Substantial grants for graduate studies in the United States

The Leifur Eiríksson Foundation calls for applications for grants for graduate studies for Icelandic students in the United States. A total of ten grants are available and applications must be received by 20 November, 2020 for the academic year 2021-2022.

This is the sixteenth allocation of the Foundation, established in 2001 to commemorate the millennial of Leifur Eiriksson’s discovery of North America. The aim of the Foundation is to strengthen collaboration between Icelandic and American universities by allocating grants to Icelandic graduate students (master or PhD) in the United States, and U.S. citizens or permanent residents from U.S. universities for graduate research or study at universities in Iceland.

The grant can be up to 25,000 dollars, or close to 3.5 million ISK, which is considered to cover tuition and cost of living in the United States for one year. The plan is to allocate 10 grants for the academic year 2021-2022 and the application form can be found on www.leifureirikssonfoundation.org.

The deadline is 20 November 2020.

This creates numerous opportunities for Icelandic students for graduate research or study at universities in the United States as all fields of study are applicable, apart from basic studies in Icelandic or English. Former fellows have thus studied in the fields of physical sciences, history, film studies, engineering, biology, archaeology, musicology, health sciences, and social sciences with high ranking universities such as Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Julliard, MIT, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Minnesota.

The board of trustees is appointed by the Central Bank of Iceland, the Icelandic Prime Minister and the University of Virginia. Kristín Ingólfsdóttir former Rector of the University of Iceland is chair of the board and the Central Bank of Iceland representative. Other board members are John Casteen III, former president of the University of Virginia, Kristrún Heimsidóttir, lawyer, appointed by the Prime Minister of Iceland, Susan Harris, lawyer at the University of Virginia, and Nancy Marie Brown, research scholar and writer.