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Travel Grants

Updated 20 February 2024

Travel Grants Opportunities 2024

2024 Travel Grant Committee

Prakash Kumar, Chair (2023-2025) Sonja Schmid (2022-2024)
TBA (2024-2026) Amy Bix (ex officio)

To support travel to the SHOT Annual Meeting, members can apply for travel grants, as detailed in Section A.

NSF travel grant information can be found under Section B.

REDI applications are possible up to 1 April. Award amounts varying from $500 to $1500 will depend on distance traveled and number of applications. and can be used without limitations. For details see Section C.

Section A: SHOT Travel-Fund Grants (please read all information first before going to the application form)

SHOT’s own grant program is open to those members who are not eligible for SHOT-NSF grants, with descending priority as follows:

  1. Current SHOT International Scholars;
  2. Graduate students who are not US citizens or enrolled at a US institution;
  3. Scholars from outside the US, Canada, and Western Europe who are part of the annual meeting, without regard to their academic rank or position;
  4. Postdocs, independent scholars, temporary faculty, adjunct faculty, and part-time faculty (in all cases not more than five years past the terminal degree);
  5. Members of the field who are currently unemployed;
  6. Retired members of the society;
  7. Assistant professors not more than six years past Ph.D. conferral.

Applicants are only eligible for a SHOT travel grant when they participate in the annual meeting program in some capacity. In descending priority, the committee will consider whether the SHOT member is:

If you meet these criteria, please apply via the online application form here. The deadline for applications is 31 March 2024.

SHOT Travel-Fund Grants may be used only for travel expenses and basic conference registration. Grant funds may not be used for tours, the awards banquet, lodging, or meals. SHOT grants are not meant to cover the full cost of attending meetings; they are intended as encouragement, not a complete subsidy. Reimbursement normally will be made upon submission of travel receipts to the SHOT secretary after the meeting; in exceptional circumstances, reimbursement may be considered in advance of the meeting.

Grants may range up to $750 for travel on the same continent (for example, from Los Angeles to Philadelphia) and up to $1,000 for travel from a different continent. Under special circumstances, which should be explained in the application, the committee may consider granting a larger grant for international travel. Amounts depend in part on the number of applications, and the committee may make partial awards.

The SHOT travel fund was initiated by Hugh Aitken in 1988 and has been supported by individual SHOT members, royalties from two anthologies of articles from Technology and Culture, and generous contributions from the Dibner Fund. Additional funds come from the National Science Foundation.

Section B: SHOT-NSF Travel Grants

Eligibility for SHOT-NSF grants is only for members who are participating in the meeting in some way (i.e., as a presenter, chair, Society governance, etc.) _and_ who fit one of the following three categories:

  1. graduate students who are either US citizens or enrolled at US institutions, or
  2. recent PhDs (received within previous 5 years) who are either US citizens or enrolled at US institutions, or
  3. independent scholars who are either US citizens or enrolled at US institutions.

Applications from members of historically excluded groups and from those without access to additional funds, for whom conference attendance would be financially difficult without the NSF travel grant will be prioritized.

If you meet these criteria, please apply via the online SHOT-NSF Travel Grant Application Form. These grants are administered by our colleagues at the History of Science (HSS), though SHOT itself reviews the applications and determines the awards after the deadline has past.

SHOT-NSF travel grants cover only (part) of cost of transportation to and from the conference and the cost of meeting registration. Travel grants do not cover the costs of transportation during the meeting, food, or lodging. Travel grants will be disbursed after the meeting in the form of reimbursements. Grant recipients will be responsible for filling out reimbursement forms and providing receipts for all claimed expenses – further details will come in award letters. Maximum awards: $750 for domestic travel and $1000 for international travel

Please note that recipients of SHOT-NSF travel grants will need to follow certain regulations; most important, only tickets on US-flag airlines are eligible for reimbursement, so for this grant, you MUST arrange travel on a US-flag airline!  Further details will come in the award letters. Please note that HSS and 4S and other societies run related NSF travel-grant programs, and that no person may receive more than one NSF-funded conference-travel grant per calendar year.

Go to the online SHOT-NSF Travel Grant  Application Form. (Please note that this grant is managed by HSS)

Section C: REDI, WITH and EDITH Conference Grants and Awards

REDI Travel Grant,

The Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) will once again offer members a few Broadening Community travel grants, with applications open to participants at her annual meeting. Part of a broader effort to combat systemic and epistemic racism at SHOT, this award is intended to facilitate the growth of a more inclusive, intersectional scholarly community. Awards support attendance by presenters from minoritized groups, with a special focus on early career scholars from groups underrepresented among annual meeting attendees. Applicants may present accepted papers on any topic, period, or region. Award amounts varying from $500 to $1500 will depend on distance traveled and number of applications. REDI Travel grants may be combined with other SHOT travel grants to defray the cost of registration, transit, and lodging. Deadline 1 April 2024

Information required to be entered into the application form:

WITH Conference Grants 2024

WITH CONFERENCE GRANT – 2024

The Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) Special Interest Group (SIG) for Women in Technological History (WITH) announces its conference grant for 2024. Designed to defray some costs associated with attending the SHOT Annual Meeting (such as lodging, meals, childcare, and other incidental expenses), the grant is open to individuals giving a paper at the 2024 conference. The reviewing committee prioritizes work by female-identified scholars and feminist scholarship that addresses the presence, actions, activism, and analysis of women and gender in the History of Technology. Scholars who are new to SHOT and graduate students are particularly encouraged to apply.

Awardees typically receive a check for $250 with the possibility of additional funds depending on stated need and WITH’s resources. Winners will be recognized in Viña del Mar, Chile, at the WITH meeting.

To apply, please send 1) a cover letter that incorporates a brief abstract and explains how your application fulfills the grant criteria, a brief budget of anticipated expenses associated with your trip to Viña del Mar, and a list of any other grants or funding that may offset these expenses, 2) evidence that the SHOT program committee has accepted your paper, and 3) a one-page curriculum vitae. All application materials should be forwarded to [email protected]. The application deadline for the WITH Conference Grant is April 15, 2024.

Scholars with higher travel expenses may be able to combine funds from the WITH Conference Grant with a SHOT Travel Grant or conference grants offered by other Society SIGS and should feel free to apply for multiple applicable grants.

For SIG information and contacts, please see: https://www.historyoftechnology.org/special-interest-groups/.

Committee Members:

Whitney Laemmli, Carnegie Mellon University
Alan Meyer, Auburn University
Bethany Johnson, University of South Carolina

 

EDITH Conference Support Awards (NOT AVAILABLE AT THIS MOMENT)

Information on the 2024 Conference Support Awards of the  Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) Special Interest Group Exploring Diversity in Technology’s History (EDITH) is not available yet. The call for applications will be posted here as soon as it becomes available.

For information on SIGs, see: https://www.historyoftechnology.org/special-interest-groups/

2024 Travel Grant Committee

TBA Sonia Schmidt (2022-2024)
Prakash Kumar (2023-2025) Amy Bix (ex officio)

For more information, please contact the SHOT Secretary’s office at [email protected].