Funding Resources for Graduate Students from Graduate Funding Information Service

Funding sources for doctoral work can include the UW, non-profits, corporations, professional and academic associations, employers, and government agencies. Here are some funding opportunities for students in Geography to consider. See http://guides.lib.washington.edu/gfis  (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.for links to additional funding resources and databases.

UW Resources to Help You Find Funding

Selected UW Fellowships & Grants

Conference Travel

There are two major sources for conference travel available from UW. If you are presenting at a national ($300) or international ($500) conference, these opportunities will help fund your travel. Be mindful of deadlines – there are particular application windows for particular conference dates.

Also keep an eye out for departmental funding, scholarships from the conference itself, and travel grants from scholarly/academic/professional organizations in your field.

Selected Dissertation-Related Fellowships & Grants

Additional Funding Opportunities

  • American Association of Geographers (AAG) Grants and Awards http://www.aag.org/cs/grantsawards

    • AAG International Geographic Information Fund http://www.aag.org/cs/grants/igif
      • Three types of awards: Student Travel Grants, Graduate Research Awards, and Student Paper Awards. These awards are intended to support full-time students who are working in any area of spatial analysis or geographic information science or systems (SA/GISS).
    • AAG Specialty and Affinity Group Awards http://www.aag.org/cs/grants/aag_groups
      • Many AAG Specialty and Affinity Groups confer travel grants, hold paper competitions, and bestow honors and awards at the AAG Annual Meeting. Notices for these competitions may appear on the relevant specialty group’s website or listserve, or on the AAG News site (http://news.aag.org
  • American Indian Graduate Center Graduate Fellowships http://www.aigcs.org/scholarships/graduate-fellowships/

    • Scholarships to American Indian and Alaska Native students to defray the cost of attendance in higher education, including graduate and professional schools.
  • Antipode Foundation International Workshop Award http://antipodefoundation.org/international-workshop-awards/

    • Supports radical geographers holding events (including conferences, workshops, seminar series, summer schools and action research meetings) that further radical analyses of geographical issues and engender the development of a new and better society.
  • Antipode Foundation Scholar-Activist Projects Awards http://antipodefoundation.org/scholar-activist-project-awards/

    • Project funding work that can include (but is not limited to): collaborative research with artistic, community, cultural, grassroots, or social movement groups; the production of educational materials and other innovative pedagogical initiatives; and the promotion of links between universities and institutions/organisations outside the academy.
  • Bill Raskob Foundation Interest-Free Loan Program http://www.billraskob.org/index.html

    • The Foundation aids students through educational loans at no interest. The Foundation does not award scholarships, grants or gifts.
  • Davis-Putter Scholarship Fund http://www.davisputter.org/

    • Grants to students actively working for peace and justice. These need-based scholarships are awarded to those able to do academic work at the university level and who are part of the progressive movement on the campus and in the community.
  • Dolores Zohrab Leibmann Fellowship http://www.grad.washington.edu/students/fa/liebmann/index.shtml

    • Supports graduate students who show outstanding character and ability who hold promise for achievement and distinction in their chosen fields of study. The University of Washington is one of the institutions selected to submit three nominees for this national fellowship.
  • Emerging Leaders in Science and Society http://www.aaas.org/page/eliss-overview

    • An extracurricular, volunteer experience for graduate and professional students. Fellows collaborate with a multi- campus team to help local and national stakeholders better understand and address a complex issue.
  • Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA) Scholarship Program http://thegsbascholarship.org/facts.php

    • The GSBA Scholarship Fund awards educational scholarships to undergraduate LGBTQ and Allied students who exhibit leadership potential, demonstrate strong academic abilities, and who are actively involved in school and community organizations.
  • Hispanic Scholarship Fund https://hsf.net/en/scholarships/

    • Merit-based scholarships available for Hispanic/Latin@ graduate students.
  • Human Geography Small Grants Program http://www.hugeog.com/index.php/grant-program

    • Funds up to $5,000 from the Institute for Human Geography that can be used to support radical activism, research, and writing.
  • National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA) Graduate Scholarships & Awards http://www.nwsa.org/content.asp?contentid=16

    • A variety of funding opportunities for research in the interdisciplinary field of women’s studies.
  • National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=6201&org=NSF

    • The GRFP provides three years of support for the graduate education of individuals who have demonstrated their potential for significant achievements in science and engineering. At the time of application, the student must not have completed post-baccalaureate study in excess of 36 quarter hours in any of the fields listed in the program description. Students can apply before beginning graduate study.
  • Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans http://www.pdsoros.org/

    • Up to two years of support for New Americans, immigrants, or the children of immigrants, who are pursuing graduate studies in the United States.
  • Pride Foundation Scholarships http://www.pridefoundation.org/what-we-do/scholarships

    • Scholarships available to support graduate study. Preference is given to students who are self-identified LGBTQ, members of LGBTQ families, or straight allies who have been strongly supportive of the LGBTQ community. All scholarships emphasize demonstrated commitment to equality and civil rights for all people.
  • Seattle Foundation Walter H. Meyer/Garry L. White Memorial Scholarship http://www.seattlefoundation.org/scholarships/Pages/ScholarshipListing.aspx

    • $5,000 scholarships directed specifically to returning adult students who are either attending or prepared to attend a 2- or 4-year public or private university, at the graduate or undergraduate level. If attending at the graduate level, the applicant must be over the age of 30.

Language Study

  • Blakemore Freeman Fellowships http://www.blakemorefoundation.org/

    • Grants that fund an academic year of advanced language study abroad of Chinese, Japanese, Korean and selected Southeast Asian languages. An applicant must have (at minimum) a bachelor's degree and have completed at least three years of study of the language at the college level by the start of the grant.
  • Boren Fellowships http://www.borenawards.org/boren_fellowship/basics.html

    • Boren Fellowships, an initiative of the National Security Education Program, provide unique funding opportunities for U.S. graduate students to study less commonly taught languages in world regions critical to U.S. interests, and underrepresented in study abroad, including Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East. The countries of Western Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are excluded. Boren Fellowships provide up to $24,000 for overseas study. In addition, Boren Fellowships can provide limited funding for domestic language study that will supplement the overseas component. The maximum award for a combined overseas and domestic program is $30,000. Awards for a minimum of 12 weeks and maximum of 24 months.
  • Critical Language Scholarship http://www.clscholarship.org/

    • Fully-funded overseas language and cultural immersion program for American undergraduate and graduate students in the following languages: Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Turkish, and Urdu.
  • Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship http://jsis.washington.edu/advise/flas/

    • Fellowships for advanced training in Canadian, East-, Central-, South-, and Southeast Asian, Middle Eastern, Russian and Eastern European and Western European Area Studies. For graduate and professional students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Academic year awards are for language and area studies. Summer fellowships are solely to support intensive language study.

Selected Visiting/Residential Fellowships

Selected Post-Graduate Opportunities

Many of the Visiting/Residential Fellowships listed above also offer post-doctoral opportunities.

See the following resource from the UW Career Center for useful information, search tools, and links for finding and funding a post-doc: http://www.careers.uw.edu/sites/default/files/all/editors/docs/gradstudents/StrategiesforSuccess - FindingFundingaPostdocPosition-10-08.pdf

Here are a few more postgraduate opportunities:

Rachel Wishkoski, Graduate Funding Information Service            

Research Commons Consultation Studio Allen Library South (ground floor)             

gfis@uw.edu

Updated May 2015

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