Accessibility statement

Independent travel awards

Finance your summer abroad. Funding opportunities for your independent travel projects this summer.

Please note that the University of York does not permit travel to any country where the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) advise against all travel

Applications for the Independent Travel Awards 2024 are now closed.

 

If you would like to make an appointment to speak to us about the Travel Awards please email:

summer-abroad@york.ac.uk

Applications

Applications for the Independent Travel Awards 2024 are now closed.

Travel Bursary Awards are for registered undergraduate students, post graduate taught and post graduate research students at the University of York. Funding is not available for projects that form part of your degree programme.

All awardees will be expected to submit a written report of their project within six weeks of completion.

This funding is not available for:

  • Students selected to study abroad as part of their academic degree
  • Students selected for any of the tuition fee waived Summer Schools
  • Students selected for any of the International Study Centres 
  • Participation in hazardous activities will not be funded. Details can be found on the University Travel Insurance webpages

Application information

  • Travel awards help towards the cost of your programme, but are unlikely to cover all your expenses. A travel award will be in the region of £500 per participant for individual projects.
  • You cannot receive funding from more than one of our bursary programmes (ie Travel Awards, International Study Centre bursaries and Summer School tuition fee waiver)
  • Applications for projects directly forming part of the student’s academic work will not be accepted. This includes the International Study Centre, Summer Schools through Global Programmes, year abroad on Study Exchange or ISEP, a year in industry or placement year.
  • Only individual students may apply. Applications from groups, teams, societies etc will not be accepted.
  • Bursaries will be awarded from funds including: Santander, YuFund, the Nancy Richards Fund and the Beaumanoir-Hart Fund.
  • With the exception of the Nancy Richards Bursary (which is open to women only), these bursaries are open to men and women, but final-year undergraduate students are excluded. Information on our donors is given in the tab above.
  • Copies of the applicants final reports will be sent to the donors of the bursaries and extracts may be used by Global Programmes for marketing and promotional purposes.

For an idea of the type of projects we fund please read through some of the short reports submitted by last years successful recipients 2022 Travel Award reports (PDF , 1,115kb)

Help fund your experience on YuStart

If you need funds to boost overseas travel then consider using YuStart, York’s own crowdfunding platform. The site empowers you to fundraise for innovative projects and ideas and in addition gives you valuable project management and promotional experience.

Our sponsors

Santander Universities

We are grateful to Santander Universities for generously funding the Travel Awards. Over 1,020 universities in 17 countries are members of the Santander Universities network. At York, Santander Universities provides funding for international travel, internships, student enterprise and Masters scholarships. For more information about Santander at York, please contact Emily Souter, summer-abroad@york.ac.uk

Thank you to the following donors whose generosity allows Global Programmes to offer Travel Bursaries.

YuFund

YuFund is the new name for the York Annual Fund administered by the Office of Philanthropic Partnerships and Alumni (OPPA). Substantial funds are raised from alumni, staff and friends through the Giving to York programme each year. 

Donors give either one-off gifts or make a regular gift monthly, quarterly or annually and these are directed by donors to different aspects of University life.   

  • Funds donated to support extra-curricular activity, sport and opportunities are directed to YuFund.
  • Funds donated by donors who do not specify a preference are split between Student Support and YuFund.
  • Donors can also make a gift to their College. Colleges have direct access to these provided that all projects are agreed by the College Council and Deputy Vice-Chancellor.

The Nancy Richards Bursary was endowed by the Revd Julian Richards in memory of his mother. Nancy Richards studied at St Hilda’s College, Durham, from 1917 to 1919, where she obtained a teaching diploma. She taught at primary schools in Leeds until her marriage in 1924. Although she always longed to go abroad, she was never able to do so, and spent the rest of her life in Yorkshire. She died in 1952, her family generously continues this donation in her name.