Postgraduate Travel Fund

The Postgraduate Travel Fund is open to MRes, MPhil and PhD students who have been invited to give a paper at the conference related to their research degree. Other types of students are not eligible to apply. Students can be assisted with more than one conference per academic year, but will not normally be awarded more than £1,000 in total per academic session. 

The academic year dates will determine which academic session your application will be considered within, based on the dates of the conference. For postgraduates the expectation is to be enrolled all year round so the 2025/26 academic year is from 29 September 2025 to 27 September 2026 based on the Term Dates. Any conferences ending before 27 September 2026 will be considered within the 2025/26 academic year. The new academic year will run from 28 September 2026 to 26 September 2027. 

Please note that ESRC award holders are expected to utilise the LSE ESRC DTP Research and Training Support Grant to support the costs of conference attendance. If this is not an option ESRC funded students should include this information as part of their application. 

There are limited funds available in the Postgraduate Travel Fund and it is expected that funds will normally run out before the end of the academic year. Early application is therefore advisable, i.e. as soon as you receive an invitation to present a paper.

Please complete the Postgraduate Travel Fund Application.

Applications must be completed clearly and in full. Incomplete applications cannot be considered.

Completed applications should be submitted to the Financial Support Office at least two weeks before the conference. Retrospective applications will not be considered.

You can submit your application and supporting documents by email to financial-support@lse.ac.uk.

Provided all the supporting documentation has been submitted you will normally receive a decision by email within ten working days.

We are pleased to announce that, following valuable feedback, we have updated our policy for the 2024/25 academic year onwards. We now cover 100% of eligible costs applied for, with a cap of £1,000 to ensure the budget lasts for the entire academic year. Applicants are encouraged to explore other sources of funding, as the approved award may not cover the full costs of attending the conference. Some academic departments have funds available to assist students with conference costs. 

• Evidence of your confirmation to present a paper at the conference. 
• Evidence of the cost of registration / membership in order to present at the conference.
• Evidence of travel costs in order to attend the conference, including any visa costs.
• Evidence of accommodation costs in order to attend the conference.
• Evidence of insurance cover by LSE Health and Safety Team (if travelling outside the UK) - you will need to complete the Notification to Travel form.
• Supporting statement from your supervisor (included in your application or emailed directly to financial-support@lse.ac.uk).

You can apply for up to £30 per day towards the cost of food and drink. 

If you wish to add 'holiday' or leisure days to your travel for conference attendance, the School may not be able to provide you with insurance and you will need to make alternative arrangements with an external provider. Read more about adding leisure days to your conference attendance.

In the event of the conference being cancelled, or you being unable to travel for any reason, you must refund any unused award made to you immediately and claim on your travel insurance to refund the balance. Any monies successfully claimed must then be used to refund the award. In the event that some of the award cannot be refunded you should provide evidence to explain this.

RADMA (Research and Development Management) provides funding for conference attendance under its Research Student Conference Funding Programme. The awards provide support to talented mid-study PhD students to attend a conference relevant to their PhD.  Candidates must be undertaking a PhD within the research and development management discipline at a UK university. The award will cover costs related to attending the conference, specifically conference fees, travel, subsistence and accommodation, and will provide:

(1) up to £500 for those students presenting a paper.
(2) up to £250 for attendance only.  

There is no deadline for receipt of applications, but please note that applications are reviewed quarterly in January, April, July and October. 

More information about the RADMA Postgraduate Student Research Support.

The Global School of Sustainability now offers the GSoS PhD Small Project Grants to support PhD students studying sustainability related topics with specific costs:

• Travel, accommodation, subsistence, visas, insurance, and other directly related fieldwork expenses (UK or international).
• Participant payments and incentives for formal surveys, community groups, and research beneficiaries.
• Goods and services from suppliers, including surveys, transcription, and translation, with applicable taxes and fees.
• Attendance at conferences, symposia, and other networking and dissemination events.
• Costs associated with hosting project-related events and dissemination activities.
• Software, licences, and specialist datasets required for research, development, or collaboration.
• Small project-related consumables.

Please follow the above link to review the eligibility and how to apply.