Travel/Dissertation Funding Opportunities

Departmental Resources

All Political Science students are guaranteed, without application, a one-time $500 award that can be used at some point during their time in the department. Please notify the Placement Administrator to access those funds.

Additionally, you can apply for two travel funding resources each academic year. The academic year begins in the summer quarter. Applications will be due the Monday before the start of each quarter. Students will be notified by the second week of the quarter with the results of their application.

  • Conference Travel Funds: Students can apply here for up to $600 for domestic travel or $800 for international travel to present at an academic conference, such as APSA or ISA.
  • Professional Development Funds: Students can apply here for up to $600 to support travel to a professional development workshop (such as IQMMR or ICSPR).

Links to the applications are above. If you are interested in applying to receive funding from the department for professional development programs or conference travel, please note the following:

  1. Applications should be submitted quarterly, 2 weeks prior to the start of each academic quarter. Administrators will send out a courtesy reminder, but the date will always be the 2nd Monday before the start of quarter.
  2. Applications are reviewed by the Placement Committee (appointed by the Chair each year) and the grants are awarded competitively based on year in the program and being a previous recipient of departmental funds.
  3. Program Administrators will notify applicants no more than 2 weeks after the start of each quarter.
  4. Students can receive the award in two ways:
  • Award prior to travel: We can provide the award as a direct deposit ahead of your conference. If we do so, the award will likely be taxed. Tax rates vary.
  • Award as reimbursement: We can provide the award as a reimbursement after travel has occurred. Reimbursements are not taxed.

There is an option on the form to choose how you would like to receive your award. You can always change this by emailing the Placement Administrator.

  1. Eligibility
  • Applicants must be in good academic standing and not on leave during the time of the travel/training. (We reserve the right to rescind the award if the leave is extended beyond the date of the travel/training.)
  • Applicants must be presenting a paper/poster at a scholarly or professional conference for conference funding. Attendance only cannot be funded; presentations at graduate student conferences or invitational seminars at other institutions also cannot be funded.
  • Applicants may not receive more than one award of each type per academic year.

The Bienen Summer Research Award supports the work of the department's graduate students with research interests in comparative politics and/or international relations. The department is particularly interested in helping students who are working on or developing their dissertations, but advanced students are also eligible to apply. The department will award several grants that can range from $500 to $2,000. Look for a call for applications each May.

Resources Around U Chicago

The Graduate Council's Research and Personal Development Fund offers awards to graduate students to attend virtual conferences as well as in-person conferences and academic events or to sponsor efforts and activities for personal development. 

There are numerous centers on campus that offer field research funding and other forms of support for advanced graduate students.  These include the Center for International Social Science Research (CISSR), the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality, the Center for Latin American Studies, the Pearson Institute for the Study of Global Conflict, the Nicholson Center for British Studies, and other centers on campus. For example, our students routinely receive funds through CISSR via the Lloyd and Susanne Rudolph Field Research Awards.

Do you want to build professional experience but are not sure where to start? UChicagoGRAD supports students in identifying and applying for internship opportunities on campus and around the world. Each year, the Graduate Global Impact (GGI) internship program places students in meaningful, skill-building internships that make use of their graduate training. 

The Division compiled this document to help direct graduate students to appropriate fellowship resources.