Owen Scholarship for Research on the International Assessment of Student Achievement

This scholarship honoring the memory of Dr. Eugene Owen supports young scholars who will advance the understanding of international differences in student educational achievement to which he devoted much of his career. During his 30 years at the National Center for Education Statistics, he made seminal contributions to the development of cross-national surveys, such as the Program for International Student Assessment.

The Owen Scholarship will be awarded to students or outstanding pre-tenure scholars (less than five years since award of the PhD) conducting research that advances the understanding of international differences in student achievement. Recipients will be scholars who contribute to research and policy about education and teaching in a cross-national perspective.

The Owen Scholarship provides a waiver of registration fees to attend a workshop in the ICPSR Summer Program.

Applicants should have professional interests in one or more of the following areas of research (or in related fields):

  • Advancing cross-national research on K-12 student achievement
  • Advancing cross-national research on college- or university-level achievement
  • Understanding the role of teaching from a cross-national perspective

The following application materials are required:

  1. A current curriculum vita
  2. A cover letter explaining your scholarly interests, background, research plans, and how participation in the ICPSR Summer Program will contribute toward the achievement of your professional objectives. Please specify which workshop you would like to take.
  3. One letter of recommendation. For applicants who are faculty members, this letter should come from your Department Chair. For student applicants, this letter should come from your faculty advisor or dissertation chairperson. Letters of recommendation should be 1 page in length, and include the length of time the recommender has known the applicant and the nature of their relationship. The recommendation letter should also include the applicant’s academic and research achievement, background, and potential, citing current examples of the applicant’s course and/or research work as evidence of aptitude, ability, and commitment that will carry the applicant forward into a significant research career.
  4. An official course transcript (for student applicants only)

How to apply

You must fill out the application form and submit all required materials through our scholarship application manager.

Application deadline

⚠️ We are no longer accepting scholarship applications for the 2025 ICPSR Summer Program. Please check back in January 2026 for the 2026 ICPSR scholarship application.