Rolex Explorers Club Grant

Benefits & funding

• Awards are US$10,000 each. The applicant states the amount requested on the form.
• The budget covers lodging and meals, air transport, vehicle rental and fuel, ship time and other transport, field supplies, equipment, assistants, telecommunications and shipping.
• The Club funds projects that include a travel and exploration component.
• It does not pay for visas, immunisations, tuition, salaries for students or faculty, or the administrative overhead of institutions.
• The form asks whether the applicant would accept an award smaller than the amount requested, and asks for other support already secured and still pending.
• Unused funds return to the Club, and the whole award returns if the project is cancelled or postponed. Changing the project needs the Club’s approval, and the Club decides whether the revised project remains fundable.
• Recipients’ reports may be posted on the Club’s website or published in The Explorers Journal or the Log. Publications arising from funded work must credit The Explorers Club and any other sponsoring partner.

Eligibility

• Open to explorers running fieldwork that addresses a novel scientific, environmental or historical question, in any discipline.
• No degree, enrolment or employment requirement. The form records an academic programme only if the applicant is enrolled in one, listing undergraduate, master’s, doctorate, post-doctorate and other, and separately asks for employer and job title.
• The program page states no age limit. The grants hub FAQ describes this grant as focused on explorers under the age of 35. The form asks for date of birth.
• The Club cannot consider proposals for work being conducted in China, or proposals from Chinese citizens. It states that it is a non-governmental organisation and does not comply with Chinese regulations on grant awards by NGOs at this time.
• No other nationality or residency condition is stated. The country of birth, citizenship and residence menus in the form are open lists covering every country.
• The project must be field science, which the Club defines as an expedition that collects data to add to scholarship or knowledge in a discipline, bound for peer-reviewed publication.
• Two letters of support are required.
• Club membership is not required. The form asks about any past or present affiliation with the Club and about previous Explorers Club awards.
• The form asks for a project supervisor’s name, degree, title, institution, email and phone.

Application process

1. 1
   Open the program page, read the guidelines and tick the acknowledgement that starts the online form.
2. 2
   Fill in contact details, then date of birth, country of birth, country of citizenship, country of residence, employer, job title and primary institution. Ethnicity questions are voluntary.
3. 3
   Give the project title in plain language, the fieldwork location, start and end dates, the amount requested in US dollars, and an abstract of up to 1,500 characters.
4. 4
   Write the project description in up to 1,000 words, covering background, goals, methods, expected outcomes and any cultural or environmental impact. Images, video and maps may be uploaded separately.
5. 5
   Answer the education and outreach questions: whether there is an outreach plan, whether the applicant will contribute social media posts or an article for The Explorers Journal, and who else is on the team.
6. 6
   State which permits the work needs, where each request stands and when it should be granted, and attach any already secured. Add the supervisor’s details.
7. 7
   Build an itemised budget across lodging and meals, transport, field expenses, communications and shipping, splitting each line between the amount requested from this grant and funds from other sources.
8. 8
   Arrange two letters of support. They can be uploaded with the application, or sent confidentially by the writers to grants@explorers.org.
9. 9
   Accept the reporting, unused-funds and liability release terms, then submit before 14 September 2026, 6:00 pm US Eastern.
10. 10
    Awards are announced in March under the Club’s general grant timeline, unless a program’s own application says otherwise.

Program timeline

1. Application deadline, 6:00 pm US Eastern

   Sep 14, 2026

2. Awards announced, under the Club’s general grant timeline

   2027-03

3. The field season this round funds

   2027

4. Within six months of the end of fieldwork

   written report and statement of expenses with copies of major receipts due