Graduate Student Travel Grants

Presenting research at academic conferences is a crucial part of students’ intellectual and professional development, and in recent years the Department has worked hard to help support travel to conferences.  The Linguistics Department and Graduate School are pleased to support the professional development of graduate students by providing Travel Grants to both Master’s and Doctoral students, when possible. Students who are invited to present work at conferences are eligible to apply. 

1.  Graduate School Travel Awards

The Graduate School will hold the competition for the Conference Travel Grants, but the actual disbursement of funds for awards involving travel will be contingent on student compliance with the university’s travel guidance. In many cases students are also allowed to use Conference Travel Grants for virtual conference registration fees.

The Graduate School awards a maximum of $500 for conference travel per student per academic year. Details for Graduate School student programs, including submission deadlines, are available on the Graduate School website.

2.  Linguistics Department Travel Awards

The Linguistics Department will have have a Fall application cycle and a Spring application cycle, and a Summer cycle if funds allow.  Students in all graduate program are welcome to apply.  The Fall application deadline is October 11, 2024 and the Spring application deadline is January 17, 2025 to match the Graduate School deadlines. When there is a Department summer cycle, students who present work in Summer may apply in May. Grants will be awarded until the departmental budgetary maximum is met.  Students who do not receive a grant, particularly for Summer applications, may re-apply to the Department in the Fall cycle. Otherwise please make every effort to apply in the semester in which you traveled.  

Department grants have historically been based on the following guidelines.  The total amount available to support student travel grants depends each year on University budgets and the 25-26 budget has been significantly reduced. The Linguistics Department will try to support students to the fullest extent possible within the budgetary limits placed by the University.  

• Domestic conference (U.S. or Canada), first author: maximum of $500 (budget permitting)

• Domestic conference, second author: maximum of $250 (budget permitting)

• International conference, first author: maximum of $1,000 (budget permitting)

• International conference, second author: maximum of $500 (budget permitting)

• Domestic linguistic institute: maximum of $250 (budget permitting)

• International linguistic institute: maximum of $500 (budget permitting)

The Department will not award more than $1,000 per student, per year, and will never exceed a student’s total costs. Students may submit applications to the Department for multiple conferences in the same academic year as long as the maximum amount has not been awarded in previous application cycles.

The Department can no longer support applications for fieldwork travel grants; please discuss with your advisor any alternative sources of funding.

Applications should include a copy of the Graduate School application in addition to the following:

• Linguistics Department Travel Grant Application Form 

• Outline of travel costs.

• Copies of receipts.  (Only transportation, lodging, conference registration fees and poster printing costs may be included in the total amount requested. Copies are fine, original receipts are not required.)

Students who apply for a Department travel grant must also apply to the Graduate School, if they are eligible. 

3.  University International Travel Policy

As you are making plans for international travel supported by or related to Georgetown for the 2023-24 academic year, please follow the University’s International Travel Policy. The Policy requires faculty, staff and students to register their university sponsored international travel with the University and may require additional steps depending on the traveler(s) and the destination.

Introducing Undergraduate Travel Grants, Spring 2022

The Linguistics Department is pleased to announce that effective Spring 2022 we will accept applications from Undergraduate Majors in Linguistics for domestic conference travel funding support. 

Students who are invited to present work at an academic, peer-reviewed conference taking place in the contiguous 48 states are eligible to apply.  Papers may be either single authored or co-authored with a graduate student or Linguistics faculty member.  Eligible students may receive one grant per academic year. 

Funds are finite and depend on annual budget limitations; however, we will aim to use the following guidelines:

• Domestic conference, first or only author: maximum of $500

• Domestic conference, second author when the first author is a Linguistics graduate student or faculty member: maximum of $500

• Co-authored papers with other Linguistics majors or minors: up to $250 per co-author, up to four co-authors

Applications must include the following:

•   Linguistics Department Travel Grant Application Form

• Outline of travel costs.

• Copies of receipts. (Only transportation, lodging, conference registration fees and poster printing costs may be included in the total amount requested. Copies are fine, original receipts are not required.)

Deadlines for application submission follow those in place for graduate students; see item 2 above. Applications may be submitted in advance of travel if the proof of acceptance to the conference is in hand.  

Please know that students are not eligible to receive funding for travel that takes place after they graduate from their program.

Thank you for representing our Department to the field of linguistics through your conference presentations. We are committed to supporting graduate student travel to the fullest extent possible.

Please contact Erin Esch Pereira with any questions.

For tips on international travel, visit travel.georgetown.edu.