Skip to main content

Northwestern Buffett Institute for Global Affairs

Summer Language Training Award

The Buffett Institute’s Summer Language Training Award assists doctoral students in years 1-3 with expenses related to language training necessary for their dissertation research.

The Summer Language Training Award offers up to $5,000 to help defray expenses doctoral students incur when pursuing language instruction not available at Northwestern, including tuition and travel costs for students to engage in language learning at other institutions. For more information on language training at Northwestern, please visit the Weinberg Language Resource Center website and its page on languages not offered.

Graduate students traveling to any international location: By accepting this grant, you explicitly agree to follow all health and safety requirements as outlined by the Buffett Institute's Office of Global Safety and Security for the location(s) where you will be traveling. As a reminder, all students undertaking university-related travel abroad—except for undergraduate study abroad—must register their trip in the International Travel Registry to ensure our Office of Global Safety and Security can provide support in the event of a health or safety emergency.

Northwestern doctoral students in years 1-3 are eligible to apply. Applicants (and their advisors) should make clear the significance of the language to the dissertation research. The award (up to $5,000) will be made as a scholarship award and will be paid out through the University's payroll system as taxable income. It is meant to cover tuition and travel costs for students to engage in language learning at other institutions. Applicants who have received a previous grant from the Buffett Institute must have submitted a post-award report before applying for a new award. 

Applications are due March 15 annually.

The application is made available via SOAP.

Questions about the award can be sent to Aaron Darrisaw at adarrisaw@northwestern.edu.