Tinker Field Research Grant

The CLAS Tinker Field Research Grant supports master's, doctoral, and professional school students conducting pre-dissertation fieldwork in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Expanding from Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking Latin American countries, the Tinker Foundation now supports research in Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Dominica, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, Saint Barthélemy, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, Saint Martin, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos Islands, and U.S. Virgin Islands.

This program is funded with the generous support of the Tinker Foundation.

Eligibility

  • University of Chicago master’s or doctoral students in the preliminary stages of graduate study with little or no previous field experience, and who have not defended their dissertation proposals, are invited to apply.
  • Students from all divisions and professional schools are welcome to apply.

Duration of the Grant

  • Students are required to travel for a minimum of 2 weeks and may travel for up to 4 months.

Fellowship Benefits

  • The Tinker Field Research Grants is primarily intended to support transportation (international airfare and in-country travel such as bus, taxi, train, flights, and car rentals), lodging, and food. Some minor direct research expenses may be allowed.

Application Process

Please send all the following materials as a single PDF file to clas@uchicago.edu with the subject line: Tinker Field Research Grant 2023-24, by Friday February 23, 2024. Please have your faculty adviser send their letter of support separately to clas@uchicago.edu.

  • Application form
  • Current transcript (please download from my.uchicago.edu)
  • A 2–4-page narrative description of the proposed research project (purpose of the trip, likely sources of data and their locations, qualifications to undertake the project, and its relevance to research and academic goals) 
  • Itinerary for the trip and itemized budget (use template here; see sample itinerary and budget)
  • Short letter of support from faculty adviser (no more than 500 words recommended)
  • Supplemental Materials: Where appropriate, applicants can demonstrate that host institution arrangements have been established by providing letters confirming access to facilities or archives or permission to conduct interviews or other human-subject research. Please note that all proposals involving Human Subjects must meet IRB approval by the intended date of receipt of the grant. For IRB standards, see http://sbsirb.uchicago.edu. 

As you prepare your application, please review the Grant Proposal Tips 

Questions? Please contact CLAS Student Affairs.