ESSE Bursaries for 2021

In 2021, ESSE offers funding of up to €19,000 to help cover costs associated with research trips.

The purpose of Bursaries is to enable the bursary holders to make a short-term visit to a country where they can, for example, identify an outstanding holding, collection or other type of material relevant to their research, or where they gather corpus materials or conduct an experiment. Conference participation is not supported by these bursaries; bursary holders may extend their visit at their own expense, for example, to attend a conference in the country concerned, etc., but no part of the expenses that incur during the extended stay period will be covered by the bursary. Bursaries must be utilized and the study trips completed by the application deadline for next year’s bursaries, i.e. 1 March 2022.

ESSE offers two types of travel bursaries:

  • Type A: a number of bursaries of up to €1,500 each will be available for scholars in need of support to pursue a project or programme of research leading to the writing of their PhD dissertation.
  • Type B: a number of bursaries of up to €1,500 each will be available for scholars already holding a doctorate or its equivalent.

Applications are invited from all member countries. Bursaries are made on the basis of academic merit. Only one application per person is allowed. Applications for Type A and Type B Bursaries will not normally be entertained from candidates who have previously been successful in that competition.

After completing the research trip, bursary holders will be asked to send a financial report to the Treasurer of ESSE and a report about their results to both the Treasurer and the Chair of the Selection Committee. This latter report may be published in the ESSE Messenger.

Applicants for both types of bursaries must be members of their national associations affiliated to ESSE (according to the official membership list submitted to ESSE in November 2020).

Applications should be sent to the chair of the selection committee. The deadline for applications for both types of Bursaries is 1 March 2021.

Notification to the applicants will be sent (electronically) by 15 April 2021.

Applications should include the following:

In the application, the applicants should specify the length of the trip planned, even if the exact dates at the time of the application are not known. Applicants should briefly explain the reasoning behind the length of the proposed stay, bearing in mind that ESSE bursaries are intended to enable research visits to an institution in another country. Submitted proposals will be considered to have been drafted carefully with a clear focus on the activities connected to the proposed research project. For this reason, it is expected that the research be carried out as specified in the accepted proposal. Any change to the original proposal for the research stay, after it has been accepted (e.g., changing the destination or the length of stay), is subject to the prior approval of the Selection Committee and the ESSE Treasurer. To seek the approval, the applicants should direct a motivated request to the Chair of the Selection Committee and to the ESSE Treasurer, in which they outline the exceptional and unforeseeable circumstances that have made it inevitable to alter the original proposal.

Selection Committee: