The Money.

Time to talk money. No matter how little we eat while traveling (does Greenland have Ramen Noodles?) there is no way to get there without funds. Luckily, we have support from three places. Here is a brief glimpse at the organizations making this trip financially possible:

The Lougheed Center for Applied Learning (LoCAL) at SUNY Potsdam: When I arrived at SUNY Potsdam last fall, I was introduced to an amazing resource on campus. Built with a generous donation from the Lougheed family, Potsdam’s LoCAL funds experiential learning. I quickly targeted their faculty grants and was awarded travel funds to get to Greenland for this experiential eLearning opportunity for SUNY Potsdam students.

The University at Dundee’s RS1 Research Funding: With my travel covered, Alice now needed to find travel funds from Scotland. Her university has an internal small grants program which offers seed-funding to help researchers develop early-stage project ideas or attend conferences and networking events. She was able to secure funding to cover a portion of her travel and accommodations this way.

The United States Consulate Nuuk: After a fortuitous meeting between the team member in Greenland (Hans) and the US Consulate in Nuuk, we were made aware of a grant program designed to give “support for artistic and cultural performances, educational initiatives and non-governmental organization (NGO) projects whose aim is to promote and deepen the understanding and appreciation of American foreign policy and culture.”  We applied and were thrilled this summer when they awarded us the grant. These funds allow us to expand our original plans into new places as well as hire a local translator of Kalaallisut (the West Greenlandic language) during our workshops.

As with all research, securing the funds to do something like this is vital. Without the backing of these institutions, our ideas would remain mere words on a page.