Faculty Research Travel Grant – Application Instructions

OVERVIEW

Faculty Research Travel Grants provide KU faculty members with financial support for humanities-oriented research (such as archival work, fieldwork, or interviews) that requires domestic or international travel. Funds can be used for transportation, lodging, meals reimbursement, and project-related expenses (e.g., photocopying, access fees). 

The Hall Center awards ten Faculty Research Travel Grants of up to $3500 each per year. The grants reimburse awardees for travel-related and research expenses up to the maximum amount stated in the award letter. Only one application per faculty member is permitted each year.

This program does not support travel to conferences, travel to undertake performances, costs associated with mounting exhibitions, or residencies except in cases where the applicant can demonstrate that the residency location is necessary for conducting research (for example, collecting archival materials or visiting locations to be featured in a novel or other creative work).

Please note that no KU funds can be used for travel to countries on the State Department warning list.

Applications from the Arts and Social Sciences are welcome, but applicants must demonstrate the ways in which their project utilizes themes and methodologies from the humanities.

DEADLINE: Monday, October 14, 2024 at 11:59PM

ELIGIBILITY

Eligible applicants will:

1. Hold a tenure track appointment at the University of Kansas, including tenured faculty in phased retirement;

2. Demonstrate that the travel for which funding is requested relates directly to the research project described;

3. Have not been awarded a Hall Center Faculty Travel Grant during the previous three academic years (23-24, 22-23, 21-22) preceding the application deadline.

4. Have applied for external funding within the last two years and/or can explain their plans to apply for external funding in the current academic year.

5. Receive lower priority in the selection process if they have permanent research budgets provided by the University.

REQUIREMENTS

Faculty Research Travel Grant recipients are required to:

1. Complete all travel by the deadline stated in the award letter.

2. Submit a brief report describing the work accomplished and its impact on the overall project. The report is due no later than four weeks immediately following completion of research travel. Failure to comply with this requirement will make the individual ineligible for future funding from the Hall Center. 

3. Register travel through the University by completing the following TRAVEL REQUEST FORM.

4. Submit all receipts for reimbursement within 90 days of the date the expense was incurred to: hchaccounting@ku.edu. Central accounting requires that receipts be accompanied by a travel itinerary detailing the work undertaken during each day of travel.

APPLICATION PROCESS

All application materials must be submitted through the Hall Center Competitions Portal. Paper submissions will not be accepted.  For an application to be verified as complete, and thus forwarded for committee review, applicants must:

1. Create an account or log in to an existing account.

2. Select the Apply Now button next to this competition. 

3. Complete the Applicant Information form in the Portal.

NOTE: The demographic questions in the application form are optional. We would appreciate your responses as they allow us to chart demographic data and better comprehend the communities we reach and serve through this competition and award program. This information will not be used for determining awards. 

4. Complete the Budget form in the Portal. Although the full amount requested will rarely be granted, please show the entire projected travel budget. 

The Portal's Budget form will require that you provide specific details of the planned expenditures.  The budget categories are as follows:

1. Destination (To/From)

2. Dates of Travel

3. Airfare (Amount and Explanation)

4. Ground Transportation (Amount and Explanation)

5. Lodging (Location, # of days, $ per day)

6. Meals (# of days, $ per day)

7. Photocopying (# of copies, $ per copy)

8. Supplies (# of units, $ per unit)

9. Other Travel Related Costs

5. Upload the following materials as 2 separate PDF files:

a. Curriculum Vitae not to exceed 2 pages that includes:

* Record of applicant's education, including the dates when degrees were awarded;

* Record of applicant's employment;

* List of applicant's publications, including page numbers for journal articles and book chapters; and

* List of applicant's awards and grants received during the last five years.

b. Project Description not to exceed three double-spaced pages, with one-inch margins and twelve-point type. Endnotes are included in the page limitations. Explain the following in separate paragraphs:

* the goals, methods and significance of the project;

* its contribution to the pertinent discipline, creative genre, media, tradition, or field, and to the humanities generally;

* its relationship to your previous work and long-range aims as a scholar or artist; 

* what the proposed travel will allow you to accomplish and what specific activities you will engage in with regard to your project;

 * external funding that you have applied for and/or your plans for pursuing external funding related to this project.

No extraneous materials will be considered.

Please Note:  If the proposed travel involves more than one faculty member, each must submit a separate application. 

PEER REVIEW PROCESS

The Hall Center Director appoints an interdisciplinary panel of KU faculty with successful grant and publishing track records to select awardees.  All applicants can access feedback from the selection committee via the online competition portal following the conclusion of the competition.  

CRITERIA

1. Significance of the contribution that the proposed project will make to the pertinent discipline, creative genre, media, tradition, or field, and to the humanities generally.

2. Quality of the conception, definition, organization and description of the proposed project as presented in the application;

3.  Relevance of the proposed travel to the overall project;

4.  Previous applications for external funding and/or plans to apply for external funding in order to advance the project.

QUESTIONS

Applicants should direct questions about the Faculty Research Travel Grants to Hall Center Assistant Director Andrew Hodgson (ahodgson@ku.edu).