Post By: Li Huang, Peer Mentor 2022
[Note: Shan Tian’s blog post has already been a great contribution to this topic. The following is a draft that adds more information to complement Shan’s blog.]
Reimbursements by your departments
A common way to obtain financial support for conferences is to receive departmental reimbursement. To support the early career development of students in academia, many departments at UCI provide funding for graduate students to travel. In general, students who need to present a paper or poster at a conference can receive reimbursement for travel expenses, such as registration fees, hotel rooms, and airfare.
Keep in mind that such reimbursements are subject to the financial policies issued by your department, your school, and the university. For example, the university prefers students to book flights and hotel rooms through the Connecxxus program. Policies and budgets may vary depending on departmental policies, so it is important to contact your program director or coordinator for more information regarding travel funding and reimbursements in advance so you can make plans accordingly. Students should better determine which expenses are eligible or not eligible for reimbursements, as well as the maximum rates for each item or category that can be reimbursed.
Funding opportunities from fellowships and grants
Another resource students can substantially tap to financially facilitate their conference travel is fellowships and grants. In many cases, travel expenses to conferences are considered research expenditures eligible for reimbursement by fellowships and research grants. In order to understand whether the funding opportunities of interests cover financial support for conference travel, you need to explore the specific policies by checking the information provided on their websites or contacting the person who is in charge of fellowship or grant management. You may include estimated travel expenses for conference presentations in your budget narratives when applying for fellowships or grants.
Fellowship and grant opportunities differ in discipline and field. Our university has fellowships open to international students, but due to scarcity, they are highly competitive. Schools and departments may offer fellowships and grants that can be used to fund travel. In addition, some research centers at our university also provide small grants for graduate students to conduct their research projects in different fields, allowing awardees to reimburse for their travels to conferences. You can keep track of relevant information by visiting the websites of the research centers whose goals and objectives are aligned with the focus of your research. External fellowships and grants will be a good source to finance your trips, provided that reimbursements of expenditures are consistent with their policies.