UMN Graduate School: Research Travel Requests (RTR) Grant

The UMN Graduate School offers Research Travel Requests (RTR) for graduate students aiming to enhance their thesis or dissertation through research travel. Award amounts vary: up to $3,000 for doctoral candidates, $1,500 for pre-candidates, and $500 for master’s students. Applications are reviewed monthly from October to April, with a lottery system if demand exceeds funding. Eligible applicants must be enrolled in a research-based graduate program and meet specific travel criteria.

Applications are accepted and reviewed on a monthly basis, October through April. The monthly deadline to be considered for funding is the 15th of every month by 12:00pm (noon) central time.
Research Travel Requests (RTR) support research travel, both domestically and internationally, in preparation for a student’s thesis or dissertation.
The following endowments generously support RTRs:
Alexander P. Anderson and Lydia Anderson FellowshipCarolyn M. Crosby FellowshipAlbert Howard AwardFrieda M. Kunze FellowshipHugh J. and Elizabeth R. Thompson Fellowship Fund
How much is the award?
Doctoral candidates: up to $3,000Doctoral pre-candidates: up to $1,500Master’s students: up to $500
What is the review and lottery selection?
The purpose of this funding is to support graduate students who are proposing travel for data collection to enhance their thesis or dissertation, and the application serves as a professional development activity.
Applications are reviewed within OGFA to check for completeness, quality of application materials, and alignment to the funding purpose. Statements should be well-written and easily understood by a non-specialist audience. Budget statements should provide ample detail and take all eligible expenses into account.
If there are more applications each month than allocated funding then all applications recommended for funding will go into a lottery system, one recommended by UMN OIT, for award selection.
All applicants will be notified within five (5) business days after the monthly deadline of their award status.

Eligibility

Please email gsfellow@umn.edu for more information.If you are a native speaker of the language, please include a signed statement indicating the language which will be used to conduct research and that you are a native speaker of that language. You may sign this statement yourself.Depending on the nature and location of your proposed research, you may need a letter of affiliation.A letter of affiliation demonstrates to faculty reviewers that, if selected to receive grant funding, you will be able to successfully carry out your proposed research. Reviewers are hesitant to approve funding if there is any doubt that the research can be successfully conducted.If you are conducting research in a library archive, museum, or other public space, you can submit an email from an employee that verifies that you will have access to the required materials. If the archive/materials in question are available to the public, you can include a copy of the webpage highlighting the pertinent information.Do I need a letter of affiliation to conduct surveys?Yes, because you will want to provide proof to reviewers that you will be able to successfully conduct your proposed research. If you are conducting surveys, please provide documentation that demonstrates your ability to connect with the appropriate resources (e.g. community, business, and/or scholarly contacts)Eligible travel must take at least three days of consecutive traveling.If the proposed travel is less than a 3-day minimum to email gsfellow@umn.edu with your tentative travel plan so we can discuss eligibility on a case-by-case basis.Eligible travel locations must be outside of your county or residence, and outside of neighboring counties of residence. For example, if you live in Hennepin county, travel within Hennepin county or travel to neighboring counties like Anoka would not be eligible travel for this grant; however, travel in Goodhue County, MN would be eligible in this example because Goodhue does not neighbor Hennepin county.

Ineligibility

RTRs do not support travel to present at conferences or professional development opportunities.Requests do not provide tuition and/or health insurance benefits.Master's students are ineligible if they have already received a Judd Travel Grant; cannot receive RTR and Judd Grants simultaneouslyDoctoral candidates are ineligible if they have previously received a Graduate School Thesis Research Travel GrantApplications for conference travel will not be considered.Requests for research travel outside of those dates will not be considered for funding.