Conference and Workshop Grant

The Foundation supports multidisciplinary meetings but only if the event’s primary aim is to advance anthropological conversations. Although we welcome applications from teams of scholars, the primary organizer must hold a doctorate in anthropology or a related field. Individuals cannot be the primary organizer or co-organizer for more than one Conference and Workshop Grant application per season. Graduate students are welcome to act as co-organizers, but they must be listed as co-applicants for the purpose of the grant. We do not accept requests from individuals for grants to attend meetings.

To receive a new award for a conference or workshop, Conference and Workshop Grantees must complete all requirements of their current grant, including submission of the final report. Additional considerations are as follows:

• Current Conference and Workshop Grant recipients may apply for an Engaged Research Grant or a Post-PhD Research Grant before the completion of their award
• Current Engaged Research Grant and Post-PhD Research Grant recipients may apply for a Conference and Workshop Grant before the completion of their award
• An individual may apply for a Conference and Workshop Grant at the same time the Foundation is considering their application for an Engaged Research Grant or a Post-PhD Research Grant.

For conferences, organizers should use the majority of our funds to cover the expenses of international scholars who are making presentations or contributing to the conference in other critical ways. Due to high demand, we can only provide funding for annual meetings every other year. Annual conferences organized by national associations are not eligible for funding, irrespective of their international membership. Panels or sessions that are part of larger meetings are not eligible for support.

For workshops, our grants support intimate, small-scale meetings. Gatherings open to students, auditors, and other individuals who are not sharing their work or acting as discussants are not eligible for support. Organizers may wish to include a public event that presents the workshop’s findings to a broader audience, but they should focus their energy on the workshop itself.

We evaluate all Conference and Workshop Grant applications on the basis of the event’s likely contribution to anthropological knowledge and adherence to the principles articulated in our mission. We look for gatherings that have the potential to expand anthropological conversations. Events that bring together scholars who frequently meet to discuss a particular topic are not usually competitive for funding.

Conference grants are reserved for organizers with a strong commitment to expanding participation. Proposals in which the lion’s share of funding covers the cost of a limited number of speakers will not be competitive. Successful proposals have included budget requests for conference fees, travel and accommodation, and childcare.

Workshop grant applications are evaluated with the following factors in mind:

• We prioritize proposals that make a strong case for the importance and immediacy of the proposed topic
• We are especially eager to support workshops with the broadest possible international representation, and we expect organizers to be committed to including a diversity of views
• Workshop participants will meet for a sufficient period of time to effectively address the theme
• Workshops that merely involve presentation of papers will not be competitive for funding; successful applicants design their workshops carefully and creatively to foster discussion, debate, and collaboration
• We expect the workshops we support to have an afterlife, in the form of a publication or other lasting contribution to the field.

To present your conference or workshop in the best possible light, please follow all instructions for completing your application. Use all the available space to describe your event. If you have questions, contact us at applications@wennergren.org or (+1) 212.683.5000.

Applications must be in English. Applicants must submit all forms and other required application materials online. If you don’t have adequate internet access to use our system, please contact us at least 1 week before the deadline and we’ll help arrange an alternative method. The online portal opens for applications 2 months before the application deadline.

The Foundation requires successful applicants to comply with all U.S. laws. These include but are not limited to regulations governed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which administers U.S. government sanctions programs and regulations relating to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List). Please see the OFAC Guidelines page on our website and consult the U.S. Department of the Treasury for more information.

In compliance with OFAC regulations, the Foundation requires special documentation for projects located in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Crimea (including Sevastopol), the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic regions of Ukraine, and Russia. The Foundation does not require this documentation at the application stage, but we must receive it before we can release funds.

Please do not send any other materials beyond what the application requests. Do not send transcripts, letters of reference, manuscripts, publications, photographs, or recordings. We will not use this material in the review process, and we cannot return it to you.

If you are awarded a Conference and Workshop Grant, you may not expend funds for purposes other than those stated in the application. The organizer may not substantially modify the meeting’s theme, format, dates, or duration or the list of participants supported by the award without securing prior permission from the Foundation.

You may access the application portal for conferences here. The application portal for workshops is here.