PDF Travel Awards

As part of UBC’s ongoing efforts to increase the benefits for PDFs, the Postdoctoral Fellows Office (PDFO) is pleased to announce the launch of a PDF travel fund. These awards are intended to assist PDFs with travel to conferences to present research performed at UBC.

Please note that in order to be eligible for the PDF Travel Award, postdoctoral fellows must be appointed through UBC Vancouver.

 

Application Procedures

Prior to submitting your application, be sure to carefully review the eligibility criteria below. As indicated in the Eligibility Summary below, PDFs from the Faculty of Science and from the Faculty of Medicine submit applications directly to their respective faculties and not to the PDFO.

To apply, the following documents must be submitted to the PDFO:

  • A completed PDF Travel Awards Application Form
  • A copy of the applicant’s CV (4 page maximum)
  • An outline of the conference
  • Proof of presentation (This should include correspondence from event organizers showing presenter name, date, and title of presentation.).

If confirmation of acceptance for conference presentation has not been received before the travel award application date, please submit proof of submission. Should you be selected for a PDF Travel Award, the award will be conditional based on conference acceptance. 

Submissions can be made by email to postdoctoral.fellows@ubc.ca (preferred), or by mail.

Please note: ALL submissions via email must have all of the above listed documents attached as ONE PDF document, labelled "Lastname, Firstname – Travel Award Application".

A confirmation email will be sent to all applicants within one week after submitting their application. If an applicant does not receive a confirmation email after one week of submitting, please email the PDFO.

Deadlines:

Applications can be submitted up to 3 months in advance of the calendar quarter in which the travel will occur (based on the first date of travel). Please note the following dates for the upcoming fiscal year.

Quarter in which travel will occur Dates applications are accepted
2019 Q1 - December 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019 October 1 to deadline December 31, 2018 at 4:00 PM (Pacific Time)
2019 Q2 - April 1, 2019 to June 30, 2019 January 1 to deadline March 31, 2019 at 4:00 PM (Pacific Time)
2019 Q3 - July 1, 2019 to September 30, 2019 April 1 to deadline June 30, 2019 at 4:00 PM (Pacific Time)
2019 Q4 - October 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019 July 1 to deadline September 30, 2019 at 4:00 PM (Pacific Time)

Eligibility Summary

This award is open to all Faculties and Units from UBC Vancouver (excluding all Departments/Units contained within the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Medicine).

PDFs from the Faculty of Medicine must apply directly to the Faculty of Medicine. View Faculty of Medicine guidelines, procedures and deadlines.

PDFs from the Faculty of Science must apply directly to the Faculty of Science. View Faculty of Science guidelines, procedures and deadlines.

Eligibility:

In order to qualify for a PDF Travel Award, the following criteria must be met:

  • The applicant must be accepted to present an oral presentation or poster at a conference and must be the 1st author of the accepted abstract
  • No previous UBC PDF Travel Awards have been received by the applicant
  • The research work being presented is work that has been conducted during the applicant’s postdoc tenure at UBC
  • If presenting work that is very close to one's dissertation topic, one must be presenting original and new data obtained during their postdoc tenure at UBC.
  • The applicant must be currently appointed through UBC Vancouver at the time of application and at the time of travel

Applicants must agree to submit a 200-word report of the activity to the PDFO via email within 3 weeks of their return, granting the PDFO permission to post this report on its website.

Maximum Award Value:

Travel support will be provided up to a maximum of $500 per recipient for domestic travel within North America or up to a maximum of $1000 per recipient for International travel.

Allowable Costs:

  • Travel costs
  • Accommodation expenses
  • Meal expenses
  • Conference registration fees

For information about per diem rates and other eligible travel expenses, please see UBC Policy #83 – Travel and Related Expenses.

Evaluation Criteria

Award applications will be evaluated by the Adjudication Committee with the following criteria:

  • It must be clear to the adjudication committee that the research work being presented is work that has been conducted during the applicant’s postdoc tenure at UBC. 
  • Those who are presenting work that is very close to their dissertation topic must be presenting original and new data obtained during their postdoc tenure at UBC.
  • Is the applicant doing an oral presentation or presenting a poster?  Depending on the field, these two types of presentations might not be considered of equal rank.
  • How innovative does this research appear to be?
  • How strong is the applicant's publication record, in particular the number of publications and authorship?
  • How important might the conference be to the applicant's professional development?
  • Does the applicant already have travel funding?  Please bear in mind that some postdoctoral fellow awards include discretionary research/travel funding, and this should be stated accordingly on their application.
  • Has the applicant presented on a similar topic recently?
  • How many conferences has the applicant had the opportunity to attend in the past year?   Preference may be given to those who may not have had an opportunity to attend a conference.

Files

AttachmentSize
PDF icon PDF Travel Award Application Form2.19 MB
Microsoft Office document icon PDF Travel Award Conference Report286.5 KB
PDF icon PDF Travel Award Evaluation Guidelines42.28 KB
Microsoft Office document icon PDF Travel Award Reimbursement Form554.5 KB

Deadline

Monday, 30 September 2019

Annual Value

Up to $1,000 CAD