Academic Senate - University of California, Santa Barbara

Doctoral Student Travel Grants

April 2020

In response to COVID-19, the following measures have been implemented regarding the Academic Senate Travel Grant programs:

Travel grant recipients who are unable to travel will need to notify the Academic Senate of any changes to their travel plans as soon as possible. This includes changes in travel due to changes by conference organizers, travel restrictions, etc. as well as personal choices to change travel plans.
Notification of any travel changes should be made in writing (Faculty: travel.grants@senate.ucsb.edu; Doctoral students: doctoral.grants@senate.ucsb.edu) to inform us of the change in plans.
Travel grant recipients whose travel plans have changed will need to cancel their application and resubmit a new application.
If a conference is cancelled or rescheduled after travel arrangements have already been made, then the traveler should work to reschedule the travel arrangements or seek a refund. A credit (airline, hotel, conference fee) must be declined in order to receive a reimbursement through the Academic Senate. If a refund is not possible, then Travel Grant funds may be used to reimburse an award recipient, as long as appropriate documentation is provided up to the originally-approved amount. Documentation includes: receipts, cancellation notice, and a letter of explanation regarding the cancelled travel.
For Faculty:
- In cases where a conference has been cancelled, travel grant recipients will be allowed to withdraw their application and re-apply for another conference. The same rules will apply regarding the conference, per the Faculty Travel Award Policy (i.e., the faculty member must be presenting their original research or creative work, etc.).
- In the case where a conference has been rescheduled, a Travel Grant recipient may change the date/ location of the travel based on the rescheduled conference. In this case, the travel award amount will be based on the location of the rescheduled conference.
For Doctoral Students:
- Doctoral students who are unable to fulfil their travel plans due to circumstances relating to the coronavirus and who receive reimbursement for cancelled travel will be eligible for another travel grant at a later date.

The Doctoral Student Travel Grant awards travel funds to graduate students who have been invited or selected to present a paper, present research, perform or exhibit at a major professional conference or meeting. The grants are awarded to eligible students on a first-come, first-served basis each fiscal year. Applicants must be doctoral students who have advanced to candidacy, or Master of Fine Arts students who are in their second year of study and in candidacy prior to travel. Students are eligible to receive one Doctoral Student Travel Grant during their graduate career at UCSB. Deadline is at least 21 days in advance of travel.

The funding for the 2019-20 Doctoral Student Travel Grant is split into two equal pools:

Pool One: Conference travel between July 1, 2019 and December 31, 2019
Pool Two: Conference travel between January 1, 2020 and June 30, 2020

Within each pool, the funding is divided between the divisions and schools housing our graduate programs. The allocation for each division/school is based upon its headcount of graduate student enrollment.

Bren School for Environmental Science and Management
College of Engineering
Division of Humanities and Fine Arts, College of Letters and Science
Division of Mathematical, Life, and Physical Sciences, College of Letters and Science
Division of Social Sciences, College of Letters and Science
Gevirtz Graduate School of Education

The Graduate Council has put these guidelines in place to help ensure that the grant funding will be distributed equally among those students attending conferences at the beginning and the end of the year, and among the various disciplines.

Applications will be accepted for each pool until the funds are expended for respective divisions/schools.

Please note: because the Doctoral Student Travel Grant program is supported by state funds, the Senate must maintain compliance with Restricted Travel Law AB 1887, which prohibits state-funded travel to certain states.

Administrative Coordinator: doctoral.grants@senate.ucsb.edu

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