Faculty of Medicine – PDFO Travel Awards

Award Summary

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.

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 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 HERE.

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 10th
Q2 – July 1 to September 30 July 1 to September 30 October 10th
Q3 – October 1 to December 31 October 1 to December 31 January 10th
Q4 – January 1 to March 31 January 1 to March 31 April 10th

Adjudication

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.

Reimbursement

To receive the award, successful applicants must submit the following documents within 3 weeks of the award acceptance:

BY EMAIL to med.gradpostdoc@ubc.ca

• 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.