Research funding organizations

Continuing to draw on willing volunteers, today we’ll hear from Kristen, who provides useful information on research opportunities for Fletcher students.

Being an admissions person, I’m nosy by nature.  To enjoy reading applications, you have to be generally curious about what makes someone tick.  And because of this, I am currently reviewing not only our Fletcher applications, but two other sets of applications as well, both for funding for current students.

There are several sources of funding for current students looking to conduct their own research or community projects.  Several research centers, as well as the Dean’s Office, offer funding opportunities, and I work with two in specific:  the Institute for Business in the Global Context (IBGC) Fund and the Tisch Fund for Civic Engagement.

The IBGC fund awards up to $2,000 to students doing business-related research.  I’ve worked with this program since its inception several years ago, and truly enjoy seeing the ideas that our students are pursuing.  From market research on nutritional products in Tanzania, to executive interviews about transportation infrastructure in India, to urban slum innovation in Peru, these projects truly represent the interdisciplinary interests of our students.  It is very gratifying to help the students take their well-crafted and thoughtful project ideas out into the field, and then back to Medford, with interesting results.

I’m newer to the Tisch Fund, but find it similarly rewarding.  This Fund is oriented towards student groups looking to work together on community service projects, and we saw everything from a project by Engineers Without Borders in Uganda, to Urban Agriculture right here in Boston.  Very often, these teams comprise students from multiple Tufts grad schools, and it’s fun to see how they bring their various talents to each project.

Once at Fletcher, there are quite a few opportunities for you to take your ideas to the field, and it has been rewarding for me to be part of this process!

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