Travel Grants

The Society for the History of Technology normally awards some grants to support travel to its annual meeting. The program is focused on graduate students, independent scholars, and young professionals just beginning their careers, as well as SHOT International Scholars. Eligible members residing outside the US, Canada, and Western Europe are especially encouraged to apply.

Start of the schooners by F. A. Walter, c.1901. Source: Library of Congress.

The 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.

Travel grant funds 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 made in advance of the meeting.

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

Please note that HSS and 4S also award NSF grants and that you may not receive more than one travel grant in a calendar year. We regularly receive more grant requests than we can fulfill. Submitting this application does not guarantee that you will receive a grant.

Eligibility

SHOT’s travel grants are intended to assist younger members of the field who face the most severe constraints in finding travel support. The committee considers applicants in this order of priority:

1. Current SHOT International Scholars
2. Graduate students
3. Scholars from outside the United States and 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 their 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 their Ph.D.

All travel grant recipients must be participating in the meeting program in some capacity. In order of descending priority, the committee will consider whether an applicant is:

1. Giving a paper and conducting society business, including organizing a session
2. Giving a paper, including at a “Works-in-Progress” session
3. Commenting at a session and doing society business
4. Commenting at a session
5. Moderating a session and doing society business
6. Doing society business (serving on a committee, etc.) or moderating a session

Current SHOT International Scholars are strongly encouraged to apply for travel support even if they are not on the program.

Only current SHOT members may apply. If you are not currently a SHOT member, you may join the society or renew your membership. If you are unsure of your current membership status, call the Johns Hopkins University Press Journal Division at 1-800-548-1784 (U.S. and Canada only) or (410) 516-6987 (all others) or e-mail [email protected]

Preference will be given to those who have not received a SHOT travel grant in the past.

Applications

The draft program for the 2019 Annual Meeting in Milan will be available Mid-May. Travel grant applications can be submitted after the decisions of the Program Committee have been announced. The application deadlines and a link to the online application form will be published here. SHOT will announce this also in the e-Newsletter.

2019 Travel Grant Committee

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