Graduate Student Travel and Research Award

Graduate Student Travel and Research Awards are administered by the Department of Psychology and are available to eligible Psychology graduate students. Students have the option to apply for either a travel award or a research award.

Eligibility

Department of Psychology graduate student in any year of the program who is in good standing. For a travel award, student must be presenting as first author at the conference/meeting.

Award Use

Travel Award
May be used for travel or registration expenses to attend and present as first author at a psychology conference or workshop. Attendance may be in-person or virtual.

Research Award
May be used for participant payments, software and other study materials, and trainings or workshops needed to successfully complete the proposed project. May not be used to attend a training, workshop, or conference that is not directly connected to a proposed project.

Funding Amount

$1,200 in fiscal year 23 (July 1, 2022 - June 30, 2023)
In previous years, the award amount has been $600. The increase to $1,200 for FY23 is temporary, and the award amount will likely revert back to $600 in subsequent fiscal years.

Funding Payout

Student Account Deposit
Recipients enrolled in at least one credit/tuition-bearing course will receive their award funds credited to their student account.
Balances due on student accounts will be deducted from the award, financial aid may be adjusted as a result of the award, and the award may be subject to taxable income.


Reimbursement
Recipients not enrolled in a credit/tuition-bearing course (e.g., enrolled in GRAD 999) will receive their award funds via reimbursement.
Recipients will need to pay for their expenses out-of-pocket then request reimbursement from accounting.

Note About Research Awards
Before students submit an application, they should be aware of how they will receive their funds and consider any barriers to the use of those funds. For example, in the case of research awards being used for subject payments, applicants should make a plan for how they will pay subjects. If a faculty member's PCard (UMN credit card) will be used to make the payments, applicants may ask for an exception to the award payout process. They may request a chartstring for the faculty member to use when reconciling their PCard expenses. Applicants should select this option on the budget page of their application.

Application Instructions

Submit an application here (Google form)

Within the fiscal year, students may apply for a travel award, research award, or both. The total/combined amount of funds awarded to a student will be up to $1,200 in FY23. To maximize funding and avoid increased administrative burden, we expect that students will submit no more than 2 applications in FY23 to reach the $1,200 mark. However, an exception will be made for students presenting at a conference or meeting as first author virtually, who will have lower expenses (e.g., conference registration only). Students should submit a separate application for each travel or research award (e.g., each conference). The applications may be submitted separate from one another at separate times during the fiscal year. 

Deadline

Travel Award
No later than 2 weeks prior to the first date of travel

Research Award
Prior to purchases being made/expenses being incurred

Questions?

Heidi Wolff, Student Services Specialist - hwolff@umn.edu