Applications

Applications for the Independent Travel Award have now closed.

Travel Bursary Awards are for registered undergraduate students, post graduate taught and post graduate research students at the University of York.

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 on the following schemes provided by the Centre for Global Programmes:

• Students selected to study abroad as part of their academic degree
• Students selected for any of the tuition fee waived Summer Schools, ie Renmin University of China, Seoul National University and Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Students selected for any of the International Study Centres 

Application information

• Preference will be given to applicants who are organising their own private project rather than participating in a project pre-arranged by a charity or other organisation.
• 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, the York Society, 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  are 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 York Society Travel Bursary is provided from the York Society Trust Fund, a charitable trust established in 1981 by members of the York Society. The York Society was the University’s first alumni organization set up in 1979 by a group of former students to maintain contact between Alumni and the University. The Society held reunions for many years for all alumni and for specific graduation years. In the early 1990’s the University began to adopt responsibility for Alumni which is now dealt with by the Development and Alumni Relations Office. The York Society was disbanded in 1994 but the Trust fund remains as a legacy of the contributions made by the members of the York Society. The Frances Vick Travel Bursary is in memory of Frances Vick one of the founding members of the York Society and one of the original Trustees of the York Society Trust. Her work and enthusiasm ensured the success of the York Society in the early days and the good relations enjoyed between the York Society Trust and the University. 

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.