graduate student searching for grant money to support a research project in Ukraine

January 20, 2005 2:02 PM

I am a graduate student searching for grant money to support a research project in Ukraine this summer. I don't go to a fancy school and i've never done this before (more inside).

i'm in a terminal MA program at SFSU (one of the California State University campuses) in International Relations.

It's a good project, looking at how identity is constructed and conflicts between emerging (created) ethncities and emerging (constructed) nationalities, how they intersect and inform each other. I'm collaborating with a Ukrainian native who is also in the program. We believe that our conclusions will have implications about the future shape of Europe, NATO, and potential Sino-Russian alliances.

The time to go is soon for this, so there's no time for fulbright scholarship applications and all that. But we need a couple thousand dollars to cover travel expenses.

Any thoughts?

posted by milkman to work & money (8 comments total)

Is there a Ukrainian cultural group within spitting distance? A representative of such a group could put you in touch with a benefactor. You might also contact Ukrainian specialists in the Slavic Languages Dep't of your university to see if they can direct you to someone with $... although they are likely to be looking out for their own students first.

Most universities have general travel grant programs for grad students - have you looked into that?
posted by stonerose at 2:15 PM on January 20, 2005

Have you talked with this person... she's head of your study abroad programs, and speaks Ukrainian, so...?
posted by stonerose at 2:18 PM on January 20, 2005

IANAUE, but googling turns up the American Association for Ukranian Studies, which may be of help.

Maybe the SSRC has some short-term travel grants?

Maybe you'd qualify for an IREX travel grant, even though you aren't a postdoc?
posted by googly at 2:23 PM on January 20, 2005

For a start, check out your dept, and SFSU grad school. Are there any 'Institute' type places on campus that look at these issues?

More generally, what you are doing sounds like it might fall under 'Peace and Conflict Studies' (if it doesn't, I'm sure you could write a grant to that end). Google says: peace conflict studies grants. It's a start, anyway; you could try tweaking the search for what you want. Be warned: grant/funding cycles can take quite a while to roll over. Good luck!
posted by carter at 2:34 PM on January 20, 2005

You might start with a grant search on COS. If you know others who've done similar research (either similar topics, or other research in the Ukraine), check out their CVs... Often CVs will list grants received, so you can see where they got their money (you can also ask them, of course).
posted by duck at 2:39 PM on January 20, 2005

I don't know if your University System will have access, but Dean Rusk Grants sound like they would be right down your alley. I got one for a study abroad project I did, and it was great. Check with your professors, or maybe the study abroad coordinator at your school. (And, just so there is no confusion, the project I got the money for was not related to my abroad program - I was spending the summer at Cambridge and tooled around France as my Dean Rusk Project, studying Gothic Cathedrals.)
posted by Medieval Maven at 2:56 PM on January 20, 2005

Someone on your campus has password access to the Grant Advisor, a grant-finding aid you should use. I see the Council for European Studies has some pre-dissertation fellowships.
posted by LarryC at 5:42 PM on January 20, 2005

NSEP might be a really good bet, provided you're willing to include language training as part of your grant proposal. Those are widely understood in I.R. to be "attainable" grants. This may not be necessary, because you have a native speaker as a principle investigator, or possible, because you've got a short lead time.

I'm curious as to why you say "the go time is soon for this," as a nice grant for someone at your stage is a vitae builder. That the whole thing was put together too quickly to be plugged in to the grant process isn't necessarily a problem, but it does set of warning bells. You're comfortable with your research design, right? And it's been vetted by faculty over at SFSU?

Apart from that, it's time to check out some on-campus small grants. Like others said, ask your graduate director, as well as the heads of any graduate student associations you may have. Good luck!
posted by .kobayashi. at 8:17 AM on January 21, 2005