OVERVIEW
Conference attendance is recognised as an important research activity that contributes to the research abilities and profile of a graduate research candidate. Similar benefits can be gained from participating in other research training activities at research facilities or institutions of international standing in a candidate’s discipline area. Significant skills and networking opportunities can be gained from these activities. All research travel opportunities and plans should be discussed well in advance with your supervisor to ensure you have developed an exciting and appropriate research travel plan for your candidature.
The Graduate Research Conference and Research Travel Scheme was established to provide assistance to candidates to participate in such activities. It is a competitive process and must target conference and/or research activities that are international in scope or otherwise highly significant to the research field and of direct relevance to the candidate’s research project. These activities must be shown to add value to the candidate’s core research (e.g. publication of an article).
There are two opportunities to apply for funding throughout the year. Applications will only be considered if lodged electronically with the Graduate Research Office by midnight on the closing dates below:
2017 APPLICATION ROUNDS
Round 1 - Closing date for applications 31 March 2017
Round 2 - Closing date for applications 31 July 2017
ACTIVITIES ELIGIBLE FOR FUNDING UNDER THIS SCHEME
· Presentation of a paper, or a poster from research undertaken during candidature and/or active participation in a discipline specific context at a conference
· Participation in a course, placement or internship
· Travel to access relevant, high quality archives
· Attendance at highly specialised workshops or research facilities to learn an essential method, technique or information not available/accessible at the home institution
· Undertake concentrated engagement with experts in the research project field at a reputable international research facility
ELIGIBILITY
To be eligible for conference or research travel funding the candidate must:
1. Be enrolled in a Higher Degree by Research at UTAS on a part time or full time basis
2. Be within the maximum period of their candidature at the time of the proposed conference and/or research training activity:
Doctor of Philosophy: maximum period of 4 years Full Time or equivalent Part Time
Professional Doctorate: maximum Degree Period as approved by Academic Senate and set out in the applicable University course and unit handbook
Master of Research: maximum period of 2 years Full Time or equivalent Part Time
Joint/Cotutelle Doctoral Degree: maximum period as specified in the Candidate Agreement
3. Have passed confirmation of candidature and have submitted all required reports to date (e.g. annual review of progress). Please noteif Confirmation/Annual Review is overdue in iGRad, this will constitute grounds for ineligibility
ELIGIBILITY CONTINUED
Candidates who are not eligible to apply are:
1. Candidates who have exceeded the maximum degree period of candidature at the time of the application:
Doctor of Philosophy: maximum period of 4 years Full Time or equivalent Part Time
Professional Doctorate: maximum Degree Period as approved by Academic Senate and set out in the applicable University course and unit handbook
Master of Research: maximum period of 2 years Full Time or equivalent Part Time
Joint/Cotutelle Doctoral Degree: maximum period as specified in the Candidate Agreement
2. Candidates who are pre-confirmation
3. Candidates who have submitted their thesis for examination
4. Candidates on a Candidature Management Plan (CMP) at the time of application
5. Candidates on suspension from candidature during the time of the application or during the proposed activity
6. Candidates who attend a conference in a delegate only capacity
7. Candidates who have already received funding under the Graduate Research Conference and Research Travel Scheme
8. Candidates who have already participated in the conference and/or research training activity for which they are applying for (retrospective applications not accepted)
9. Where the Confirmation/Annual Review is not up to date in iGRad (unless there are exceptional circumstances and a case needs to be made)
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
1. Please discuss all travel arrangements and the development of your application with your supervisor. This will assist in developing a strong application. This is a competitive process with a 30% success rate and many high quality applications are not funded.
2. Please have your supervisor check your application prior to submission and ensure you have completed the compliance checklist at the end of the application form. Be sure you have included all required documentation, to ensure your application will be compliant.
3. A candidate may apply for funding to undertake a range of research activities during the same travel period within a single application
4. The Graduate Research Conference and Research Travel Scheme will provide up to a maximum of $2,500 of the funding required, with the expectation of co-funding provided by the candidate’s School/Institute or other source
5. Late, incomplete, non-compliant or retrospective applications will not be reviewed
6. A grant will only be awarded where the conference and/or research training activity has not already occurred or has not commenced at the closing date of relevant round
7. Applications must be sent electronically as a single pdf to:
8. Applications will be accepted without confirmation of conference and/or research training activity; however, funds will only be issued once the candidate has supplied written confirmation (e.g. abstract acceptance from the conference organisers)
9. Any changes to the planned activities must be communicated to the Graduate Research Office before funds are committed
10. Funds will be transferred to a School account and candidates will be required to liaise with the appropriate School representative for access to the funds
11. Candidates will only be eligible for one grant through the Graduate Research Conference and Research Travel Scheme during their candidature
12. Candidates may expend the funds whilst the thesis is under examination, provided the application has been made prior to submission of the thesis
13. The candidate and supervisor statements must not exceed 300 words each
14. The application must be signed* by all relevant parties prior to submission
15. Travel and accommodation quotes can be obtained by conducting a web-based search. However, all bookings for any university travel undertaken by candidates and staff must be made through the official UTAS travel suppliers, using Locomote for approval and insurance purposes.
* Acceptable signatures include pen to paper; embedded jpeg or pdf; an email from a UTAS staff account or use of the signature function in Adobe Acrobat
IMPORTANT INFORMATION CONTINUED
16. All travel must be undertaken in accordance with the University Travel Policy and Guidelines. Note: research trips that combine private travel beyond the proportion allowed by the University Travel Policy and Guidelines, (30%), can only include 50% of the airfare for the calculations of total travel expenses. I.e. if your airfare is $1000 and you intend to take leave in excess of the 30% proportion of the trip, you may only list the total airfare as being $500. It is essential that any private travel is considered in the application or if the plans change the budget is adjusted accordingly and Graduate Research Office is notified
17. Candidates who are unsuccessful in being accepted for participation by the proposed conference or research activity organiser, must forfeit their grant and apply again in a proceeding round
18. A grant recipient must submit a half page report to the Graduate Research Office on the outcomes/outputs that have resulted from their research travel no more than six months after the supported research travel has been completed
PROCESS
1. A case must be presented for the benefits/skills/value that would come from undertaking the research activity via the application form
2. The candidate emails the completed application to the Graduate Research Office:
3. The applications are checked for compliance once the round closes (deadline date) by the scheme administrator, and if compliant, sent to the academic assessors for review
4. Non-compliant applications will not be sent to the academic assessors for review. Applicants with non-compliant applications will be informed by email at this stage in the process
5. The academic assessors provide scores and feedback to the scheme administrator. Applications are ranked based on scores (see below in criteria).
6. The Dean of Graduate Research endorses the awards
7. All applicants with reviewed applications will be informed of the outcome, via email, and provided with written feedback, from the academic assessors
8. The scheme administrator registers the award and liaises with finance to arrange account codes and funds transfer
9. Successful candidates will be notified of their operating account code and directed to their supervisor, executive officer and/or hub based finance officer for assistance in accessing the awarded funds
GUIDE TO APPLICANTS
Applications are ranked on the following criteria:
Criteria 1: Quality, relevance and nature of conference and/or research training activity (20 points)
· Evidence that the conference/course or infrastructure/expertise being accessed is international in scope and leading in the discipline
· Evidence of participation of leading scholars
· Evidence of competitive adjudication or clear indication of invitation based on reputation/work of applicant (in case of conference)
Criteria 2: Academic record (20 points)
· Academic outputs, achievements and milestones as outlined in application
Criteria 3: Statements (20 points)
· Candidate statement clearly demonstrates the relevance and benefit of conference and/or research training activity to their research
Criteria 3: Statements (20 points) CONTINUED
· Primary Supervisor statement provides unequivocal support of the capability of the candidate and the candidate’s record to date, including satisfactory outcomes from annual reviews (A and B, not Cs), demonstrates benefit of the candidate participating in the conference and/or research training activity
· Statements adhere to the maximum length of 300 words
SUPPORTING STATEMENTS
These statements are crucial in the decision process. In particular, the supporting statement from the Primary Supervisor is critical to the assessment of applications and candidates should ensure their supervisor is aware of the requirement and of the closing date.
The Primary Supervisor statement is an opportunity to showcase the candidate by providing information on their achievements and to reinforce the impact the conference and/or research training activity would have on the candidate’s progression.
Generic and unsubstantiated supporting statements from the Primary Supervisor do not assist the candidate. Statements such as: ‘I strongly support Bill’s request for funding’ or ‘His work is of outstanding quality’ or ‘the proposed visit to the University of Massachusetts Law Library will be of immense benefit to his research’ will not be scored highly.
Two examples of strong supporting statements from the Primary Supervisor would be:
(Conference)
I would like to state my unequivocal support for Bill’s application for funding to attend this conference, the International Association of Calligraphers. This is a key venue for him to demonstrate his research in Roman scripts to colleagues in the field, particularly so when the theme of this year’s meeting focuses on Latin scripts. Bill’s talk, titled “Christian proselytism and the spread of the Roman alphabet” has been chosen, from a submitted abstract, by the organizing committee and is the only graduate talk to be included in the symposium. While providing general exposure to an international research community the meeting also provides Bill a unique opportunity to meet experts in his field of research, in particular Professor Sally Write, University of Washington, who is chairing the session that Bill is speaking in and is the author of numerous leading texts in the area. Further, Bill has written and organized to meet with Drs. Jim Sailsbury and Fiona Barrington, who are attending the meeting as plenary speakers and who are experts in classical Roman scripts.
(Research visit)
I am writing in support of the conference/research travel application from Mohammed Marrakech to work with Professor Cain Able at Newfoundland University, with the possibility of finding greater research exposure at academic events in the region. Professor Able spent his study leave at our lab last year and it was then that he and Mohammed started to discuss their ideas with me. Mohammed’s PhD is in the same area of fish vaccine and probiotic development, which is the main focus of Professor Able’s research. Mohammed has been very keen to test his oral delivery of vaccines and probiotics on a different fish disease model and he will have this opportunity at Professor Able’s lab. Mohammed has been working hard to overcome all the technical challenges he has encountered. Mohammed is motivated, well organised and committed to the project. He has completed first draft of his first chapter, which he has written up as a manuscript; this manuscript will be submitted to a scientific journal later this
year. Mohammed is an enthusiastic student. Due to high costs of travel and small population size, PhD students
working on fish health in Australia are isolated. Mohammed will gain significant benefits from working in Professor Able’s lab in Idaho and meeting with other researchers in the US. The collaboration with Professor Able will result in material for two research chapters and application of methods in further research in Tasmania. Mohammed will present his current results and will be able to get constructive feedback from scientists who are experts in his research area but are not directly involved in his project. I am strongly supporting this application.
Estimating and Justifying the Budget
All applications must include quotes for travel and accommodation (in addition to completing the budget table in the application form). This evidence supports budget estimation.
· Travel and Accommodation: Support will be provided for economy travel only. Quotes can be obtained by conducting a web-based search (an indicative cost should be sought by conducting a search for a return flight to the destination of the conference and/or research training activity and provided in the budget information). If successful in the round, all bookings must be made through the official UTAS travel suppliers.
· Meals/Incidentals: As a guide, a reasonable amount would be half the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) published per diem rate for the country or city you are visiting. Please consult the ATO’s determination on the reasonable travel and overtime meal allowance expense amounts for the 2015-16 income year: TD 2015/16.