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.

2023 CPD Doctoral Dissertation Grant Recipient

Phuong Mai Anh Tran,, Ph.D. Candidate at the University of Ottawa, Canada

2022 CPD Doctoral Dissertation Grant Recipient

Minseon Ku,  Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at The Ohio State University

2021 CPD Doctoral Dissertation Grant Recipient

Isabelle Karlsson, Ph.D. Candidate at Lund University (Sweden)
Dissertation Project: "Public Diplomacy and the Communication of Foreign Policy: The Case of Sweden’s Feminist Foreign Policy"

2020 CPD Doctoral Dissertation Grant Recipient

Justin Key Canfil, Ph.D Candidate at Columbia University, USA
Dissertation Project: “Framing Legality: Public Diplomacy for Technological Controversies”

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”