Application Procedures for Travel Fellowships

The Training Program offers two types of fellowships for travel. The first is for travel to conferences to trainees funded by the program as well as to students and postdoctoral fellows who are not being funded by the program, but whose supervisors are members of the program. The second is for travel to the laboratory of the cosupervising mentor who is not in Toronto; this is available only to trainees funded by the program.

The following guidelines apply to travel to conferences:

1. The supervisor of the trainee must be a member of the Training Program.

2. The Training Program will provide a maximum of $ 1,500 per trainee per year. The trainee must make every effort to secure the most economical travel and accommodation arrangements.

3. There will be a limit of two trainees per PI per year, with at least one of the two being funded by the Training Program.

4. The trainee must present a poster or oral presentation of his/her work related to protein folding at the conference.

5. The conference should be related to the general field of protein folding or have a significant sub-theme related to protein folding.

6. The trainee should acknowledge the Training Program in his/her poster/abstract/talk (photos of the trainee giving a talk or poster are welcome for Program publicity purposes).

7. The trainee must submit the abstract to the Training Program PAC (Julie Forman-Kay, co-director) with a request for travel fellowship prior to attending the conference.

8. The trainee must provide proof of registration and abstract submission upon return from the conference and present all invoices to Mr. Rob Reedjik for reimbursement. If the trainee obtains a travel award from the conference or some other organization, this amount is deductible from the total expenses.

The following guidelines apply to travel to a mentor's laboratory outside of Toronto:

1. The mentor must be a co-supervisor of a trainee funded by the Training Program.

2. The Training Program will provide a maximum of $1,500 per trainee per year. The trainee must make every effort to secure the most economical travel and accommodation arrangements.

3. There will be a limit of one travel fellowship to a research laboratory for a trainee per PI per year. This will be on top of any travel fellowships to conferences.

4. The trainee must be engaged in research or training activities in the laboratory of the mentor and must meet personally with the mentor, not just others in the laboratory.

5. The trainee must submit a request to the Training Program PAC (Julie Forman-Kay, co-director) for a travel fellowship prior to the visit.

6. Upon returning, the trainee must provide a one-page report of the research and training activities pursued during the visit.

7. The trainee must present all invoices to Mr. Rob Reedjik for reimbursement.

The Travel fellowship will cover only:

1. Travel to and from the conference or mentor’s research laboratory. If the trainee has additional legs in their travel itinerary, whether or not it is for personal travel or to go to another conference, they must provide either printouts from websites of the airline showing the cost of a simple return flight to the Training Program-funded venue purchased on the same day, or get a photocopy of a return flight ticket from another attendee to the conference or traveler to the city of the laboratory.

2. Travel can also include ground transportation. Taxies should only be used if airport shuttle buses are impractical. For conferences nearby, trainees are encouraged to take the train or bus. For example, VIA Rail to Montreal is almost always less expensive than flying. Only economy class fares will be reimbursed for rail or air travel. It is expected that for most meetings within southwestern Ontario, western Quebec, northern U.S., etc., travel costs will be well below the $1,500 maximum.

3. Conference and accommodation costs. The Training Program will cover the basic conference fees and accommodation costs, which are often packaged together. We will reimburse up to the cost of double occupancy, which is often an option for conferences. If there is a banquet as part of the conference, the Program will pay for a ticket. We will only reimburse up to the cost of early bird registration if this is available. For travel to a mentor's research laboratory, accommodation costs will be a significant expense and may not be fully covered. If the mentor can provide free accommodations this is encouraged.

4. Food costs. The travel grant will cover reasonable food costs only when food is NOT included within the conference registration or accommodation package. The trainee needs to provide appropriate receipts. The Training Program will NOT accept per diem charges. Again, due to the duration of a visit to a mentor's laboratory, food costs may not be fully covered.

The Travel fellowship will NOT cover:

1. Costs of making posters or other printed material.

2. Cost of alcoholic beverages.

Keep in mind, while the Training Program is setting limitations on expenses, the attendee can still attempt to get reimbursed for the not-allowed costs from his/her supervisors. It is expected that the two mentors will cover any additional travel costs for visits to research laboratories..

If trainees are uncertain about any of these guidelines, they are encouraged to contact Rob Reedijk for clarification.