The Center for African Studies promotes teaching and research on Africa in all the disciplines at the University of Florida. A major component of the Center’s mission is graduate education which especially at the Ph.D. dissertation level requires conducting research in Africa. This in turn requires significant research funding. The Pre-dissertation Award enables doctoral students to travel to their proposed research site to gain first-hand knowledge about the site and available resources in advance of submitting proposals for undertaking their Ph.D. research projects.