Some funding, from endowments left to the School, is available to assist London-based students with the cost of their MSc project. This funding is only available to students who are registered on a London-based Masters course at the School for the 2018-19 academic year.
Please note that Trust Fund awards will be allocated only to projects which are taking place in low- and middle-income countries, and whose topics are related to the School’s mission.
Application Eligibility
To be eligible to apply for this funding applicants/projects must meet the following criteria:
- the topic must be related to the School’s mission, and
- the project must be taking place in a low- or middle-income country, and
- the carrying out of the project should be beneficial to the School, i.e. it may be an extension of an existing project which may lead to further collaboration or raise the profile of the School in a certain country/region, and
- the student should not be in receipt of full funding for travel costs from other sources, and
- the student must be able to justify financial need, and
- the student must be able to contribute towards the total cost of the project.
What the Trust Funds cover
For successful applicants, a Trust Fund award will make a contribution towards reasonable costs of return flights to the capital city of the destination country only. Students are expected to keep travel costs to a reasonable minimum, as the funding is from gifts made to the School. Students should be aware that the Trust Funds available are limited. If a successful student purchases tickets above the award determined by the scholarships team, s/he will be responsible for covering the difference in amounts. Internal overland travel and any other project-related expenses are not covered.
The scholarships team in Registry follows a process which has been established to ensure fairness when making awards. The team will determine a reasonable cost of flights to all relevant capital cities over the summer. These will be used to share the available funds between all successful applicants as a percentage of reasonable costs. Successful applicants, therefore, may not be awarded most/all of their flight.
General Guidance
The Teaching Support Office (TSO) covers the cost of travel insurance for MSc projects. MSc students must apply for travel insurance via the iTravel system.
All applicants should follow MSc Project Handbook guidance regarding ethical clearance and risk assessment.
The scholarships team would advise that students apply for travel insurance and start the full ethics approval process as soon as possible once the destination and project have been confirmed.
In general, flights are cheaper the earlier that they are booked. It is possible that the award amount will not fully cover the cost of a return flight. Please be aware that the decision as to when to book a flight is the responsibility of the student.
How to apply & deadlines
Applicants should submit an online 2018-19 Trust Funds Application, including a completed Project Supervisor Form as part of the application, by 4.00pm on Friday 26 April 2019. Applicants should only submit one application – therefore, please ensure that the first one submitted has all the necessary information, as this is the one we will process.
By submitting an application for this funding applicants agree to its Terms & Conditions.
Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.
What next?
Following receipt of applications the scholarships team will review all applications to check eligibility criteria have been met and to calculate reasonable flight contributions for each destination capital city. The total budget will be divided between all eligible applications, using the ‘reasonable cost’ to calculate the award amount contribution (up to a maximum of one thousand pounds). Last year 123 awards were made, from 125 applications, and each student received 62.6% of the reasonable cost calculated for their destination. The Scholarships team will forward project applications on to relevant academics for review and approval. All applications will be processed in one batch after the deadline.
Once decisions have been reached, the scholarships team will contact all applicants with the outcome (we aim to complete this process within 7-10 days of the deadline but due to the multiple steps in the process this may take longer).
Funds will only be released to successful applicants on receipt of
- proof of full payment for international travel (to the destination noted in the application form), and
- a completed UK Bank Details Form, and
- confirmation of ethics approval (or confirmation that ethical clearance is not required); this must be one of the following
- LSHTM ethics letter and confirmation in reply email stating no local ethics is required, or
- LSHTM ethics letter that lists the local approval because it was submitted to the ethics committee, or
- LSHTM ethics letter that does not list local ethics approval and local ethics approval letter/documentation from project destination.
Once all of these documents have been received, we aim to reimburse successful applicants within 20 working days. Proof of full payment, bank details, and confirmation of ethics approval as listed above must be submitted to the scholarships team by midnight (BST) on Sunday 11 August 2019 at the latest. This is the final date for refund paperwork to be accepted; please be aware that no payments for 2018-19 Trust Funds will be made if necessary documents are only received after this deadline.
Once the project has been completed, the project supervisor must be able to confirm that each student’s project has been completed to a satisfactory level. If not, the student will be responsible for returning any Trust Fund contribution awarded. Please note that it is the student’s responsibility to ensure the project supervisor completes the End of Project Control form and that it is returned to the scholarships team.
Contact
If you have any questions that have not been answered in the information above please contact the scholarships team via scholarships@lshtm.ac.uk.