Graduate Student Research Community Grant

The UB Office of International Education (OIE) offers the Graduate Student Research Community (GSRC) grants on a competitive basis to support graduate-level student groups involved in or undertaking activities that aim to facilitate greater understanding of important international/global topics. Activities may be scholarly or creative; some of the examples include organizing a reading/writing/discussion group; dissertation chapter workshop; organizing a workshop, symposium, or a talk series; developing a publishable paper, grant proposal, or research project; and a combination of any of these activities.

Graduate students interested in the GSRC grant may apply for up to $5,000 in funding, which includes a stipend of $1,000 for the graduate student who serves as the GSRC coordinator and $4,000 for relevant programming expenses. The GSRC should meet at least once a month for one year, and awardees are permitted to reapply for continuing activity. Funding not used by the end of an academic year cannot roll over to the next one. The fund will be transferred to the faculty advisor’s home department.

Any UB graduate student or student group is eligible to apply for the funding. At the time of application, the proposed GSRC groups must have at least five members; however, groups of ten or more participants will be preferred. GSRC groups must be self-organized, and their activities must not be part of any credit-bearing coursework. It is desirable that the proposed GSRC represent a variety of campus schools, departments, or units. GSRCs strongly anchored in a department are eligible to apply so long as they also include students who are affiliated with other departments/units.

• Consult with the faculty advisor to organize the group’s activity
• Arrange and publicize meetings, readings, workshops, or other relevant activity
• Establish and maintain the group’s membership list and keep records of attendance and relevant activity

• Mentor the GSRC on the organization and grant-supported activity
• Advise regularly the student coordinator about the group’s activity
• Review the final report before it is submitted to OIE

To apply, please submit the following:

• A completed application on the submission site, to include:
  • Project title
  • Name, title, departmental affiliation, and contact information for the GSRC coordinator name, departmental affiliation, contact information
  • Faculty advisor name, departmental affiliation, and contact information
• Statement of no more than 500 words that describes the activity, the timeline, and intended outcomes with a clear international/global theme
• An itemized budget for the funding request, and a budget justification
• Names and departmental affiliations of the GSRC members
• Letter of support from the faculty advisor of the GSRC
• A signed form from the chair of the faculty advisor’s home department that indicates a commitment to administer the fund

Applicants must submit all required documents as separate files (PDF or WORD) to the OIE submission site.  Grants are awarded once a year, and the application deadline is 5:00 pm (EST) on March 15. It is expected that funded activity will commence in the following fall semester.

You can apply via the form at:

https://airtable.com/shrVpssSEk3F81jB2

Each GSRC is required to submit a summary report of no more than 1,000 words within a month of the conclusion of the project. The summary report should be submitted to the Office of International Education at OIEgrants@buffalo.edu. Failure to submit the summary report in time may make the awardee (including the faculty advisor) ineligible for future OIE grants.