Written by Joseph Capani Jr.
Attending conferences can be a great opportunity to showcase your research and network with members of your field. However, travel expenses and conference fees can be a significant barrier for entry for graduate students to take advantage of this opportunity. Luckily, UC Irvine provides travel grants through Associated Graduate Students (AGS) for Ph.D. students who wish to present their research at conferences in their area.
The AGS Travel Grant program is open to any full-time graduate student planning on presenting original work at a research conference at least 100 miles away from Irvine. Ph.D. students are eligible if they plan on presenting a poster or giving a talk at a conference. Masters students, however, must lead a discussion, speak on a panel, administer a conference, or have a special letter of invitation to be eligible for a grant. If you are not sure if you qualify for a travel grant, it is a good idea to consult with your research advisor or reach out to AGS directly. At any rate, it can’t hurt to apply!
AGS offers four sessions for travel grant applications. Details are as follows (dates provided for 2018-2019 academic year, and may vary slightly for other years):
Session: Due Date Conference Date
Fall 11/2 11/1 – 1/31
Winter 1/18 2/1 – 4/30
Spring 4/12 5/1 – 7/31
Summer 7/19 8/1 – 10/31
In order to apply, speak with your rese arch advisor to obtain a brief letter of support. The letter of support needs to describe the conference you plan to attend and why it has professional merit in your field, the work you plan to present at the conference, and your personal contributions to that work.
If you meet the eligibility requirements and you obtain a letter of support, you are ready to apply! Winners are randomly selected from eligible applicants each round until funding is exhausted. Although this may be discouraging, the success rate of applications is relatively high, with a 43.8% success rate in Fall 2018. If you do not receive a grant during one session, you are free to apply for additional sessions as long as the conference date falls within the required range.
If you do manage to receive a travel grant award, be sure to keep track of airline tickets and expenses for reimbursement. Bring all receipts and proof of attendance at the conference to the Graduate Division Office within one month of conference attendance to receive your stipend. Awards are capped at $400 for domestic travel and $600 for international travel. In order to avoid exceeding the amount of the award, it is best to book airline tickets as far in advance of the planned dates of travel as possible.
If you are not selected as a recipient for a travel grant and you still plan on attending a conference, it may still be possible to attend and receive reimbursement from your research advisor. In this case, plan to discuss reimbursement with your advisor well before attending the conference. To make a strong argument, demonstrate that you tried to apply for the AGS Travel Grant, and emphasize the benefits in terms of exposure and networking to the group as a whole.
If you have secured funding for your conference attendance, the next step is preparation for the event. Ensure that your slide deck and/or poster are as polished and professional as possible, and that you have reviewed all of the necessary background information for your project. Speaker schedules can often be found on conference websites well in advance of the event, so it is a good idea to browse through the schedule and identify lectures and seminars you would like to attend. Networking is one of the most valuable aspects of conferences, so it is important to prepare a 60 second elevator pitch to introduce yourself and your research in a concise and compelling manner to both general and professional audiences. It is also a good idea to carry business cards, information on business card orders through UCI can be found here.
Research conferences are a great opportunity for professional development during graduate school, and a great place for networking with members of your field. Thanks to the AGS Travel Grant program, funding does not need to be a barrier to conference attendance. Details on the program described in this article can be found at https://www.ags.uci.edu/services/travel/.