Research Scholars Program.

Theme: Community

Each year, the DRF cohort will be comprised of students researching a particular theme. The theme for the 2026-2027 DRF cohort is “community.” Those selected as Dean’s Research Fellows will approach this theme from different disciplinary angles.

You may view community as a particular group of people, as an institution or set of institutions, as a shared set of values or characteristics, as a feeling or affect, as one or a series of relationalities. Your research may concretely focus on a particular community or communities, or you may view community as a thematic framework. You will be asked to consider how your research connects to this year’s theme in your application.

Some guiding questions to consider in your theme statement are: What is your definition of community? What does community as research mean to you? How does focusing on community impact your research? Why is it important to center community in your research?

Program Requirements

Dean’s Research Fellows will conduct a research project throughout fall, winter, and spring quarters. In addition to doing research with a faculty mentor, Dean’s Research Fellows will:

• Meet regularly with their DRF Graduate Mentor and other members of their cohort
• Participate in research and professionalization workshops 3x per quarter
• Present their project at the Dean’s Research Fellowship winter colloquium and at Undergraduate Research Week
• Fulfill program requests by URC-HASS staff, i.e. submitting bios, photos, surveys
• Complete a departmental honors thesis, research-based capstone project, or comprehensive research project by the end of spring quarter

Eligibility

• Junior level standing or higher
• 3.25 GPA or higher
• Enrolled full-time in fall, winter, and spring quarters
• Available for in-person activities on UCLA’s Westwood campus in fall, winter, and spring quarters

Additional eligibility requirements

• Permanent residents, international, undocumented, DACA, and AB540 students are eligible to apply.
• Students who have received previous scholarships from URC-HASS are eligible to apply, except for students who have participated in the UCLA/Keck Humanistic Inquiry Research Awards. Former Keck Fellows are not eligible for the DRF.
• Fellows cannot be a concurrent recipient of a research program scholarship while participating, including those through the Undergraduate Research Centers, AAP, College Honors, the Center for Community Engagement, Education Abroad Programs, or academic departments
• Students studying abroad during the academic year are ineligible to apply

Funding

• Dean’s Research Fellows receive a $10,000 scholarship spread evenly across fall, winter, and spring quarters. Scholarships are disbursed through the UCLA Financial Aid Office. Scholarship payments are applied to BruinBill.