Travel Grants

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TRAVEL GRANTS
Providing funding for research trips in and outside the UK 

The Society will consider applications from Fellows for a limited number of grants for travel within and outside the United Kingdom to attend conferences and make research visits to laboratories. Applicants are strongly encouraged to read the guidance notes below in full before applying.

Applications must be submitted online well before planned travel.
The closing dates are 1 November, 1 February, 1 May and 1 July.

Guidance Notes to Applicants

A. Understanding the application process
At the closing date for applications, applicants must have been Fellows of the Philosophical Society for at least one year and should have a full paid membership (with the latest annual subscription payment covering the period which includes the closing date for applications). More information on the membership payments is available here. Fellows should ensure they meet these requirements before applying. Requests from Fellows with a dormant membership or with a membership less than one year in duration will not be considered.

The applicant should ensure that a supporting reference is submitted online by their referee.  In the case of a postgraduate student the supporting reference should come from their Principal Supervisor. For early career post-doctoral researchers and other applicants, the reference should be from a person of appropriate standing who knows the applicant in a professional capacity. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that the referee provides a reference online by the closing date. Applications that are incomplete will not be considered.

Applicants are requested to manage travel, studying and working away risks in accordance with the respective framework outlined by the University of Cambridge. They should confirm in their application that (a) risk assessments have been carried out, (b) respective permissions (e.g. from a Head of Department) have been secured, and (c) valid travel insurance is in place.

 
Applicants may make one application per year to the Society, with the maximum grant per application not normally exceeding £500. The maximum total amount awarded to a PhD student over a three-year period will not normally exceed £1,500. That said, the maximum amount is not guaranteed: grants awarded by the Society will vary from application to application depending on the individual circumstances.

B. Considering the application remit
Preference will be given to applications where the Fellow will be undertaking a research activity (such as visiting a research lab, or presenting their work at a conference), rather than simply attending a meeting. Requests from postgraduate students and early career post-doctoral researchers will be given priority.  

Travel Grants will not normally be considered for fieldwork or research laboratory visits that form a central part of a funded research project, and therefore could have been anticipated before the start of the project. The funding for such activities should have been factored into the project from the start, and is the responsibility of the supervisor, funding agency and student, not of an external party like the Society. Hence, the funded trip should be additional to the core requirements of the research project, perhaps responding to unexpected opportunities or developments, or to changes in the direction of the research. In the case of any application for travel that might appear to fall under this restriction, it is essential that both the applicant and the referee provide a clear and explicit justification. In the absence of this information, such applications will be rejected.

The remit of the Philosophical Society is ‘to promote research in all branches of science and to encourage the communication of the results of scientific research’.  If there is any doubt whether the field of work qualifies under this rubric, for example, if the applicant’s departmental affiliation is not necessarily scientific (e.g. Geography, Education, Archaeology or the Judge Business School), their statement must demonstrate that their particular research project counts as “science”, and they must ensure that their supporting referee reinforces this.


Applicants are encouraged to minimise the carbon footprint of their travel. The Society recognises that this may entail additional cost and is willing to consider funding the difference (e.g. between flying and rail). That said, applicants should show that they have identified the lowest cost travel option for their chosen route.  


C. Exploring other sources of funding
Applicants are required to show that they have explored other sources of funding before any grants will be made by the Society. Students are expected to approach their Supervisor, their College (where applicable), and their Department. The supervisor reference should indicate what funds from their own resources or from the Department are available and justify why an approach to the Society is needed. Note that the Society is unlikely to be able to meet the full costs of conferences or travel.  

Applicants are required to state what other applications for funding have been made, and the amounts requested. The applicant should notify the Society’s office as soon as the result of any other application for funding is known.  

D. Receiving a decision and claiming a Travel Grant

Applications will be considered by the Society as a field after the closing date, with due attention to individual circumstances of each requester, merits of their application and in line with this guidance. Decisions and further information will usually be communicated to applicants within 2 months after the application deadline, but this may occasionally take as long as 3 months. Once the decision is confirmed, we will not be able to offer further comments on it.

Successful applicants will be required to provide proof of travel to claim their Travel Grant.    


Regulations revised January 2025.