Phurwa Gurung has been awarded the highly competitive Mellon International Dissertation Research Fellowship (IDRF) fellowship for 2022, funded by the Mellon Foundation. Phurwa was selected from a total of 870 applicants from graduate students at 112 universities. This year's 60 awardees represent thirty-one universities and fourteen disciplines. Phurwa will submit two progress reports during the fellowship year, and participate in a fellow workshop upon the completion of his on-site research.
The IDRF fellowship must be held for a single continuous period of six to twelve months between July 2022 and December 2023, and must be started by January 2023. The IDRF fellowship will provide support for housing and living costs, round trip travel to the research site, local transportation, affiliation fees, related research expenses, and travelers' health insurance if it is not already covered through the university. The average fellowship award will be $23,000; final award amounts will be determined by the IDRF program based on a budget Phurwa creates, his research needs as presented in his proposal, and on any additional funding he may have received.
IDRF has announced that the 2022 cohort will be the final cohort of the program. While there will not be any future competitions, all fellows will continue to receive the support of the Social Science Research Council and the IDRF program throughout the course of the fellowship.