Senior Travel and Research Grants
Purpose: The Senior Travel & Research Grant supports research projects in European Studies that assist undergraduate seniors in the completion of their senior theses, honors theses, or similar undertakings. The grant funds research trips conducted over fall break, Christmas break, or spring break so that students can access sources of information unavailable to them at Notre Dame. This could include visits to archives and special library collections, implementation of surveys and other data-collection, or interviews with European scholars.
Deadlines
September 9, 2012 for Fall break trips
November 5, 2012 for Christmas break trips
January 28, 2013 for Spring break trips
Maximum Award: $2000. Funds are typically paid as a one-time sum.
Number of Awards: Multiple. The exact number of grants awarded per application period will vary depending on the number of applications received, their merit and the amount of available funds.
Eligibility: Applicants must be currently enrolled as an undergraduate senior at the University of Notre Dame. Eligible projects will have clear bearing on the applicant’s senior-year academic endeavors.
Download the Full Guidelines (PDF)
Apply at the Common Application Form
All Undergraduate Grants now use the Common Application Form found online at https://urapply.nd.edu/. Please familiarize yourself with our full guidelines before logging into the application.
You must provide the CORRECT email address and/or NetID for your FACULTY MENTOR in the application form. This is crucial for the automated system to finish the application process.
Adobe Acrobat is the recommended program for our forms and downloads. Visit the Adobe website for your free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Contact Jen Fulton, our Student Coordinator, at jfulton@nd.edu.
Students presented about their experiences with preparing and conducting thesis research in various European countries. A collaboration by the Center for the Study of Languages and Cultures and the Nanovic Institute for European Studies.
Application Guidelines
All applicants must use the Common Application Form at https://urapply.nd.edu. We recommend that you collect all necessary materials before logging into the application. You will receive instruction on how to upload material once you have logged in.
A complete application consists of the following distinct parts:
• a two- to three-page project description
• a detailed budget statement
• a current curriculum vitae or résumé
• a letter of recommendation
The project description should include the project’s objective, the research plan and/or methods for achieving this objective (including a schedule or itinerary if applicable), and the overall rationale for the research project.
Undergraduate students engaged in human subjects research (i.e., interaction with a living person or private information from existing data, documents, records or diagnostic specimens) must have their projects approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) and pass the internet based training modules on the protection of human subjects. Review deadlines, submission process, information about IRB education and training may be found on the Office of Research website.
Questions concerning whether your research qualifies as human subject research should be directed to Dr. Tracey Poston, Director of Research Compliance, at 631-1461 or tposton@nd.edu.
The budget statement should detail the project’s travel and research costs in U.S. dollars (USD) and should list the sources used to determine those costs. Include any exchange rates used in calculation. Budgets should also state the names and amounts of other funding already obtained for the project.
The letter of recommendation should be from a faculty member who is familiar with the student’s academic work and who has agreed to serve as an advisor for the project.
Complete applications, including all letters of recommendation, should be submitted to the Common Application Form no later than 11:59pm on the deadline day. Letters of recommendation may be submitted to the Student Coordinator of the Nanovic Institute directly, if desired.
Failure to submit all required materials promptly may result in the application being excluded from consideration. Complete applications will be considered by the institute’s associate director, and decisions will be announced in writing within three weeks of the submission deadline. Please note that application materials will not be returned.
Terms & Conditions: If traveling to Europe, grant recipients are required to obtain the proper permissions for international travel from the Office of International Studies prior to payment of awarded funds. The grant recipient is also required to submit a complete Health Questionnaire and to attend all required orientations. Once awarded, the funding must be used to conduct the project as proposed in the application (to the best of the recipient’s ability). Funded research trips must be completed by the end of the relevant break.
Combined funding from this grant and other sources may not exceed the project’s total budget, and applicants must promptly inform the Nanovic Institute of additional funding received at any point from application submission through completion of the trip. Recipients must return any paid funds if they cancel the trip and must repay any nonrefundable expenses incurred by the Nanovic Institute (i.e. airfare directly paid) if cancellation is not due to illness, bereavement, or another justifying circumstance.
After conducting the project, grant recipients must provide the Nanovic Institute with a 500-1000 word report about the experience and its outcome, as well as at least one digital photograph of the recipient on location. Reports and photographs must be emailed to the Student Coordinator of the Nanovic Institute by the deadline communicated at the time of award. Unless permission is expressly denied, the Nanovic Institute will share these reports and photographs with its supporters.
