Travel Grants Open for Applications

Trinity’s generous travel scholarships are open for applications and are offered to students of both the college and wider University.

The Peter Kirk Travel Fund will provide scholarships for students wishing to travel within Europe to undertake independent research into any aspect of modern European culture. The James and George Whitehead Travel Grant funds final-year Trinity undergraduates from the UK to travel abroad.

Both grants are subject to eligibility criteria and will close for application on 9 February.

The Peter Kirk Travel Fund makes scholarships available to students, aged 17 to 30, currently studying at the University of Oxford at undergraduate or graduate level. Each scholarship is usually worth up to £2,000; there will be up to 6 awards given for travel in 2024. The Scholarships are funded by a generous benefaction from the family of the late Sir Peter Kirk MP.

Trinity postgraduate Ishbel Henderson travelled to Leiden, Bonn, Padua and Wroclaw on a Peter Kirk scholarship in 2023, to undertake research into the purpose and benefits of city twinning in the 21st century. Through interviews with city administrators in European cities twinned with Oxford, she looked at the original purpose of the twinning scheme, successes and challenges, and has worked to raise engagement among younger populations in Oxford’s twinned cities via online and social media activity. She concludes: ‘Having met with various people and observed the successful activities, and the potential for shared expertise, I think the conclusion is that the returns and benefits from twinning are entirely reciprocal relationships and that the more investment in time, money, or effort has the most effective connection and subsequent benefit… Overall, twinning is a net positive force that should continue and could drastically improve real people’s lives.’

The James and George Whitehead Travel Grant is open to Trinity students in the final year of their undergraduate course, and of UK nationality. Students reading four-year degrees are eligible to apply in their fourth year. The grant is restricted to students who are anticipating a career in a business or commercial sector in the UK, and any trip that will broaden an applicant’s experience of different cultures and societies is eligible for consideration. The award holder is required to begin the travel within three months of completing Finals. The total award offered is £2,000, which may be divided between several students, depending on the applications received. It is not necessarily intended that the grant will cover all the costs involved.

Henry Cowell travelled to Japan on a Whitehead Travel Grant in summer 2023; he participated in an exchange between Oxford University Yacht Club and Doshisha University Yacht club in Kyoto, Japan. Over the course of a week he took part in cultural activities including learning kanji calligraphy, touring the city of Kyoto – including an evening of karaoke singing – and sailing on Japanese racing snipes and in a regatta followed by a bamboo noodle dinner. He says of the experience: ‘This wonderful experience was only made possible due to the generosity of the Whitehead family, and I would like to thank both them and Trinity College for facilitating a once in a lifetime trip with so many unique experiences that I will never forget.’

Full details of the scholarship are on the college website Travel Grants page; applications open on 8 January 2024 and close on Friday 9 February.