CISSR Bi-Weekly Digest

May 11-June 2, 2026

Spotlight

Announcing the 2026-27 CISSR Dissertation Fellows

CISSR is pleased to announce our Dissertation Fellows for the 2026-27 academic year. Representing four departments and disciplines, our fellows will complete their dissertations focusing on international and transnational social science research. The CISSR Dissertation Completion Grant provides funding, office space, and research support to outstanding doctoral candidates conducting innovative research on global topics. This fellowship reflects CISSR’s commitment to advancing rigorous social science scholarship at the University of Chicago.  

 

The Dissertation Fellows’ projects span various global regions, demonstrating the value of interdisciplinary and international research. CISSR aims to continue developing international social science research by supporting and growing an interdisciplinary community of researchers within the university and beyond.  

 

The CISSR Faculty Board is delighted to present this cohort of dissertation fellows, and we invite you to read more about our fellows’ projects on our website. 

Priyanjali Mitra (Sociology)



Governed Lives: Relational Power, Moral Economy, and Urban Precarity in Migrant North India 


Adam Saxton

(Political Science)



The Labeling Game: Legal Labels in International Politics 

Chris Hong

(History)


Developmental Hegemony and Imperial Enlightenment in Louis XIV’s France, 1680-1715 

Gabriel Groz

(History)


The Politics of State Finance in Early-Modern China and England 

Hera Shakil

(Comparative Human Development)



The Common Man’s Party: Middle Class Politics, Anti-Corruptionism, and the Limits of Technocratic Populism in India 




Year In Review

CISSR Fellow Awards

CISSR Faculty and Student Fellows were honored with a range of prestigious awards this year. See below for a list of their accomplishments and accolades: 

Xiaogao Zhou


2024-25 Dissertation Fellow, 2021-22 Rudolph Fellow


2026 Saller Prize

Alice Yao


CISSR 26-27 Faculty Fellow


American Council of Learned Societies Fellow

Neil Brenner


2024-25 Monograph Enhancement Award


2026 Guggenheim Fellowship

Sarah Newman


2020-21 Faculty Fellow, 2021-22 Monograph Enhancement Award


Gordon J. Laing Award from the University of Chicago Press

Have an accomplishment you'd like to share?

Please email cissr@uchicago.edu

2025-26 Affiliated Faculty Publications

Paul Poast


former CISSR Board Member


Wheat at War: Allied Economic Cooperation in the Great War

Susan Stokes


2025-26 CISSR Faculty Fellow


The Backsliders: Why Leaders Undermine their Own Democracies

Fredrik Albritton Jonsson


2023-24 Monograph Enhancement Award



Politiques de la Rarete

Na'ama Rokem


2024-25 Monograph Enhancement Award


Zionism in Transltion


John McCormick


2022-23 Monograph Enhancement Award


The People’s Princes: Machiavelli, Leadership, and Liberty

Ryan Jobson


2023-24 Monograph Enhancement Award


Peasants and Capital: Dominica in the World Economy


Mauricio Tenorio-Trillo


2023-24 Monograph Enhancement Award


Walking a City’s History

Stephan Palmié


2022-23 Monograph Enhancement Award


La Cocina de la Historia


Fellow Fridays Recap

Throughout the year, CISSR hosted ten Fellows Fridays lunches, where student and faculty fellows shared their ongoing research projects. Each session began with a brief presentation outlining key research questions, early findings, and hypotheses, followed by an open and wide-ranging Q&A. Read about their ongoing work below: 


October 24 - Jenny Trinitapoli, CISSR Faculty Board Member, 2017-25 CISSR Faculty Director 


November 7 - Hadeel Badarni, 2025-26 Dissertation Fellow, 2020-21 Lloyd & Susanne Rudolph Field Research Fellow 


December 5 - Paul Cheney, CISSR Faculty Director, 2019-20 Faculty Fellow 


January 9 - Marco Garrido, CISSR Faculty Board Member, 2022-23 Book Workshop & Monograph Enhancement Fellow, 2021-22 & 2020-21 Faculty Fellow 


February 6 - Xiaoyu Gao, 2025-26 Dissertation Fellow, 2023-24 Lloyd & Susanne Rudolph Field Research Fellow 


February 20 - Anne Karing, 2025-26 Faculty Fellow 


March 6 - Yueran Zhang, 2025-26 Faculty Fellow 


April 3 - Alice Goff, 2024-25 Faculty Fellow 


May 1 - Ari Weil, 2025-26 Dissertation Fellow 


May 15 - Alex Koenig, 2025-26 Dissertation Fellow, 2024-25 Lloyd & Susanne Rudolph Field Research Fellow 


Facebook  Twitter  Youtube