Doctoral Dissertation Stipend

 Application Form   Recipients

The CBA Office will begin accepting applications on September 15.

Application Deadline: November 15

Each year the CBA will award up to five stipends of $5,000 each to doctoral candidates (Ph.D, Th.D., S.T.D.) who are engaged in writing their dissertations. D.Min. candidates are not eligible.

Application Requirements

• Applicants must be current CBA members in good standing enrolled in an accredited doctoral program
  (Ph.D,, Th.D., S.T.D.) in biblical or related studies.
• Applicants must be engaged in writing their dissertation.
• D.Min. candidates are not eligible.
• Member candidates are not eligible.

Applicants must provide:

1. Completed application form (revised 2026).
2. A Curriculum Vitae (no more than two pages single-spaced).
3. A letter from the dissertation director indicating, inter alia, completion of course work and the successful passing of the comprehensive examinations sent to cba-office@cua.edu with the subject "[APPLICANT'S LAST NAME] Dissertation Stipend Reference".
4. An official academic transcript of their doctoral work to date.
   • N.B. The Committee will accept a copy of an official transcript accompanied by a signed statement that the copy of the official transcript has not been altered by the applicant or others and that the copy of the official transcript accurately reflects the student's past record of academic study/achievement.
   • Scholars at institutions that do not have doctoral comprehensive exams / transcripts should request that their dissertation director so state in their reference letter and provide details regarding progress and timeline.

PLEASE NOTE

• Completed applications must be submitted to CBA-Office@CUA.edu with the subject "Doctoral Dissertation Stipend Application" on or before November 15.
• The CV (preferably also the dissertation director letter) must be  standard letter size (8.5x11 inches or A4), 12-pt. standard Roman font (e.g., New Times Roman).
• Citations (social science or humanities style) are included in page and word counts.
• The committee will not consider incomplete or incorrectly formatted applications.

Application Process

• Please note the following document naming protocol. 
  • If possible, all documents should be pdfs.
  • Documents for the Doctoral Dissertation Stipend should be named as follows (including the number):
    1.    APPLICANT’S LAST NAME-Application
    2.    APPLICANT’S LAST NAME-CV
• The two (2) completed application documents (application form & CV), the official transcript, and dissertation director letter must be submitted on or before NOVEMBER 15 to cba-office@cua.edu with the subject: Dissertation Stipend Application, in order to be considered (The dissertation director's letter should be attached to an e-mail directly from the source to cba-office@cua.edu with the subject [Applicant's Name] Dissertation Stipend Reference.). 
• N.B. if within a week of submitting your application, you have not received from the CBA Office an email response confirming receipt of the application, please check your SPAM folder. In the event it is not there, call the office (202-319-5519) and leave a message stating your name and the date you submitted your Doctoral Dissertation Stipend Application.
• All applicants will be notified via e-mail on or before JANUARY 15 regarding the status of their application.

Selection Process

The CBA Committee on Emerging Scholars Support will assess applications based upon the following criteria

• Applications will be evaluated on the basis of merit.
• Preference is normally given to applicants who have not received a grant from the CBA in the recent past. 
• The committee will not consider incomplete or incorrectly formatted applications.

Recipients

• After the recipient has been notified on or before January 15th, funds will be disbursed in the next CBA fiscal year
  (July - June). Non-US citizens will receive a wire-transfer and will need to provide the following information:
     1. The name of the Bank, street, and city:
     2. IBAN:  
     3. BIC /SWIFT:
     4. Account number:
     5. Name of the account holder/beneficiary, street, and city:
• Doctoral Dissertation Stipend recipients are required to submit a report to the CBA Executive Board via the
  CBA Office (cba-office@cua.edu) at the conclusion of the award period.