Travel grants also offer invaluable opportunities for students to expand their academic and cultural perspectives by allowing them to explore new environments, cultures, and ideas firsthand. The travel grants promote learning outside the classroom by enabling students to attend conferences or international research projects or to visit sites related to their fields of study.
Students experience the cultures and perspectives of experts worldwide through interactions that may spur innovation, breed global collaboration, and aid in personal and professional growth.
Here are seven travel grants and scholarships for architects.
RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship
Eligible Nationalities: Students from architecture schools invited by the RIBA
Funding Type: £7,000 grant
The RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship, founded by Norman Foster, offers a single £7,000 grant for an architecture student to travel and conduct international research into sustainable urban development. Projects may take into historical perspectives that are likely to inform planning for the future, social change, urban density, resource management, quality of urban life and transportation.
Candidates must be enrolled in an invited school of architecture and have completed at least the first year of study. Applications will be submitted through a school’s nomination, opening in spring 2025.
Rotch Travelling Scholarship
Eligible Nationalities: U.S. citizens
Funding Type: $40,000 or more, fully funded for six months of travel
The Rotch Travelling Scholarship is an annual design competition that offers a single gifted individual the opportunity to study architecture abroad for six months, all expenses paid. It is a two-phase competition: a rigorous 72-hour initial design competition followed by an elaborate 10-day final, complete with presentation to a noted jury. It comes with an award of $40,000 or more to support travel, documented through a digital record and a final report.
The objective herein would be to ensure that emerging professionals who are U.S. citizens, with recent professional degrees and work experience, have the unique opportunity to broaden their architectural perspectives to contribute to a more general debate on maintenance and care in architecture.
SOM 2024 Research Prize
Eligible Nationalities: Faculty from accredited institutions in the U.S.
Funding Type: Two awards of $30,000 each
Since SOM Foundation Research Prize was first offered in 2018, the prize has annually granted two $30,000 awards to fund innovative and original research by interdisciplinary teams from faculty members based in the United States.
Proposals shall be submitted by eligible faculty from accredited architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, or engineering programs, and developed within an academic setting. Research projects should be a year in duration and result in a detailed final report at the end, with interim check-ins with the SOM Foundation.
ADAM Architecture Travel Scholarship
Eligible Nationalities: Open to students studying RIBA Part I, up to three years after their Part II qualification, and students in CIAT-accredited programs
Funding Type: £2,000
The ADAM Architecture Travel Scholarship provides £2,000 to support students or recent graduates in pursuing original research on an architectural subject of their choosing. Open to those studying RIBA Part I or up to three years after their Part II qualification, as well as students in CIAT-accredited programs, the scholarship encourages diverse research topics, from contemporary to traditional architecture.
Sir John Soane’s Museum Foundation Traveling Grant
Eligible Nationalities: Open to all nationals
Funding Type: Up to $5,000 for travel and housing, plus up to $1,000 for airfare
The Soane Foundation Fellowships make very important opportunities available to scholars and students in the fields of art history, architecture, interior design, and the decorative arts. In this regard, the Sir John Soane’s Museum Foundation Graduate Fellowship undergirds research at the Soane Museum, enabling fellows to work closely with museum archivists and curators.
The Sir John Soane’s Museum Foundation Traveling Fellowship provides up to $5,000 for travel and housing and an additional $1,000 for airfare, allowing students to study historic places and architects abroad.
H. Allen Brooks Travelling Fellowship
Eligible Nationalities: International; candidates from any country may apply
Funding Type: $18,000 (three-month award), $36,000 (six-month award), $72,000 (one-year award)
The annual H. Allen Brooks Travelling Fellowship from the Society of Architectural Historians allows recent graduates and beginning scholars to do something rather different: extended travel and reflection. Unlike most research grants, this award is for personal enrichment through direct experience of architecture and landscapes without a formally expected academic research product or publication resulting from it.
The recipients can head to any destination of choice for a duration of three, six, or twelve months, with funding ranging from $18,000 to $72,000, depending on the time. The fellowship rewards research in the built environment and its impact on society, culture, and the environment; one can receive financial support for living and travel, though it is advisable to apply to other funds where necessary.
Coimbra Group Short Stay Scholarship
Eligible Nationalities: Young researchers from Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the European Neighbourhood
Funding Type: Short-term visit scholarships (1 to 3 months)
Coimbra Group Short Stay Scholarship offers short-term visit scholarships (ranging from 1 to 3 months) to young researchers from ACP countries, particularly those from Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the European Neighbourhood.
The University of Pavia, a member of the Coimbra Group, is offering one scholarship each to young researchers from Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin American universities. Interested candidates must be sponsored by a faculty member at the University of Pavia; the CICOPS office is available to assist in finding a sponsor if needed.
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