Each year, the Society awards over 70 grants to students, researchers, teachers and independent travellers. February sees application deadlines fast approaching for several grants available to PhD students.
The Society’s Grants Programme supports geographical research both in the UK and overseas, helping develop new knowledge and advance the discipline.
Our independent travel grants and expedition awards allow individuals and teams to complete challenging fieldwork and expeditions, while several grants support innovation in teaching geography at secondary and higher education level.
A number of our grants support research undertaken by students and researchers, both desk-based and in the field. Projects receiving support from our research grants can be cutting edge fieldwork completed by established researchers or smaller projects undertaken by early career academics.
New for 2015 are our Environment and Sustainability Research Grants, with four awards of £9,000 available to researchers who are working on projects that investigate issues of environmental sustainability. Applicants must have completed their PhD within the last ten years, and the deadline for applications is 20 March.
Highlights from projects currently being supported by RGS-IBG grants can be found on our In the field webpage, which provides a fascinating and highly visual overview of the fieldwork recipients complete each year.
Forthcoming deadlines
- PhD students and postdoctoral researchers are invited to apply for the Dudley Stamp Memorial Award, which offers a number of small grants to assist with field research or study travel. Deadline: 22 February
- PhD students planning geographical fieldwork involving development issues can also apply for one of the three or four Slawson Awards offered annually. The 2014 Slawson Award recipients focused on issues as diverse as the political ecology of electrification and post-oil energy geographies in Cuba, the medical landscape of Laos, and the resilience of coastal resource governance in the Philippines. Deadline: 22 February
- Frederick Soddy Award provides up to £6,000 to support a PhD student, or group of PhD students, carrying out fieldwork or research on ‘the study of the social, economic and cultural life of a region’ – anywhere in the world. Recent recipients have examined regions in Kenya, Kyrgyzstan and Canada. Deadline: 22 February
Find out more