URS cannot provide assistantship grants to hire hourly workers working outside of North Carolina, because our office is not set up to be in compliance with other states’ non-exempt payroll and tax laws.
URS Assistantships provide wages to a student who are being mentored by a faculty on a research project. Funding is available for all disciplines.
Applications are open to Duke undergraduates for summer, fall and spring funding. The student must be a currently enrolled Duke student to be eligible for the URS Assistantship. The application portal will re-open on Monday, August 28, 2023.
URS Assistantships can only be awarded if the research project is completely separate from a course or course credit.
Students are encouraged to explore using work-study to pay their wages to conduct research. URS Assistantships can be used to cover the wages for the employer that is not covered by the work-study program. For more information, please see the resources here.
The amount of an assistantship will vary according to the student's individual situation. For students using work-study for wages, the URS Assistantship will cover the gap in funding provided by the work study program, typically $275-550/semester. For students being paid by other funding sources, the URS Assistantship will cover up to $400 to offset the cost to the employer.
URS Assistantships are wages for employment: they are not academic fellowships. URS Assistantship funds will be transferred to the mentor's department and can be used to for payroll funds. The department is responsible for hiring the student and setting up payroll.
Updated 8/28/23
Fall 2023 Applications are now open and can be accessed here.
Please Note:
- URS cannot provide assistantship grants to hire hourly workers working outside of North Carolina, because our office is not set up to be in compliance with other states’ non-exempt payroll and tax laws.
- This application requires that students have completed CITI Training. URS requires URS grant applicants to complete the “Research Misconduct (RCR-Basic) (ID 16604)” course offered through Duke CITI Training in order to be eligible to receive the grant. Find directions for the training and for downloading the certificate here.
- Project descriptions should be in the student's own words.
- Project must be completely separate from a course or course credit.
- Only 4 funded students per mentor per semester.
Application Status: OPEN