As part of UBC’s ongoing efforts to increase the benefits for PDFs, the Postdoctoral Fellows Office (PDFO) and the UBC Faculty of Medicine (FoM) are pleased to announce the launch of a PDF travel fund. These awards are intended to assist PDFs in defraying a portion of the cost associated with travel to conferences to present research performed at UBC.
Please note that this is a reimbursement-based award. Awards of up to $750 are available to FoM postdocs who have been accepted to present their work at virtual and/or in-person conferences.
To help ensure the health and safety of our postdoc community, the PDFO continues to monitor the ongoing situation related to the COVID-19 pandemic. To ensure that you are permitted to travel (especially internationally), please contact the UBC Travel Program before booking any UBC-related travel for the most up-to-date and accurate information about UBC requirements and restrictions. Visit the UBC Travel Guide for information about travel, including current COVID-related requirements, policies, and procedures for UBC-affiliated travel.
Award amount: Up to $750 (reimbursement-based award)
Eligibility
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 virtual or in-person conference and must be the 1st author of the accepted abstract.
- The applicant must be currently appointed through UBC Vancouver at the time of application and at the time of the conference.
- The research work being presented is new work that has been initiated and completed 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.
- No previous UBC PDF Travel Awards have been received by the applicant.
Applicants must agree to submit a 200-word report of the activity within 3 weeks of their award acceptance and grant the PDFO permission to post this report on its website.
Eligible Expenses
- Conference registration fees
- Travel (flights, train, ground transportation)
- Accommodation
- Meal expense
For information about per diem rates and other eligible travel expenses, please see Faculty and Staff travel guide.
Application Procedure
We are now accepting applications through an online portal. To apply, please submit a PDF travel application.
From April 2022 onwards, the application needs to be submitted within the same quarter of the travel to be considered for the Quarterly Travel Award. We encourage everyone to submit their applications before the start of the travel date.
| When the travel will occur | Dates applications are accepted | Results announced by |
| Q1 – April 1 to June 30 | April 1 to June 30 | July 15th |
| Q2 – July 1 to September 30 | July 1 to September 30 | October 15th |
| Q3 – October 1 to December 31 | October 1 to December 31 | January 15th |
| Q4 – January 1 to March 31 | January 1 to March 31 | April 15th |
Adjudication Procedure
Please note that we receive around 10-12 applications per quarter. Applications are reviewed for eligibility and up to 2 recipients are selected quarterly for the award via a lottery system. All applicants are notified of the status of their application by email.
Eligible applicants are awarded from a period apportioned fund. Each period apportionment is designated for travel taking place during that period.
Further Information
To receive the award, successful applicants must submit the following documents by email to med.gradpostdoc@ubc.ca within 3 weeks of the award acceptance:
- A completed PDF Travel Award Conference Report
- A completed PDF Travel Award Reimbursement Form
- Itemized and dated receipts
Payment will be processed through UBC Workday.
For any concerns or queries, please reach out to us at med.gradpostdoc@ubc.ca.
Past Recipients
To see the full list of past recipients, please visit the PDFO website.