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Resources & Databases

Funding from The Graduate School

Learn about about awards from The Graduate School at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Student assistantships, grants, and scholarships

Dissertation fellowships

Proposal writing

Successful Proposals Collection

Audience: Graduate student; postdoctoral scholar
Disciplinary Area: Arts and Humanities, Health and Medical Sciences, Life and Physical Sciences, Social Sciences

This collection of successful proposals serves as a reference for UNC-Chapel Hill graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in the process of applying for funding for research or advanced study. It can be accessed with a valid ONYEN.

The Successful Proposals Collection is maintained by the Graduate Funding Information Center and by The Graduate School. These proposals have been voluntarily provided by your fellow Carolina community members as reference materials. Reusing them, in part or in whole, may constitute academic dishonesty and/or intellectual property violations.

To submit one of your successful proposals to the collection, please contact GFIC.

For international students

Funding databases

InfoEd Global SPIN

SPIN is a comprehensive database containing over 40,000 funding opportunities from more than 10,000 federal, public, non-profit, and private sponsors. Users can search SPIN anonymously, or can create accounts and save search preferences, sign up for e-mail notifications, and organize and export funding searches and opportunities. We recommend that students filter their search results at least by Applicant Type (master’s or doctoral/terminal degree student), Project Type (dissertation, fellowship, student scholarship, etc.), and Citizenship.

Strive

Strive is a scholarship and fellowship database with over 1,000 funding opportunities and editable filters to help users narrow their search. It is managed by the Office of Distinguished Scholarships here at UNC. Strive includes funding opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students; it is recommended that graduate students filter their search results by selecting Graduate School/Research in the Award Type category.

ProFellow

ProFellow is a funding database with over 1,000 listings and editable filters including citizenship, location, and discipline. Each listing includes relevant keywords that may be used in future searches as well as several related funding opportunities that may be of interest. In addition to providing a funding database, ProFellow also runs a blog which features content with tips for writing winning research proposals, lists of fellowships within certain disciplines, guides for creating a competitive fellowship application. ProFellow requires users to make an account in order to access the funding database. Anonymous users can access the blog portion of the site.

Embark Carolina

Embark Carolina is a new, dynamic resource that is a part of UNC’s effort to open access to global opportunities so students can pursue more diverse experiences. Explore the Global Guide to find an opportunity and search the Funding Finder to fund it.

CGS Federal Graduate and Postdoc Fellowships Database

The Council of Graduate Schools fellowships database contains listings for federally funded graduate and postdoc fellowships. Searches in this database can be filtered by items such as field of study, organization, applicant type, and compensation amount.

UNC-Chapel Hill external award winners

The UNC-Chapel Hill external award winners page features a list of external awards won by graduate students beginning in 2007. Entries are organized according to academic year, department, student name, and the name and sponsor of the award.

Office of Distinguished Scholarships 

The Office of Distinguished Scholarships (ODS) is available to advise students on applications, suggest interviewing strategies, and put you in touch with faculty members who can assist with writing project proposals.

National Science Foundation

Resources for writing proposals for the National Science Foundation.

NSF general resources

  • Grant proposal guide.
    • From the National Science Foundation [NSF 1-11]; effective January 2011.
    • Detailed guide to the rules, policies, and procedures for NSF grants.
  • Guide for proposal writing
    • Advice for proposal writers on the process of applying for an NSF grant.

NSF graduate research fellowship resources