Summer Travel Grants and the Undergraduate Associates Program

Funder: Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University

The Summer Travel Grants and the Undergraduate Associates Program, offered by the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, provides financial support for Harvard undergraduates conducting summer field research related to international affairs. Grants range from $1,000 to $6,000 and recipients become Undergraduate Associates, participating in workshops and presenting their findings. This initiative encourages research that addresses global issues and supports students from various fields, enhancing their academic and professional development.

Summer Travel Grants and the Undergraduate Associates Program
The Weatherhead Center holds an annual competition to award fifteen to twenty travel grants to support the summer field research of Harvard undergraduates. These grants are designed to help finance travel in connection with senior thesis research on international affairs. All grant recipients become Undergraduate Associates of the Weatherhead Center for the academic year following their summer research and present their research findings at a conference organized by the Center in February of their senior year.
Projects must relate to the core research areas of the Center, broadly defined to encompass international, transnational, global, and comparative national issues that address contemporary or historical topics, including rigorous policy analysis, as well as the study of specific countries and regions outside the United States.
Applicants must clarify how their research relates to the interests of the Center.
Student program funds come from the Hartley R. Rogers family, Julian Sobin, Frank Boas, the Weatherhead Foundation, Herbert C. Kelman, and Kenneth I. Juster. Rogers Family Research Grants provide funds for students who plan to conduct thesis research in Africa and the poorer countries of South and Southeast Asia.
All summer travel grant recipients and Kenneth I. Juster Fellows become Undergraduate Associates of the Weatherhead Center for the academic year following their research abroad. The Center sponsors a series of undergraduate research workshops that focus on different stages of the thesis, from choosing a topic to carrying out field research and writing. Throughout the year, the Center engages Undergraduate Associates both formally at dinners with guest speakers and informally through contact with graduate students, Faculty Associates, and Fellows of the Center.
Awards and Benefits
Grants range from $1,000 to $6,000.

Eligibility

For Harvard undergraduates only.Harvard College students, usually juniors, are eligible to seek summer funding for senior thesis research in international affairs. In the past, most grants have been awarded to students in the social sciences (anthropology, economics, government, history, social studies, and sociology), but the Center has funded applications from students in other fields if their application meets the criteria outlined here.

Ineligibility

Projects that are exclusively domestic (relating merely to characteristics internal to any single country) and that lack broader international implications will not be funded.