Travel Grants

Domestic and International travel grants are available for Graduate Students and Early Career Professionals who will present an accepted paper or poster at the 2026 AAEA Annual Meeting. The grants can help defray housing and transportation costs associated with attending the Annual Meeting in Kansas City, MO, July 26 - 28, 2026. The amount of the travel grant awarded will depend on the number of applications received. There are Travel Grants for both International and Domestic travel and the deadline to apply for either is May 22, 2026.

Apply now for a Domestic or International Travel Grant

Eligibility Requirements
Qualifying applicants must meet the following eligibility requirements in order to be considered for a travel grant:

• Graduate student or Early Career Professional 2026 member of AAEA as of May 22 (application deadline).
• Actively engaged in agricultural or applied economics fields, such as agribusiness, agricultural, consumer, food, development, environmental, health, marketing, regional, rural, or resource economics.
• Insufficient institutional funding available to make the trip (including from university, department, grant, employer, etc.)
• Paper/poster/session accepted for presentation at the 2026 Annual Meeting.

Application Process
You will be asked to submit the following:

• Your name and e-mail address
• Institution and (if applicable) department at which enrolled/employed.  You may indicate “not-yet-employed” if not a current student and without employment – please highlight degree-awarding institution and date awarded
• Degree program underway or recently completed
• Professional Rank or anticipated graduation date
• Professional rank or position and years in that profession
• Brief summary of research interests (1000 words or less)
• Applicant statement (500 words or less): description of the anticipated value gained from attending and participating in the Annual Meeting (including paper/poster presentations, awards and/or pre-/post-conference workshops in which you will be involved)
• Proposed travel budget showing costs, funds available from institutional sources, and amount requested
• A nomination from a department, division head, or supervisor which includes written acknowledgement of the nomination and certification of your financial need, including certification that funding is unavailable from other sources.  Self-employed or not-yet-employed applicants may submit a letter supporting the nomination from a colleague or mentor from their degree-granting institution or include a letter stating financial need.

Applications should be submitted by the individual seeking support; however, only two applications from each employing institution will be considered. In the event that more than two applications are submitted from a specific department or division, it will be up to the department head to decide which will be considered, so it may be helpful to coordinate at that level.  If an applicant is self-employed or not-yet-employed they may seek a letter of support from a colleague or mentor from their degree-awarding institution.  Any letter of support for an Early Career Professional not employed or a student at a degree-awarding institution will not count against the maximum of two nominations from any department or other entity formally nominating other applicants.

Reflecting the Trust’s goal of broadening participation in the Annual Meeting, preference may be given to individuals working under institutional circumstances not normally conducive to AAEA meeting attendance.