Georgetown Americas Institute

The institute offers grants for students designed to increase understanding on issues relevant to the Western Hemisphere. Student grants support students in deepening their interest and understanding of the Latin American and Caribbean region. Priority will be given to graduate students working on their capstone projects or doctoral thesis and may include travel to participate in relevant conferences, support for an internship in the region, student-led initiatives on campus, and ongoing research. We will strongly encourage and favor applications for research grants that have identified and are already working with a faculty advisor. Examples of past awarded projects can be found on our research page. 

Collaborative research grants fund faculty research, seminars, workshops, and conferences on the Western Hemisphere. Grants are designed to form a collaborative network within Georgetown on issues relevant to the region and bring faculty together with scholars and policy experts to advance research projects on topics related to Western Hemisphere. Projects address one or more of the institute's themes: governance and the rule of law, economic growth and innovation, social and cultural inclusion, and the environment and sustainability.

Student Grants

• Eligibility and Application Requirements
• All full-time undergraduate and graduate students in any of Georgetown’s schools and programs are eligible to apply for a student grant. Funding for international travel is contingent upon authorization by the Office of Global Services. Applications should include:
• • The name, CV, Georgetown email, and contact information of the student as well as their unofficial transcript and faculty advisor (if applicable);
• • A statement of purpose that clearly enumerates the deliverables or activities to be performed;
• • A timeline of deliverables and activities;
• • A section explaining how the overall rationale of the use of funds relates to the student's academic trajectory as well as Georgetown Americas Institute’s goals and mission;
• • An itemized budget with a clear line by line justification of use of the funds;
• • One letter of recommendation from a faculty member.
• Applications should not exceed five pages, single-spaced with 12pt. font and one-inch margins. Documents should be submitted in a single PDF file.
• Grant Period
• Students must use grant funds within 12 months of the granting of support; an extension may be granted upon request.
• Scope
• Grantees can apply for up to $3,500. We encourage and welcome applications for smaller amounts and will be looking for a detailed justification and description of how the budget will be allocated. A clear justification of fund use will carry significant weight in GAI’s assessment of applications. Awards represent taxable income and will be reported to the relevant taxing authorities as required by the IRS. This should be considered when creating the project budget.
  
• Timing and Selection Process
• All applications will be subjected to a rigorous selection process conducted by the institute. Spring applications will open January 29 and will be due by March 4, 2024, and decisions will be announced mid-March. Fall 2024 applications will be open September 30 through November 4. All work must be carried out within 12 months of receiving funds.
• For the spring semester application materials must be sent to americas@georgetown.edu by March 4, 2024.
• Deliverables
• In addition to the proposed deliverables within the application, grantees should write a 150 to 250 description of their work summarizing the results to be posted on GAI’s website and submit it to GAI by the end of their grant period. During the grant period, grantees will be invited to a mandatory meeting to share their projects with GAI staff and other grantees. 

Faculty Research Grants

• General Information
• Faculty Grants for the 2023-2024 academic year have closed. The application period will reopen in December 2024. 
  GAI faculty grants offer Georgetown faculty support in a variety of areas for collaborative research around four critical areas facing the Americas: governance and the rule of law, economic growth and innovation, social and cultural inclusion, and sustainability and the environment. Applications that are using GAI’s support as seed funding to leverage future funding for their projects will be favorably considered. Preference will be given to grants that connect faculty across Georgetown centers and programs and/or work with institutions and researchers in Latin America, as well as those that involve students as research assistants, and raise Georgetown’s research profile among a broader public.
• Eligibility and Application Requirements
• All full-time faculty at Georgetown are eligible to apply to the faculty grants.
• Applications should include:
• • The name, CV and contact information of the lead researcher, and a list of all other researchers;
• • A statement of purpose and a description of the academic merit of the project;
• • Clearly enumerate the deliverables and expected results, and provide a timeline for when and where findings will be presented. Some examples of deliverables include case studies, white papers, databases, chapters of a book, conferences, a series of events, or journal articles;
• • A section explaining how the overall rationale of the project relates to the scholar's academic trajectory as well as the Georgetown Americas Institute’s goals and mission;
• • A justification of funds, including an itemized budget with a justification for each of the line items and how the funds will be used;
• • A list of other funding sources you plan to pursue to expand the scope of work. Applications should not exceed five pages, single spaced with 12pt. font and one-inch margins. Charts and a bibliography can be included and will not count towards the page count. Documents should be submitted in a single PDF file.
• Scope
• Grantees can apply for up to $25,000. We encourage and welcome applications for smaller amounts and will be looking for a detailed justification and description of how the budget will be allocated. A clear justification of fund use will carry significant weight in the assessment of applications.
• Timing and Selection Process
• All applications will be subjected to a rigorous selection process conducted by a five-person interdisciplinary faculty committee. Applications will open in December 2024. All work must be carried out within one year after the grant is awarded.
• Application materials must be sent to americas@georgetown.edu.
• Deliverables
• All enumerated deliverables need to be submitted to the Georgetown Americas Institute (GAI) by the end of the grant period. Beyond the proposed deliverables within the application, grantees should write a 150 to 250 description of their work summarizing the results to be posted on GAI’s website and submit it to GAI by December 1 of the year subsequent to the one in which the grant was awarded (December 1, 2023 for grants awarded during the fall 2022 cycle).
• Use of Funds
• Funds should be used for the activities outlined in the proposal that might include travel, surveys, conference and workshops, research assistance, translation services etc. Funds that are not spent during the grant period should be returned to GAI. If recipients wish to re-purpose funds they can request to do so with a clear justification and GAI will evaluate the merit of such requests.