AKPIA@MIT 2024-2025 STUDENT TRAVEL GRANT AWARDS
Guidelines and Application
The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT is now accepting applications for Student Travel Grant Awards for 2024-25. Awards are open to all students in the MIT Department of Architecture, especially graduate students preparing theses, or undergraduate students preparing an Optional Senior Thesis. Awards are normally for individual travel. Proposals from two students will be considered if the project requires it, and if the individual contributions of each student are made explicit.
The proposed research must be focused on some part of the Islamic world or an Islamic community. Comparative research that includes an Islamic component is acceptable. Theses requiring research in an archive or collection with holdings related to the Islamic world, past or present, are also eligible. We will also consider applications from undergraduate or graduate students who have accepted an internship in an architectural firm or a design-oriented NGO working in some part of the Islamic world.
Award recipients must complete their travel or internship exclusively in the Summer of 2024 or IAP (January) 2025. Depending on their project completion, they must present their research at an AKPIA sponsored event in the Fall 2024 or Spring 2025 semester. A final report on the research and its findings of no less than 2000 words is also required. Final reports will be published on AKPIA’s Website (http://tempmit.campusdemo.net/akpia_wp/list-travel-grant-award) The maximum for each grant is $3,500. The AKPIA award may be combined with other sources of funding if necessary.
AKPIA reserves the right to prorate its award when combined with another grant or fellowship. The student will obtain 85% of the grant once travel arrangements are presented to AKPIA. The remaining 15% will be disbursed when both the presentation and report are completed. MIT reserves the right to suspend the travel award at any time before the official start date if health or other restrictions arise. Below the list and description of documents required with the submission of the online form:
1. A cover letter.
2. Plan of travel and research (dates, places to be visited, specific research to be undertaken, duration, and budget).
3. A preliminary thesis proposal or description of design project(s).
4. Portfolio in the case of a design award or if relevant to research proposal.
5. Letter of support from adviser stating research topic, feasibility of the research, and verification of the need for travel. For design awards, a letter from the hiring person in charge stating project scope, specific duties of student, and conditions of internship (duration, payment, travel) is required.
6. Statement of language proficiency where relevant.
Please name the document “Last name_AKPIAtravelgrant” and please note that if it exceeds 12 MB you will need to compress it. The letter of recommendation can arrive separately either by mail or electronically to akpiatravelapp@mit.edu Submission deadline is April 15, 2024. Awards will be announced by April 30, 2024. Should questions arise, please call 617 253 1400 or e-mail us at akpiatravelapp@mit.edu.
IMPORTANT:
Access the form with this link: https://mit.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6fFddMbtYoEH7r8
Fields marked with asterisks are required. You will not be able to submit the form unless all are completed, including the document upload field.