Apply for the Graduate Student Conference Grant
Grant Overview
The Humanities Center seeks to serve as an incubator for innovative, cutting-edge, and interdisciplinary humanistic research. To support this mission, the Center has established the Graduate Student Conference Grant, designed to provide support to graduate students across all degree programs. This grant aims to empower graduate students who study the human condition and human experience, as well as develop human-centered solutions to real-world challenges in our increasingly technology-driven society. This grant provides funding for students presenting original research or attending conferences relevant to their scholarly interests.
Grant Objectives
Conference participation is a vital part of graduate students’ academic and professional development. It provides opportunities to share research, connect with broader scholarly communities, and gain valuable feedback. The Humanities Center supports conference participation with the following objectives:
Advance graduate student research and creative endeavors through conference presentations and feedback from peers and mentors.
Promote networking opportunities with graduate students, faculty, and humanities professionals to support collaboration and career development.
Engage with the broader humanities community to increase the visibility, reach, and impact of scholarly work.
Eligibility Criteria
- All graduate students enrolled at CMU at the time they attend the conference
- All graduate students from the four humanities departments (English, History, Languages, Cultures, and Applied Linguistics, and Philosophy)
- Graduate students from the arts, social sciences, and sciences who engage in studying the human experience, human condition, and human-centered responses to real-world challenges
- Priority will be given to:
- Students who are presenting at the conference
- Students who are attending international conferences
- Students who are further along in their academic journey, such as those nearing graduation or preparing to enter the job market
- Students attending without presenting will be considered on a case-by-case basis
Application and Review Processes
Application Process
- Individual applicants will submit a one-time application through an online form. The following materials must be uploaded with the form:
- A one-page summary of the student’s research, highlighting its relevance to the conference
- A brief statement explaining the importance of attending this conference
- A detailed budget outlining the anticipated total expenses
- Proof of conference registration/ paper or panel proposal submission/ acceptance
- A recommendation letter submitted by the applicant’s advisor. Applicants must alert their advisor and provide them with their conference details so they can complete their portion of the application by the deadline
- Awardees will receive an award notification email with a letter detailing the process to access the funding, which is transferred to an account in the awardee’s department
- Awardees will access funds through their department’s business manager, following standard departmental procedures. For those selected for conference funding, the transfer of funds will be contingent upon official confirmation of acceptance from the conference
Important Guidelines
- The student and advisor portions of the application must be submitted within the application period dates; otherwise, the application will not be reviewed.
- Students are limited to one conference funding award per academic year.
- “Presenting” generally refers to presenting scholarly work such as a paper, poster, or talk that has been accepted for presentation at a conference in the student’s field. “Presenting” may also take other forms, such as presenting a piece of art at an exhibition or participating in a performance, depending on the student’s area of study.
- If presenting, Awardees must include the following acknowledgement on their paper or poster: “Funding to attend this conference was provided by the CMU Humanities Center Graduate Student Conference Grant.”
- This is considered a partial source of support, and applicants should seek funds from other sources, such as funds from the conference, as well as from their advisor, department, and/or college and identify in their application where they are seeking additional funding.
- Applicants must have submitted a panel or paper proposal at the time of application and/or their registration must be confirmed
- Students who have submitted an abstract to present at a conference do not have to wait until it is accepted to apply for funding. However, if you are selected for conference funding, the transfer of funds will be contingent upon your chosen conference's official acceptance of your submission
- The funding for students whose panel or paper proposals were not accepted will be reconsidered and priority will be given to another proposal from a graduate student confirmed to present at a conference. If no other proposal is available, the originally awarded graduate student could be funded to attend the conference without presenting
- If the applicant is in the final year of their program, the conference must be scheduled at least one month before graduation to allow adequate time for post-conference reporting
Awardee Expectations
All graduate students who accept conference funding support from the Humanities Center commit to the following:
- Awardees must write a report describing their experience, specifying both concrete and abstract benefits from attending the conference. The report must also indicate all funding sources for the conference, if applicable. Please submit the report to humanitiescenter@andrew.cmu.edu no later than three weeks after the conference.
- Awardees must work with their department business manager to follow all requirements for submitting receipts for reimbursement of expenses. Please see the Eligibility section for more information on eligible expenses.
For questions or further details, please contact humanitiescenter@andrew.cmu.edu