Grants for PhD Students

Travel Grants for GU PhD Students

Overview

The Centre for European Research at the University of Gothenburg (CERGU) offers travel grants to PhD students employed at one of the faculties funding CERGU. Grants may be used to finance field work, visits to archives, conference attendance, or to host a research collaborator for seminars or supervision. To be eligible, the overall theme of the dissertation must be related to European studies.

Eligibility

Institutional affiliation

Applicants must be PhD students employed at one of the following faculties:

• Faculty of Humanities
• Faculty of Social Sciences
• School of Business, Economics, and Law

Research focus: what counts as European studies?

For the purposes of this grant, European studies is defined as either research in which Europe — its societies, histories, politics, economies, cultures, institutions, or cross-border dynamics — constitutes the primary object of study, or as research on challenges that Europe is collectively grappling with, provided the analysis is grounded in a European context..

Strand 1: Europe as primary object of study

Eligible research areas include, but are not limited to:

• European integration and EU governance
• Comparative studies of European countries or regions
• European legal and political frameworks
• Intra-European migration and mobility
• European cultural identity and heritage
• European political economy and welfare systems
• Europe’s role in global and international affairs

Strand 2: Shared European challenges

• Some examples of shared European challenges can be:Climate change and environmental policy — e.g. EU Green Deal, energy transition, climate adaptation in European regions
• Migration and asylum — e.g. migration toward or within Europe, EU asylum systems, integration policy
• Demography — e.g. ageing populations, demographic decline, fertility trends in European societies
• Energy — e.g. European energy security, transition away from fossil fuels, cross-border energy infrastructure
• Populism and democratic backsliding — e.g. the rise of populist movements in European democracies, threats to rule of law within the EU
• Digital transformation and technology governance — e.g. EU digital regulation, AI policy, platform governance
• Cultural identities and heritage — e.g. European memory politics, historical narratives (with regards to Europeanness), reconciliation processes
• Geopolitics and external relations — e.g. European trade and security arrangements with external partners, international cooperation 

Important: These topics are global in nature. To qualify, the dissertation must analyse them specifically within a European context — not as global or non-European phenomena that happen to mention Europe in passing.

Does not qualify: Research that includes a European case study as a secondary or illustrative component, or that addresses global or non-European phenomena with only marginal reference to Europe, does not qualify for this grant.

Application Contents

The application must include the following documents:

European Studies Self-Assessment Checklist

All applicants must complete and include the following checklist. The supervisor must sign the final confirmation. This checklist is used to assess whether the dissertation falls within the scope of European studies as defined by CERGU.

Conditions of Award

Applicants who accept a travel grant are required to:

• Submit a final report on how the grant has been used once the final date for disposition has passed.
• Present their project and how the grant was used at a CERGU seminar.

Questions? Contact CERGU administration at the University of Gothenburg: administration@cergu.gu.se

Travel Grants for External PhD Students to visit CERGU

The Centre for European Research at the University of Gothenburg (CERGU) announces the opportunity for external PhD students to apply for travel grants covering a research visit to the University of Gothenburg. PhD students from a variety of different disciplines who are writing their dissertation on a topic closely related to European research are welcome to apply for funding towards a research stay. They are responsible for finding and getting in contact with a GU researcher who is employed at one of the faculties that funds CERGU (the Faculty of Humanities, the Faculty of Social Sciences, or the School of Business, Economics, and Law) who is willing to host their stay. Grants may not be used toward per diem or daily allowances, and all costs will need to be paid by CERGU administration via the University of Gothenburg’s electronic invoice system.

Applicants who accept a Travel Grant are required to submit a final report on how the grant has been used once the final date for disposition of the grant has passed. Applicants are also required to present their project and how the grant was used during a CERGU seminar.

The application should include:

• A short description of the aim of the dissertation, and its connection to CERGU’s research themes (maximum 1500 words)
• A short motivation of the proposed visit, including a description of anticipated results, a detailed budget, and the total sum of expenses that CERGU would be expected to cover, signed by the supervisor and the host researcher from GU (maximum 1000 words).

The maximum allotment for travel grants is 40.000 SEK. There is no deadline for applications. Grants will be decided and awarded monthly.

Questions? Contact CERGU administration at the University of Gothenburg: administration@cergu.gu.se