Purpose and Types of Bursaries
In 2023, ESSE offers funding of up to €35,000 in total to help cover costs associated with research trips.
According to its Constitution, ESSE’s goal is “to advance the education of the public by promoting the European study and understanding of English languages, literatures in English and cultures of English-speaking peoples”. Thus, ESSE welcomes applications for research trip bursaries from its members in disciplinary areas belonging to English Studies broadly understood, including but not limited to literatures, cultures and history, film and visual studies, linguistics, applied linguistics, TEFL methodology, etc., pertaining to English-speaking countries (for gender studies, there is a specific bursary – see Bursaries for Research Trips in Gender Studies within English Studies).
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 1 January 2024. The final expense report must be submitted to the Treasurer by 15 January 2024.
ESSE offers two types of travel bursaries:
- Type A: a number of bursaries of up to €1,800 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 €1,800 each will be available for scholars already holding a doctorate or its equivalent.
Eligibility
Applications are invited from individual members of all member associations. 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.
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 2022.
Applications
Applications should include the following:
- the completed application form;
- a research plan (maximum three pages);
- a provisional budget proposal. Please use the ESSE Expense Form, and check the ESSE Budget and Reimbursement Guidelines;
- for Type A bursaries, a letter of recommendation, sent by the supervisor of the PhD candidate to the Committee e-mail address below.
In the application, the applicants should explain the relevance of their project for English studies and 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 and a clearly specified budget. 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.
Please, send your application to the following address: essegrants@gmail.com
Dates and Procedures
- The deadline for applications for both types of Bursaries is 1 March 2023.
- Notification to the applicants will be sent (electronically) by 15 April 2023.
- After completing the research trip, bursary holders will be asked to send a financial report to the Treasurer of ESSE (esse.treasurer@outlook.com) and a report about their results to both the Treasurer and the Chair of the Selection Committee (essegrants@gmail.com). This latter report may be published in the ESSE Messenger.
Selection Committee
- Prof. Nóra Séllei (Chair)
- Prof. Bernard De Clerck
- Prof. Vladimir Ž. Jovanović
- Prof. Carlo Bajetta