Bard Graduate Center is an international community of scholars, and we encourage our students to think globally. There are a number of exciting opportunities for research travel during your time in the program.
Our Bard Travel Program, a week-long faculty-led international study trip, takes place at the end of the first year of the MA program. Students explore objects and histories by visiting museums, archives, historic sites, and contemporary studios, learning from curators, scholars, and craftspeople. Recent trips have been to Venice, where students explored the history of glass, mosaics, textiles, and lace; Paris, where BGC partnered with the Ecole du Louvre for a program on the history of the decorative arts and fashion; and Barbados, where, with partners from the University of the West Indies, our students examined colonial history, enslavement, craft, and heritage and public history. Other destinations have included Berlin, London, and Greece. This trip forms a meaningful capstone to the first year of the program, taking our object-centered teaching into the field.
Both MA and PhD students are eligible throughout their programs for funding to support independent research travel. MA students may apply for funding for site visits for Qualifying Paper research, and also for support in presenting their work at academic conferences. Doctoral students may apply for support for dissertation research and for conference presentations. MA students may also apply for competitive funding for travel and accommodation costs related to internship experiences outside of New York.
