Graduate Conference & Training Grants

2023-2024 Call for Applications

Opens August 25, 2023
Rolling submissions
Closes April 30, 2024
apply.interfolio.com/131011

The Center for the Study of Ethnicity, Race, and Immigration (CSERI) will offer limited support for graduate conference travel and methods training undertaken during the 2023-2024 academic year and summer sessions. New this year: applications will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis until April 30.

Students may receive grants of up to $750 for expenses. All full-time Penn graduate students enrolled in any school whose research focuses on social science approaches to race, ethnicity, or immigration in the United States or in other countries are eligible to apply. CSERI research support may be combined with funding from other programs. However, if a student has already received a CSERI grant for conference travel or training, they must wait a year to apply again. 

Examples of conference and training-related activities that may be funded include, but are not limited to:

  • Travel to conferences, only if presenting a conference poster or paper.
  • Costs associated with methods training courses over the summer.

The application for conferences or methods training must include:

  • For a conference: An abstract for the conference paper, a notice of the conference acceptance, and a registration receipt.
  • For summer training: A notice of the workshop acceptance and paid invoice/receipt.
  • An itemized budget and brief budget narrative describing expenses.
  • The applicant’s CV.
  • A reference letter from the applicant’s dissertation advisor indicating their approval of and support for the applicant’s plans. Please follow the directions in Interfolio for submitting letters confidentially. 

Conference grant recipients should be prepared to present their research at a poster exposition hosted by CSERI.

For further information or questions, contact CSERI Administrator Anne Kalbach, akalbach@sas.upenn.edu.


Students conducting projects in the social sciences on race, ethnicity, and immigration in Latin America and/or Latinx politics in the United States can also apply and receive additional advisory support from the Center for Latin American and Latinx Studies. For specific information, contact the CLALS program at clals-upenn@sas.upenn.edu.

Students are also encouraged to seek funding in conjunction with Africana Studies, Political Science, Sociology, and other social science units at Penn.