2025 CLAG FIELD STUDY GRANTS
Deadline March 1, 2025
The Conference of Latin American Geography (CLAG) invites applications for the 2025 CLAG Student Field Study Grants. Each year CLAG confers named grants at the Ph.D. level (Bernard Nietschmann, Robert C. West, and James J. Parsons grants) and at the master’s level (Clarissa Kimber, William M. Denevan, and Oscar Horst grants).
These grants are intended to support graduate student members of CLAG in their thesis or dissertation research in Latin America or concerning the Latin American diaspora. The grants are not intended to cover all fieldwork costs, but rather to assist students working towards the Master’s degree or Ph.D. in their field and/or archival research in Latin America. The grant for the MA/MS recipients will be approximately $1,000 and for Ph.D. recipients $1,500. The top PhD applicant will receive the Carl and Lorena Sauer award.
Eligibility:
- Member of CLAG before the application deadline;
- Registered as a graduate (M.A., M.S., or Ph.D.) student in a geography department or related discipline;
- Regional area of research in Latin America, including the Caribbean, is given priority. If the regional area of research is outside of Latin America/Caribbean, a clear justification of how the study relates to dynamics in Latin America must be provided. CLAG Field Study Grants are for field and archival research, not for attendance at academic meetings or language acquisition.
- Recipients of previous CLAG Field Study Grants are ineligible to apply, with the exception that previous winners at the Master’s level may apply for the Ph.D. level grant if they are enrolled in a Ph.D. program;
- Fieldwork must be conducted during the dates specified in the proposal. Any anticipated significant changes must be reported to the CLAG Chair;
- Grantees must supply home address, bank details for electronic funds transfer, and signed US IRS forms appropriate to their tax jurisdiction (either a signed W-9 for persons subject to US tax jurisdiction or a W8-BEN for non-US persons) for CLAG to comply with IRS reporting requirements.
Guidelines:
Proposals will be evaluated on criteria including but not limited to the following:
- Quality of the proposal:
- Coherent research question(s)
- Clearly described and viable research design with research question(s) situated in relevant theoretical or conceptual literature and appropriate methods explained;
- Feasibility of proposed work and viable research timeline;
- Adequate preparation demonstrated;
- Academic rigor, relevance to area of inquiry, engagement with local people and/or host country, and potential contribution to Latin American geography and other audiences.
Application materials may be in English, Spanish, or Portuguese.
Grantees will be notified by April 1, 2025.
All applications should be uploaded to this Google Form no later than March 1, 2025, as a single document that includes the following items (see details below):
1) Fieldwork Proposal Narrative;
2) Curriculum Vitae (two pages);
Please save the file as: “YourLastName_CLAG_2025_FieldStudyApplication.pdf” and use the Google Form to upload the document along with all of the required information in the form.
You must also request a Faculty Letter of Support from your principal adviser and have them send it to aazuniga@arizona.edu as described below.
Fieldwork Proposal Narrative
Please write a narrative describing your proposed field and/or archival research, including research questions, a brief description of methods and theoretical approach, research timeline, and how CLAG money will be spent. Maximum length: 5 pages, typed, double-spaced, 12 pt Times New Roman, 1” margins. A list of cited references must be included but will not count toward the page limit. If the proposed research is part of a larger project (led by advisor or other) the applicant must make clear his or her own contribution to the project.
Curriculum Vitae
Two-page maximum. Include the most relevant information for the committee to consider.
Faculty Letter of Support
Each application must be accompanied by one letter of support from the student’s primary faculty advisor. It should be no longer than two pages. The Faculty Letter of Support should address the following aspects:
- The student’s abilities and promise in the field of geography with a focus on Latin America, as well as the potential significance and impact of the proposed research;
- Assessment of the student’s ability to conduct the proposed fieldwork and viability of the project;
- Assessment of the student’s language proficiency to conduct the fieldwork effectively, including formal preparation (coursework, experience), or other experiences indicating language proficiency.
The Faculty Letter of Support must be sent to the CLAG Student Award Committee chair, Adriana Zuniga-Teran, at aazuniga@arizona.edu as an email attachment whose title is “Student’sLastName_Letter_Support”.
Required Report for Recipients
All Field Study Grant recipients must complete a 2-3-page final research report (along with an abstract and keywords) describing the grantee’s fieldwork experiences, detailing how the funds were spent and achievement of objectives. In addition, the report should be accompanied by a few photographs with descriptive captions, one of which should be of the grant recipient in the field. The reports should follow APA style (7th edition) and be publication-ready PDFs, including all edits for clarity, concision, format, and content performed before sending them to the CLAG chair. The photographs should be included in the submitted written report and at full resolution as JPGs in a separate zip file. This report is due to the Chair of CLAG by October 18, 2025, and will be published on the CLAG website and in the CLAG Newsletter.
See examples of previous reports here.
More Information
Please direct your questions to Adriana Zuniga-Teran at aazuniga@arizona.edu, CLAG Student Awards Committee chair.
We look forward to reviewing your innovative proposals!
View the field reports of past grant recipients here, and check back to see the field reports from this year’s grantees.
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