The Tinker Foundation Inc.
Field Research Grants




Program Description
The Tinker Field Research Grants competition was initiated in 1979 within the Foundation's institutional grants program. These awards are available to recognized Centers or Institutes of Ibero-American or Latin American Studies with graduate doctoral programs at accredited United States universities.

The Grants provide graduate students with travel funds (international and in-country) to Latin America, Spain and Portugal and limited field research expenses. These awards allow students to acquire a comprehensive knowledge of language and culture, to familiarize themselves with information sources relevant to their studies; to conduct pilot studies and preliminary investigations, and to develop contacts with scholars and institutions in their fields. They are awarded by the university institutes/centers for brief periods of research in Iberia or Latin America and should reflect primarily the Foundation's broad areas of interest. Awards are limited to graduate students conducting predissertation research.

The Foundation's selection criteria include:

  1. the quality of the institute's/center's program in Latin or Ibero-American studies, with particular emphasis on its graduate component;
  2. the immediate benefits to the Latin or Ibero-American studies program that will result from the availability of Field Research Grants at the university, and
  3. the level of general university support for Latin or Ibero-American studies as demonstrated by past commitments and future projects.

Two levels of support in the Field Research Grants competition are available — $10,000 and $15,000 per annum. Centers/Institutes that are less developed and/or relatively new are eligible to apply for the $10,000 level award. Centers/Institutes that are well established are encouraged to apply for the $15,000 level award. Successful institutional applicants must match the award with a minimum of the amount awarded.

Applications must be received by the Foundation before October 1. Awards will be announced by the beginning of the following year. Interested institutions should contact the Foundation for complete application instructions and forms.

Selection of 2008 Grants

This funding is available to master's and Ph.D. level students at the following universities for support of travel costs to and within Latin American and Iberian countries. Interested applicants should contact the appropriate study center for application instructions.

$10,000 Awards

Brown University
Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Columbia University
Institute of Latin American Studies

Florida International University
Latin American and Caribbean Center

Indiana University
Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies

State University of New York at Stony Brook
Latin American and Caribbean Studies Center

University of Georgia
Latin American and Caribbean Studies Institute

University of Kansas
Center of Latin American Studies

Vanderbilt University
Center for Latin American Studies

Yale University
Council on Latin American and Iberian Studies


$15,000 Awards

Harvard University
David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies

Tulane University
Stone Center for Latin American Studies

University of Arizona
Center for Latin American Studies

University of California, Los Angeles
Latin American Institute

University of California, San Diego
Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies

University of Chicago
Center for Latin American Studies

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies

University of Texas at Austin
Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies

University of Wisconsin-Madison
Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies Program


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