Updated 18 July 2025
To aid members needing travel support to attend the 2025 SHOT Annual Meeting, members can apply for various travel grants. Please note that all of these grants use the same form, however, additional information is need for qualified applicants applying for NSF grants. If you are eligible and interested in applying for one of the NSF grants, please be sure to complete those requirements fully.
SHOT Travel Grant Application Form NSF Travel Grant Application Form
Endorsement for Graduate StudentsSHOT’s main travel grant program is open to current SHOT members with descending priority as follows:
SHOT’s grant-awards committee will also give priority to applicants who are presenting a paper for the first time at SHOT, and to applicants who have not received funding from SHOT in the past three years.
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:
SHOT Travel-Fund Grants may be used only for travel expenses and base conference registration. Grant funds may not be used for tours, Friday Evening Social Event, receptions or other special events, hotel/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. Grant recipients will be responsible for filling out reimbursement forms and providing receipts for all claimed expenses – further details will come in award letters. Reimbursement normally will be made upon submission of travel receipts to the SHOT secretary after the meeting. Grant recipients will be responsible for registering for the meeting and for making all of your own travel and lodging arrangements.
Grants may range up to $750 for travel on the same continent (for example, from London to Luxembourg) 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. The committee may make partial awards, and amounts granted will depend in part on the number of applications received.
The SHOT travel fund was initiated by Hugh Aitken in 1988 and has been supported by donations from numerous SHOT members, royalties from two anthologies of articles from Technology and Culture, and generous contributions from the Dibner Fund.
Essential note!: if you meet the very specific NSF criteria given below and wish to apply for an NSF grant, you must fill out BOTH:
To apply for this grant, the NSF requires that you must:
Please note: If you do not meet all three requirements, you are not eligible for the NSF Travel Grant!
Maximum awards: $750 for domestic travel and $1,000 for international travel. NSF grants only cover the cost of transportation to and from the conference, plus the cost of meeting registration. NSF grants do not cover lodging or hotel expenses, meals, membership fees, or any taxis or other local travel during the conference. We encourage applications from those without access to additional funds for whom conference attendance would be financially difficult without the NSF travel grant. Please note that HSS, 4S, and other societies run related NSF travel-grant programs, and no person may receive more than one NSF-funded conference-travel grant per calendar year.
If you receive an NSF grant, US government rules are that your airfare will not be covered unless it is booked on a “U.S. flag” air carrier service and unless you have a proper receipt (for details, see the NSF application form linked above). Receipts will also not be eligible if someone other than the grant recipient makes the purchase (for example, using a University credit card). Grant recipients will be responsible for filling out reimbursement forms and providing receipts for all claimed expenses – further details will come in award letters. NSF travel grants will be reimbursed after the meeting, following receipt verification. Grant recipients will be responsible for registering for the meeting and for making all of your own travel and lodging arrangements.
Again, if you meet the very specific NSF criteria given here and wish to apply for an NSF grant, you must fill out the full SHOT application form and also fill out the specific NSF application form.
BCI travel grants are open to current SHOT members who are giving a paper at our annual meeting. BCI grants support attendance by presenters from groups or countries historically underrepresented among SHOT annual-meeting attendees (who are presenting papers on any topic, period, or region) and/or scholars whose papers focus on analysis of difference, power, alterity, etc. in the history of technology. Early career scholars will be prioritized. This award is intended to facilitate the growth of a more inclusive, intersectional, and international scholarly community.
Award amounts varying from $500 to $1500 will depend on distance traveled and number of applications. BCI travel grants may be used for travel expenses, for hotel/lodging costs on days of the conference, and for base conference registration. Grant funds may not be used for tours, the Friday Evening Social Event, Receptions, or meals. Grant recipients will be responsible for filling out reimbursement forms and providing receipts for all claimed expenses – further details will come in award letters. Reimbursement normally will be made upon submission of travel receipts to the SHOT secretary after the meeting. Grant recipients will be responsible for registering for the meeting and for making all of your own travel and lodging arrangements.
SHOT’s Special Interest Group (SIG) for Women in Technological History (WITH) offers annual conference grants. These grants are open to individuals giving a paper at the conference. WITH’s 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.
WITH conference grants are designed to defray some costs associated with attending the SHOT annual meeting (such as lodging, meals, childcare, and other incidental expenses). WITH grants do not cover airfare/major ground transportation or the base conference registration fee. Candidates can be considered for both a WITH grant and any other grant for the same meeting, and if selected, will receive both; WITH and EDITH grants can also be combined. Thus, candidates for the WITH grant should feel free to also apply for SHOT’s main grant program, or the NSF grants, or the BCI grant, or the EDITH grant, as long as you meet the specific criteria for each program.
WITH conference grant awardees typically receive $250, with the possibility of additional funds depending on stated need and WITH’s resources. Winners will be recognized at the WITH meeting held during the SHOT conference. Grant recipients will be responsible for registering for the meeting and for making all of your own travel and lodging arrangements.
SHOT’s Special Interest Group (SIG) for Exploring Diversity in Technological History (EDITH) offers annual conference grants. These grants are open to individuals giving a paper at the conference. EDITH was founded in 2012 with the dual aims of supporting scholars and scholarship currently underrepresented in the history of technology and at SHOT. EDITH works toward incorporating insights from the fields of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, labor, and disability studies – and their intersections – into the scholarship of the history of technology, and toward providing an intellectual home within SHOT to a broad range of scholars.
The EDITH Conference Support Award prioritizes promoting the participation of: presenters with incomplete funding from other sources, presenters who are new to SHOT, graduate students, presenters belonging to any group underrepresented in SHOT, and scholars whose paper seeks to provoke analysis of difference, power, alterity, intersectionalities, etc. in the history of technology. Preference will be given to those who have not received funding from EDITH in recent years.
Candidates can be considered for both an EDITH grant and any other grant for the same meeting, and if selected, will receive both; WITH and EDITH grants can also be combined. Thus, candidates for the EDITH grant should feel free to also apply for SHOT’s main grant program, or the NSF grants, or the BCI grant, or the WITH grant, as long as you meet the specific criteria for each program. Grant recipients will be responsible for registering for the meeting and for making all of your own travel and lodging arrangements.
To apply for any of these grants for which you meet the specific criteria you will find above, please fill out SHOT’s travel grant application form and if you are applying for the NSF grant, be sure to fill out the extra application form for that specific program.”