Travel and Conference Expenses

This page gives some procedures and practical tips for efficient reimbursement of travel expenses associated with attending conferences or collaboration meetings.

Advances and Reimbursements

Reimbursement of travel related expenses for graduate students is very slow and may take more than a month. To avoid being out of pocket during this time, it is best to apply for a travel advance before the trip. The online travel advance request form is available in your MINERVA menus. To complete this form, you should add up the total estimated cost of airfare, cabs, hotel, conference registration fees, and meal expenses. If exact figures are unknown, use conservative estimates to make sure that the amount of the advance is slightly more than the cost of the trip rather than less. After obtaining your supervisor's signature and grant number, the form should be submitted to Alba Furfaro for processing.

Note that the request should be submitted as soon as the trip has been planned in case there is a delay in getting it processed. Even if it is submitted late and the money arrives after the trip it is still worthwhile since one still gets the money earlier than with a reimbursement claim.

A variant of the above procedure is to ask Eddie Del Campo, the administrative coordinator, in the front office (ERP 108) to arrange air tickets for you. Eddie works with a local travel agent and can make the arrangements and have the price of the ticket billed to the supervisor's grant. A travel advance request for the other expenses should still be submitted to Alba Furfaro. Note, however, that charging the airfare directly in this way counts as a travel advance and the transaction must be included on the travel reimbursement claim after the trip to avoid complications. (When using this method, it is easy to forget about the airfare when making the reimbursement claim, and this causes problems for the supervisor later because the airfare remains in the system as an unreconciled travel advance.)

After the trip, a reimbursement form must be submitted to Alba. All receipts must be attached, so be diligent in collecting them during the trip. Meals are paid from a per diem agreed between the student and supervisor and do not need receipts, but just about everything else requires one. If your ticket is an e-ticket, please make sure to save your boarding pass stubs and submit them together with the e-ticket receipt. If the requested advance was more than the actual cost of the trip (the preferred case), then you will need to supply a cheque, payable to McGill University, to cover the difference between the expenses and the advance. If the advance was less than the total cost of the trip, you will receive a reimbursement cheque after the claim has been processed.

Travel Grants

Travel to conferences, workshops and other research-related activities are typically supported from the research grants of the supervisor.

In addition, travel grants from Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (GPS), administered by the department, are also usually made available throughout the year, and are allocated on a competitive basis. For more information, see the Travel Award Policy & Procedures document.

Eligibility

• Full-time Master's or PhD students who are in good standing and who are not in Time Limitation or Thesis Evaluation status
• Must have received approval from supervisor
• Must not have received a travel award in the preceding term. *

* Students are normally awarded no more than one Travel Award per year. However, exceptions may be made if additional funds are available.

Travel

• Conferences, workshops, summer school, field work and other research related travel are eligible.

Application

• A call for application is typically sent: beginning of Fall semester, beginning of Winter semester, beginning of Summer semester.
• Students will need to provide details such as purpose of the trip, expected budget breakdown, and travel dates.
• upervisors must confirm that they support the student's application and will cover any expenses above the award amount
• Application results will be sent approximately 3 weeks after the application deadline.

After you return

• You will need to submit a detailed breakdown of expenses with original and detailed receipts and supporting documentation (e.g. itinerary or conference program) regardless of the amount of your award. Depending on whether the travel award covered all the travel expenses or not, the student is required to fill either an "Expense Report" on Minerva, or a "Breakdown of Travel Award Expenses" form. More information can be found in the Travel Award Policy & Procedures document.

Travel Insurance

Students should check with their supervisors before each trip to be sure about insurance to cover expenses relating to accident or illness while on a trip. In some cases extra insurance might be necessary, especially for foreign travel.