An eligible student can only receive one graduate travel award during a graduate program. This includes master’s students transferring or who have transferred to a PhD program.

All applicants must:

Master's Students:

• Students in a master’s degree program must have completed no more than four years in the master’s program at the time of travel.

- If you are in a thesis-based program at the time of application, you must have completed your preliminary course work and other prerequisites (approximately the first two terms of your program and all grades must be final). You must be actively engaged in thesis research by registering in full time thesis credits.

- If you are in a course-based program at the time of application, you must have completed at least two university terms of full-time coursework (grades must be final) in the program by the time you travel. Course-based students are required to be registered full-time in each Fall and Winter term; spring/summer term registration is not required if full-time coursework was completed in the preceding Fall and Winter terms.

 
Doctoral Students:

• Students in a doctoral degree program must have completed no more than six years in the doctoral program at the time of travel. This includes master’s students who have transferred to a PhD program.

• At the time of application:

- You must have completed your preliminary course work and other prerequisites, completed your candidacy examination and be actively engaged in thesis research (registered in full time thesis credits).

In addition to the above eligibility requirements, an applicant’s travel must fall under one of two categories in order to be eligible for funding:

Conference Travel:

A conference trip eligible for FGSR funding should be a highlight of a student's program. Travel will involve the student's attendance and active participation - by presenting a paper or poster, exhibiting their work, or participating in a panel discussion at a major national or international research gathering.

Research Travel:

You must be actively engaged in research related activities at the designated location, and the nature of your trip must be to develop your own research (not your supervisor’s). Active participation is required during the specified time of travel, and is to include collection, analyzation, or gathering of information/data for your research. Internships, exchange programs, and attendance in credited and/or non-credited courses are not eligible for research travel funding.

The following are examples of travel that would constitute a research trip:

1.) Research travel within the City of Edmonton limits is not eligible for travel award funding

2.) Research travel funding is fiscal-year dependent; you may only submit a travel award application for travel expenses incurred between April 1 and March 31 of the current fiscal year

Application submitted to grad.awards@ualberta.ca by email or any other hard copies will not be accepted for this award. Submitting your application package does not denote acceptance of your application, nor guarantee available funds. You will be notified through the portal once your application has been processed and a decision has been made.

Note: FGSR will only accept complete applications prior to your departure date.

- Incomplete applications will be rejected and you will be required to re-apply once your application is complete.

- It is your responsibility to review your application for completeness and eligibility before submission.

- Hard copy applications or any emails send to grad.awards@ualberta.ca are not accepted for this award.

- Screenshots, JPEG, or PNG images of the application form or supporting documents will not be accepted for submission.

1)   FGSR Graduate Travel Award application form.

- Application fields must be completed in their entirety; missing information will result in your application being deemed incomplete and such will be rejected. 

- For general allowable travel expenses guidelines that FGSR follows, please refer to the University’s Travel Expense Procedure. Note that not all expenses listed within this document are acceptable for FGSR Graduate Travel Awards.

2) Supporting Documents

- Documents must be copies of originals

- Documentation sent by email must be the original print out from your ualberta.ca email account; information copied from the body of an email and pasted into word or excel will not be accepted. 

- Confirmation letters received as an email attachment must include the organizations’ particulars (organization logo, contact information, signatures, etc). 

- Copies of flight, hotel, car rental receipts, and copies of the conference program are not required.

Conference Travel:

- Documentation from the conference organizers confirming your poster or paper has been accepted for presentation OR a letter of invitation to participate in a panel discussion or to exhibit your work.

- Documentation from the conference organizers confirming your registration; the document should outline the cost for registration and what items are included in the registration fee (meals, accommodation, etc.). You must still send confirmation of registration if there is no registration fee.

- Documentation confirming your acceptance/ invitation and registration must be in your name. If your supervisor has submitted on your behalf and subsequently the documentation has been sent in their name, your supervisor must provide an explanatory memo to be included with your application.

Research Travel:

- Documentation from the organizers that confirms your participation to a data collection site, workshop, summer institute, etc.

- Documentation that you paid the associated expenses (eg. registration fee), if any.

- If the above documentation is not available, provide a letter of support from your University supervisor commenting on the significance of the trip for your research program. The letter must outline the specific dates and location in which you are undertaking your research, and must be written and signed on faculty/university letterhead. 

The FGSR will offer as many travel awards as the annual budget will support. Once funding in a certain section is expended, no more applications will be accepted.