GRANTS
Research Award Program (RAP)
Extends modest financial assistance to Filipino graduate students in the social sciences to enable completion of their graduate thesis or dissertation.


PSSC Research Award Program (PSSC-RAP)
The PSSC Research Award Program (PSSC-RAP) was established in 1972 to assist graduate students in the social sciences complete their thesis or dissertation requirements and obtain their Master’s or Ph.D. degrees. A modest financial assistance is awarded to successful PSSC-RAP grantees—maximum of P50,000 for PhD students and P25,000 for MA students.
NOTICE: The PSSC Research Award Program is currently suspended until further notice. For questions or concerns, you may send an email to grants@pssc.org.ph
THE THESIS/DISSERTATION GRANT PROPOSAL
The thesis/dissertation grant proposal to be submitted by a RAP applicant must be no more than 15 pages long (A4 size paper, double-spaced, font size 12). This must be based on the thesis/dissertation proposal, which has been approved by the applicant’s panel of critics and advisers. The grant proposal must include a description of the following:
Statement of the Problem
This should be concise and to the point. It must indicate that the applicant has gone beyond having a general area of interest (e.g., gender, kinship, environment, governance, sustainable development etc.), and has now formulated a focused question/problem worth researching. The statement of the problem must inform readers what new knowledge they are going to gain from the thesis/dissertation research that they do not already know. Along with the statement of the problem is the articulation of the rationale and significance of the research.
Literature Review
The statement of the problem must be embedded within a given field of inquiry. Hence, the applicant must provide a summary of the relevant literature and theoretical framework/s informing his/her thesis/dissertation problem. A good grant proposal demonstrates not only an awareness of relevant literature and previous scholarly arguments, but locates the thesis/dissertation problem within the intersections of on-going debates and theoretical currents.
Theoretical Framework/s
The research should be guided by social science theories that will frame the study and provide the parameters of the research. It would be best to show how theoretical frameworks are operationalized in relation to the topic being studied. The framework may also be used as analytical tool of the study.
Methodology
The grant proposal must specify the research approach, procedures and activities that the applicant will undertake, and how the results from these research operations will be analyzed and interpreted in terms of the thesis/dissertation problem and objectives. Research operations and methods (i.e., archival work, surveys, interviews, observation and testing statistical patterns etc.) vary by discipline, but the applicant must be able to argue why his/her choice of methodology is the best approach to answering the thesis/dissertation’s central problem.
Timetable and Activities for the Grant Period
The applicant must indicate the remaining activities he/she needs to do to complete the thesis/dissertation, bearing in mind that the RAP grant period is for one year only.
REVIEW PROCEDURE
Each PSSC-RAP proposal is reviewed by two members of the PSSC Research Committee based on the following criteria: (a) clarity of research problem; (b) contextualizing research problem within existing literature and theoretical framework/s; (c) methodology; and (d) overall presentation and study significance.
The financial requirement of the research and the availability of other funds are also considered in the review.
The proposals are ranked according to the ratings given by the reviewer. Priority is given to research proposals in the social sciences and those that are above the passing rate.
Results are announced in the last week of May or early June.