Global Field Experience Financial Award - Application Opens January 14, 2025

The Global Field Experience (GFE) Financial Award  is a unique scholarship offered by the Rollins School of Public Health. The purpose of this scholarship is to encourage students interested in global health to participate in supervised field training which will facilitate the transfer of classroom knowledge into practical experiences.

As of February 26, 2025, please review the new guidelines for the GFE Financial Award below:

• GFE Financial Awards provide supplemental funding to support Rollins student summer field experiences in low- and middle-income countries.
  
  
• GFE Financial Awards may also provide supplemental funding to support "glocal" summer field experiences. In this case, these are experiential learning opportunities in the United States that work alongside unserved, underserved, or marginal populations.
  
  • As an example, a student could be funded for creating and implementing capacity building programs for organizations that work with refugee communities in Clarkston, GA.

• Projects that do not have any interaction with global or glocal communities will not be considered for this award. 
  
  • As an example, a student will not be funded for analyzing program data for an organization, if the student will not be interacting directly with the communities that they are serving.

The total amount of funding awarded each cycle will be based on availability of funds in a given year, the number of students who apply and the quality of the applications.

The GFE Financial Award Application is now open and will be due on Friday, March 14, 2025. Click here to apply.

MSPH and MPH students from all departments are eligible to submit a proposal for a GFE Financial Award and must be enrolled at Rollins for the semester before their field experience to qualify for an award. They must have completed a minimum of 9 credit hours at Rollins.

Additionally, they must have connected with a faculty advisor and secured an opportunity with a host organization prior to applying for the GFE Financial Award. They must work with their faculty and host organization to develop a project that is:

• Well-defined, rational, and feasible
• Integral to the student’s public health training
• Of measurable value to the host organization/community, and
• Based in a clearly articulated, mutually beneficial partnership

> View slides from 2025 GFE Financial Award Info Session (Revised 2/5/2025)
> View recording of GFEFA Info Session
> View examples of previously funded Global Field Experiences.

The 2025 GFE Financial Award Tentative Timeline:

Please note: If the student is approved to receive an award, the student will typically receive award funds after they have provided the necessary account information. The award is meant to supplement the student’s funds. The GFE Award will typically NOT cover all costs that the students will incur for the international project.

GFEFA Student, Project and Site Eligibility and Exclusion Criteria

Student

• The GFEFA applications are open to currently enrolled RSPH MPH and MSPH students pursuing summer fieldwork in global and glocal communities as defined above.
• The field experience must be a minimum of six weeks, but average field experiences are between 6 ‐ 12 weeks.

Project

• For the purposes of GFEFA, a field experience is defined as applying public health knowledge and skills in partnership with a community to advance the well-being of a population(s); this includes but is not limited to research projects with an experiential learning component (e.g. direct interaction with global and glocal communities).
• Funding is not provided for student travel that can be categorized as medical- or public health-"tourism;" short term mission opportunities; or shadowing clinicians in settings abroad. Students are also warned not to fall prey to third-party companies that "sell" experiences in LMIC and call these APE even though they do not offer public health supervision nor a specific implementation/research partner. Such organizations often charge for a services such as tuition, enrollment, or registration. If you are not sure if your site is eligible, please contact Dr. McFarland.

Site

• The review committee gives consideration to eligible fieldwork that takes place in low- and middle-income (LMIC) nations as defined by the World Bank or within indigenous regions, e.g. tribal designated statistical areas (TDSAs), land base or reservations. 
• Consideration will be given to projects in the United States and other high-income countries for specific projects related to underserved or marginal populations, e.g. refugee populations in Belgium, post-hurricane environmental data collection in Puerto Rico or Zika virus education and surveillance in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
• The review committee will not consider applications to countries with a U.S. State Department Level 4 warning at the time of application. Level 3 applications will be reviewed and approved by the GFE Team. Should the risk of a project site escalate after funds are awarded, additional criteria may apply and there is a chance the trip may not occur at all. In addition, travel to all countries under trade or economic embargoes by the United States government (OFAC) require a specific endorsement by Emory's international insurance carrier.
• There may be modified site eligibility in Summer 2025 based on US State Department or Emory University Travel Recommendations.

Contact dmcfar@emory.edu or gferequests@emory.edu for more information.