2026 Global Public Health Doctoral Travel Awards
Request for Proposals
Public Health Practice & Global Engagement (PHPGE) at Michigan Public Health supports opportunities for innovative multidisciplinary global health engagement, transparent partnership, and capacity building. The PHPGE Doctoral Travel Awards provide a travel stipend of up to $10,000 to University of Michigan School of Public Health (SPH) doctoral students in the first two years of their program. Funding is intended to support preliminary visits to prospective overseas dissertation sites, to facilitate planning doctoral dissertation research, or to support other research-related expenses for dissertation preparation.
Eligibility Criteria
Candidates must be:
- An actively enrolled PhD student at Michigan Public Health;
- In the first two years of their doctoral degree program;
- In good academic standing and intending to continue their studies at Michigan Public Health in the 2026-2027 academic year
- Planning to complete the proposed travel before December 31st, 2026
Additional considerations:
This funding is available to PhD students in any SPH Department to further their own dissertation planning and research. Funding is not intended to assist the work of faculty advisors, mentors, or other research projects unrelated to the student's own dissertation.
Priority will be given to support research relevant to the global health needs of low and middle-income countries; however, students conducting research in high-income countries may apply. In particular, if their work could be applicable to low-resource settings or communities.
Travel can be for any duration adequate to complete the goals described, and may be combined with other sources of support for longer or more complex activities.
If awarded, students are responsible for complying with all University of Michigan research, research ethics, and travel policies, as applicable.
Any questions about funding criteria, requirements, or the application process may be directed to sphglobalhealth@umich.edu.
Application Requirements
Applications, including both the online form and the supporting documents (see below), must be submitted by the posted deadline- March 16th, 2026. Your application will not be considered complete until all documents are uploaded, and you have clicked the "submit" button.
In addition to completing the questions in the online application form, you must submit the following attachments by file upload, in .pdf format, to the application form.
- Proposal: Describe your proposed project, including your rationale, objectives, and potential
design, and methodology; include a description of the activities you plan to undertake
during travel, a tentative travel itinerary, as well as the projected benefits of
the trip for your academic program and future career. Identify the institution or
partnership through which you will work (new or established), and any connections
to U-M if applicable. The proposal should be limited to 3 pages, single-spaced maximum.
- Travel Itinerary: Your anticipated travel itinerary (including dates, anticipated air and ground transportation, destination(s) and planned activities there) may be included as an additional attachment beyond the 3 page limit if needed. This is particularly helpful if you have multiple destinations planned. Travel can begin any time before December 31st, 2026.
- Up-to-date Resume/Curriculum Vitae
- Your Unofficial Transcript
- Budget: A budget, including estimated cost for travel and research-related expenses such as:
flights, ground transportation, lodging, meals, visa fees, travel health insurance,
immunizations and other travel prophylaxis, as applicable to your destination.
- We recommend you use our budget template, which may be found at this link. Your budget should demonstrate your efforts to obtain cost-sharing from other units, as needed. Please attach screnshots of expenses or explain how you came up with the estimated expenses.
- Note: Awards are made up to $10,000, but may not exceed the amount reasonably and justifiably budgeted for to complete your project aims
In addition to the online application form, please submit one Reference Letter: Your faculty project advisor should submit a letter that speaks to your ability to carry out your proposed research and any support, financial or otherwise, they may be providing. Please ask your reference to e-mail their letter directly to sphglobalhealth@umich.edu by the deadline.
The application is a Google Form. Please use your U-M Google account to log in to the form. Once you begin, your progress will be auto-saved for 30 days, and you can return to the form to complete your work within this timeframe. Once you finalize and 'Submit' your application, it can no longer be edited.
Application Deadline: Please submit the application form and all other relevant attachments and materials by 11:59 PM Eastern Time on Monday, March 16th, 2026.
Review Process & Timeline
- Proposals will be reviewed by a team designated by the Office of Global Public Health after the deadline.
- Reviewers will assess:
- Quality, significance and feasibility of the proposed activities;
- Potential contribution to development of student's career in global health research;
- Relevance to health issues and needs of low and middle-income countries;
- Strength of relationship with host institution or proposed partnership; and
- A clear and reasonable budget.
Applicants will be notified of awards in early April. These awards will be deposited
into the student's account through the
U-M financial aid fellowship award system upon completion of all pre-departure requirements
as outlined in the award letter.
Poster Presentation:
Recipients of Doctoral Travel Awards will be asked to prepare and present a poster summarizing their experience and outcomes as part of our annual Global Public Health Poster Session event, held at the end of January or beginning of February, typically on a Friday. Further details will be outlined in the award letter and award communications.
Questions?
Email us at sphglobalhealth@umich.edu