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Conferences and expenses

Several of our faculties and schools offer small amounts of funding to support you as a graduate research student to attend conferences, submit papers, undertake relevant training and carry out your research.

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Postgraduate Research Support Fund

  • The Faculty has a limited fund available to support self-funded PGR students who do not have access to any other funding sources to attend a conference where they are presenting a paper or to visit an archive essential to their research. Up to £300 per year is available through a competitive process and applications will be considered by School PGR leads based on a recommendation from your Supervisor as to whether the visit or conference is essential to your research.
  • Applications are invited in a number of rounds each academic year. The next deadline for applications is Monday 26 February 2024.
  • How to apply: Please see the tile titled ‘Faculty Funding for Conferences and Other Research Activity’ on your School Research Students Moodle page for the application form and further guidance. Completed application forms should be sent to the .

Eva Dubose Fund for PhD Student Support (History of Art and Arts)

  • The Eva Dubose Fund for PhD Student Support is available in 2023/24 and 2024/25 only for students studying history of art or arts subjects. Up to £300 per student is available. 
  • How to apply: Applications should be made using the Humanities and Social Sciences Postgraduate Research Fund application form, following the same deadlines as the faculty fund (please see above). Completed application forms should be sent to the .
  • The next deadline for applications is Monday 26 February 2024.

Martha C. Pennington Fund (Applied Linguistics and Communication)

  • The Martha C. Pennington Research Student Conference Fund provides awards of up to £500 to research students working on applied linguistics and communication subjects to support conference attendance. Applications are invited in two rounds each academic year.
  • How to apply: please find the application form in the ‘Funding Opportunities’ tile on the Applied Linguistics Postgraduate Research Moodle page. Completed application forms should be submitted using the Turnitin link in this tile.
  • The next deadline for applications is 29 April 2024. This is the final application opportunity in the 2023/24 academic year.
  • Applications must be submitted before the conference takes place. Retrospective claims for reimbursement cannot be considered.

London Art History Society Research Fund

  • The London Art History Society, which is affiliated to Birkbeck's History of Art Society, will cover research-related expenses, such as travel, accommodation, photography and photocopying, for current MA and MPhil/PhD history of art students. 
  • MPhil/PhD history of art students can apply for up to £200.
  • How to apply: You need to submit a rationale for, and a full breakdown of, your expenses in 300 words or fewer before incurring the expenses. If your application is successful, you submit your receipts after spending the money and we will reimburse you.
  • Further details and application deadlines for the 2023/24 academic year will be announced in due course.

Intergenerational Support Fund

  • The Intergenerational Support Fund will offer grants for students within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences to support work related to intergenerational relations and studies of the life course. These might include work on families, household relations, childhood or ageing or a range of other topics relevant to intergenerational relations. A panel of academics chosen by the School will decide on the successful students each year through a set application process based on financial benefit and subject focus.
  • Value of the award: Five £500 grants will be made each year for eight years (a total of £20,000), commencing in 2022.
  • Selection criteria:
    • Outline your research and clearly and explicitly state how it relates to the theme of intergenerational relations.
    • Outline how the bursary will enable you to complete your research and provide a full breakdown of actual or estimated costs (e.g. field work expenses, travel, books, library/archival costs).
  • How to apply: Please see the tile titled 'Faculty Funding for Conferences and Other Research Activity' on your School Research Students Moodle page for the application form. Completed application forms should be sent to the .
  • Application deadline: The deadline for 2023/24 applications is 4pm on Monday 26 February 2024.

Birkbeck Law School

Birkbeck Law School offers funding for additional research expenses, such as for attending conferences and travel.

For further details, please .

Faculty of Science

The Faculty of Science has various research funds available to students enrolled on its MPhil/PhD programmes. These funds are designed to support excellent student experience over and above the basic research needs of their PhD project.

Further information is available from your programme's SharePoint site.