Launched in 2014, the CPD Doctoral Dissertation Grants are intended to recognize and support the work of emerging scholars from around the world engaged in cutting-edge research on public diplomacy. Each year, a review committee at CPD selects doctoral students with particularly promising dissertation topics in the area of public diplomacy to receive grants of $2,500 in support of their doctoral research. 

For more information on the CPD Dissertation Grants, including application process, click here.

2019-2020 CPD Doctoral Dissertation Grant Recipient

Naima Green-Riley, Ph.D Candidate at Harvard University, USA
Dissertation Project: “Examining Public Diplomacy Through a Lens of Political Psychology”

2018-2019 CPD Doctoral Dissertation Grant Recipient

Phillip C. Arceneaux, Ph.D Candidate at the University of Florida, USA
Dissertation Project: "Mediated Public Diplomacy and International Law: A Legal Framework for the Study of State-Sponsored Persuasive Broadcasting"

2017-18 CPD Doctoral Dissertation Grant Recipients

Romi Jain, Ph.D. Candidate at Cleveland State University, USA
Dissertation Project: "China's Soft Power Aims in South Asia: Experiences of Nepalese Students in China's Internationalization of Higher Education"

Mariana de Heredia, Ph.D. Candidate at Stanford University, USA
Dissertation Project: "From Nation-Building to Nation-Branding: Literature and Public Diplomacy in 20th century Mexico"

2016-17 CPD Doctoral Dissertation Grant Recipients

Stanislav Budnitsky, Ph.D. Candidate at Carleton University, Canada
Dissertation Project: “The Cultural Code: National Identity and Public Diplomacy of Internet Governance”

Kyung Sun Lee, Ph.D. Candidate at The University of Texas at Austin, USA
Dissertation Project: “Public Diplomacy as a Multiple Actor Communicative Process: A Cultural Approach to South Korea’s Overseas Volunteer Program”

Kyle Long, Ph.D. Candidate at Columbia University, USA
Dissertation Project: “The Emergence of the American University Abroad”

2015-16 CPD Doctoral Dissertation Grant Recipients

Aleksandra Sasa Gorisek, Ph.D. Candidate at University of Vienna, Austria
Dissertation Project: “Multi-Stakeholder Internet Governance: Public Diplomacy of Non-state Public Actors”

Vanessa Leon, Ph.D. Candidate at Florida International University, USA
Dissertation Project: “Status Competition Between the U.S. and China on the Stage of Africa”

2014-15 CPD Doctoral Dissertation Grant Recipients

Anja Eifert, Ph.D. Candidate and Assistant Lecturer at the University of Leipzig, Germany
Dissertation Project: "Crafting an Effective U.S. Public Diplomacy Strategy for Indonesia: An Analysis for Theorists and Practitioners"

Yelena Osipova, Ph. D. Candidate at American University School of International Service, USA
Dissertation Project: "Public Diplomacy in Transition: Negotiating Russian Identity and Soft Power”