The Simon Gaunt Postgraduate Travel Grant
Applications for the 2026 grant are now open, and should be addressed to Professor Nick Harrison (president@sfs.ac.uk) by the closing date of 7th April 2026.
The grant is named after Professor Simon Gaunt, a world-leading scholar who transformed the theoretical landscape of medieval studies, as well as a dear colleague and ex-President of the Society. Simon died far too early in 2021, and this grant commemorates his commitment, supportiveness and capacity to inspire as supervisor and mentor for postgraduate students.
The grant (for a maximum of £1000) is designed to cover travel costs, conference fees if applicable, and to provide a stipend based on the estimate of expenses presented in the application. Projects will typically last for between five and ten days, although this could be extended if a strong case is made. The aim is to enable postgraduate students to travel abroad for a potentially career-transforming international event or activity (e.g. attendance at a major conference, access to a major collection).
The grant is a competitive award, and applications will be judged by a jury composed of the President and Vice-President of the Society and the executive officer in charge of research awards. There will usually be one grant awarded per year, but exceptionally, where funding allows, this may be extended to two.
Eligibility
- The grant is open only to postgraduate research students (PhD, MA by Research or equivalent) enrolled on a programme in any aspect of French Studies at a university in Britain or Ireland. Applicants must be enrolled in a department or on a programme specifically concerned with French i.e. where studying material in the original languages (here primarily French and Occitan) is a structural requirement and part of teaching programmes.
- At the time of application the applicant must not yet have submitted their thesis/dissertation.
- Applicants must be members of the Society for French Studies.
Award recipients will be asked to present a short report on the activities enabled by the grant, which may appear in the Society’s publication the French Studies Bulletin.
Applications will be judged on the quality and feasibility of the objectives to be achieved during the study abroad, and the projected outcomes of the award for the applicant and for their research field. Projects should be designed to take place within the calendar year 2026 (prior to 1st January 2027).
How to apply
The application should take the following form:
- An account of your qualifications and current stage of postgraduate study;
- Detail other sources of research funding available to you.
- A statement of the planned study and its benefits for your own research and for the wider sub-field of French Studies within which you are working (maximum 1000 words);
- A budget for the trip with costings and the total sum requested (see above);
- A short note of support from your supervisor.
Funding: travel costs, conference fees if applicable, plus a stipend based on the estimate of expenses presented in the application.
Project length: typically 5 -10 days. This could be extended if a strong case is made. Projects should be designed to take place within the calendar year 2026.
Maximum grant: £1000
The deadline for receipt of applications will be 7th April 2026; results will be announced in early May 2026.
2025 awards
We received a strong field of applications and divided the prize between two applicants, who each received £500 to help support their research projects.
- Lou Khalfoui (University of Leeds), for a research trip to Sétif, Algeria, to undertake a series of interviews and attendance at commemorative events for the May 8th 1945 Sétif Massacres.
- Paola Sanges Ghetti (Warwick University), for a research trip to the BNF to study the personal archive of the writer and director Wajdi Mouawad, the subject of her thesis.
2024 awards
For the inaugural 2024 round of the grant, the winners were:
- Adam Agowun (Warwick) for a study trip to Paris in support of his doctoral research on presidential image projection 1995-2017, and
- Weibing Ni (Cambridge) to support a field trip to Guadeloupe to further research towards her PhD on Caribbean cultural hybridity.