The purpose of the Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health Happiness Dissertation Research Award is to assist Harvard doctoral students with research costs of up to $2,500. Research must be in the field of positive health.
The interdisciplinary science of positive health encompasses the study of physical, mental, and social factors that contribute to overall well-being and happiness. The field of positive health science adopts an asset-oriented view of health and well-being, focusing on identifying and promoting individuals’ and communities’ positive health assets and resources—strengths that can contribute to a healthier, longer life, rather than solely addressing deficits or illness. This approach recognizes the interconnectedness of psychological, social, and physical dimensions of health, aiming to enhance positive emotions, relationships, and environments to foster holistic well-being.
Research by past awardees has explored:
- The influence of social support and positive psychological well-being on physical health outcomes
- The impact of vicarious trauma on the physical health of nurses and patient care workers
- The connection between urban agriculture and health in Philadelphia using an environmental justice approach
- The health impact of community development interventions
- The influence of psychological resilience from early adversity on cardiometabolic health
- The role of psychosocial stressors and resources across the life span
Our Center welcomes applications from interested students whose research projects incorporate positive health factors from a wide, interdisciplinary range of lenses, encouraging innovative approaches and diverse perspectives in addressing the complexities of human well-being.
Deadline: Monday, April 8, 2024
Award Amount: Up to $2,500
Duration of Award: Up to 2 years
Applications for the next round of awards are currently open.
Eligibility:
- Applicants must be enrolled full-time in a doctoral program at any of the Harvard graduate schools
- Applicants should be actively working on their dissertation
- Dissertation proposals must have been approved by applicant’s dissertation committee prior to application
- The dissertation research must be in the field of positive health science or a closely related field
- Funds must be spent within two years of award or prior to dissertation defense, whichever comes first
- Eligible research expenses include:
- Data collection expenses, such as travel, research participant stipends, database access, RA costs
- Data analysis expenses, such as software, equipment, transcription services
- Conference registration (only for conferences where the student will be presenting), including membership fees, conference registration fees, travel costs related to attending the conference, poster printing costs
- Publication fees, particularly for open access publications
Application Requirements:
- Signed Application Form (access here).
- Cover Letter: Briefly describe your research interests and experience and your career plans. The letter also should explain how the topic of the dissertation fits with the mission of the Center. Two-page maximum.
- Research Statement: Must include a summary of the dissertation research as relevant to the Center, including project background and rationale, explanation of research design (methods, procedure, analysis plan, etc.), and other important aspects of the project. If you are requesting funds to support data collection, you must include information about your methodological plan (e.g. measures, sampling strategies, etc). Five-page maximum.
- CV in Harvard format (For more information about format: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/faculty-affairs/forms/)
- Budget and Budget Justification: The award must be used to support expenses that are directly related to the dissertation research (the funds cannot be used for living expenses) and should not exceed $2500. All expenses must be detailed and a rationale for each expense should be provided. Two-page maximum.
- Academic Transcript: Provide a current transcript of your graduate work
- Copy of Dissertation Proposal: Provide the copy of the proposal that was submitted to your dissertation committee.
- Letter of recommendation from mentor/advisor: Your professor should email this letter separate from the application and include “letter recommendation for [student’s name]” as a title to centerhealthhappiness@hsph.harvard.edu on or before Monday, April 8th, 2024. Two-page maximum. This must be submitted separately and directly from your mentor/advisor. It should NOT be included as part of your application!
Instructions for Application Submission:
Dossier, including all of the documents listed above (with the exception of letter of recommendation), must be submitted by email to centerhealthhappiness@hsph.harvard.edu (as one single PDF document; individual documents will not be accepted) on or before Monday, April 8th, 2024.
As stated above, your letter of recommendation must be submitted separately and directly from your mentor/advisor by email to centerhealthhappiness@hsph.harvard.edu on or before April 8th. Late applications will not be considered.
Selection of Awardee(s)/Evaluation Criteria:
Selection will be based on quality of the research and relevance to the mission of the Center. For more information about the Center, please see: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/health-happiness/. Evaluation criteria will include the importance of the proposed issue, the strength of the research design, feasibility of the proposed work, importance to public health, and relevance for positive health science or translation of positive health science.
Reporting Requirements:
Grantees are required to submit a brief interim (less than 2 pages) progress report and presentation mid-way through the grant period as well as a final closeout report. Guidelines for each report will be distributed after award is granted.
Examples of Past Dissertations Research Award Recipients
Doctoral candidate in Epidemiology Naiyu Chen received the Center’s 2023 Dissertation Research Award for a dissertation titled “Prostate cancer survivorship: physical activity, social support, and the built environment.” This research project investigated whether the quality of life of prostate cancer survivors was affected by their levels of physical activity, social support, and the walkability or amount of green space in their neighborhood.
Doctoral candidate in Social and Behavioral Sciences Beth Stelson received a Dissertation Research Award in 2022 for a dissertation titled “The effect of supportive work environments and vicarious trauma on the physical health of hospital workers: A multilevel mediation and moderation analysis“. This research project investigated how vicarious trauma (defined as the emotional duress that results when an individual hears about the trauma experiences of another) affects the physical health of nurses and patient care workers enrolled in the Boston Hospital Workers Health Study, and how components of a supportive work environment may beneficially diminish these effects.
All Previous Dissertation Research Award Recipients
2021-2022 – No Awards Granted
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