SGS Conference Grant

Award Overview

Award Category: Doctoral Awards, Financial Assistance, In-Course Awards, International Awards, Master's Awards, Travel & Conference Awards
Application Dates : Fall / Winter
Value & Duration : Variable (based on registration fee and location of event)
Level of Study : Doctoral, Master’s
Required Legal Status : Domestic / International
Results : May / November

Purpose

Eligibility

Preference will be given to students who are in the early stages of their academic career. SGS Conference Grants are typically not awarded to students who are beyond the program length required for their degree.

Students can apply for the grant before receiving acceptance to present at the conference.

NOTE: Automatic forfeiture of an SGS Conference Grant offer will occur if a recipient does not meet all of the eligibility and payment collection requirements (see Safety Abroad and Payment Activation sections below).

Applicants must:

Be registered full-time in a graduate degree program (master’s or doctoral) at the time of each of the following:
- Application;
- Conference presentation; and
- Requesting payment of grant;
  - NOTE: Students are typically not registered during the session in which convocation occurs (e.g. not registered in May for June convocation, or not registered in September for November convocation).
Be actively presenting their research (relevant to their current degree program) at an academic conference that occurs between within the appropriate cycle’s timeframe (as per chart above);
For all students travelling outside of Canada (including to the U.S.A.): Be compliant with all applicable departmental and U of T Safety Abroad procedures, including an online workshop, prior to departure (please see Safety Abroad section below); and
Have not received payment for an SGS Conference Grant during their current graduate degree program.

Application Process

The link to the online application can be found at the bottom of this section. Applicants are required to review all of the information on this web page before beginning an application.

Important Notes

Applicants should be aware of the following:

One application may be submitted per student in support of one conference
Successful applicants can request to apply their grant to a different conference, after receiving the result of their application (please see Changing Conference section above);
The applicant will be required to enter their UTORid and password to access the application;
Once the applicant passes page 2, the application is saved and may be returned to at a later date through the “My Forms” link on the left hand side menu. Each session times out after 2 hours;
The application cannot be modified after submission. If an error is discovered once it has been submitted, a new application must be created to replace the original application. The applicant can “clone” their submitted application, edit the information and re-submit. Please email conferencegrant@utoronto.ca to inform SGS of the second corrected application.
Applicants should notify their supervisor/advisor that they will be submitting an SGS Conference Grant application which will require their approval, and confirm their supervisor/advisor’s correct email address to ensure the supervisor/advisor section of the application is sent to the correct email address for completion.
Be mindful of the deadline date to ensure their supervisor/advisor completes their portion on time; and
If travelling outside of Canada, applicants must register on the Safety Abroad Database, update their travel profile and complete an online Safety Abroad Workshop as soon as they have confirmed travel plans. Safety Abroad procedures are mandatory for all U of T students travelling outside of Canada, including to the U.S.A., and must be completed before the travel occurs (regardless of receiving SGS Conference Grant support).

Supervisor/Advisor Information

For the purposes of this grant, the supervisor/advisor identified on the application must be a faculty member who currently holds graduate faculty membership at U of T and is familiar with the applicant’s current progress within their program.

Applicants who do not have a supervisor/advisor should ask their graduate unit for assistance in identifying an appropriate graduate faculty member who can fulfil this role for the approval process.

Online Application

Step 1 – Student Application

Be sure you meet all eligibility criteria before filling out the application form.

Click on the “Online Application Form” button. Sign in using your UTORid.

You will be brought to a “Dashboard” page. Using the left hand side menu, click on “Forms”, then “Form Library”, and “Conference Grant”.

Complete all pages, review and hit the “Submit” button at the bottom of page 6.

You will be asked to provide the following information:

Supervisor/advisor’s email address (for the approval process);
Details of the academic conference (e.g., title, location, registration fee, website URL);
Details regarding the presentation (e.g., title, first author);
Proposed budget for the conference/travel (for information purposes only).

Step 2 – Supervisor/Advisor Portion

Once submitted, the identified supervisor/advisor will:

Receive an email with a web link that they must use in order to review and approve the application.
Be asked to review the application and confirm that the
- applicant is in good academic standing
- proposed academic conference is appropriate at the current stage of the applicant’s program
- Proposed funding from the applicant’s department/Faculty (if any) is correct, to the best of their knowledge (for information purposes only)

Step 3 – Confirmation Email

Once the supervisor/advisor has submitted their portion, the system will send a confirmation email to both the applicant and the supervisor/advisor within 24 hours.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to review the details of their supervisor portion within the confirmation email.

Technical difficulties with the application must be reported immediately to conferencegrant@utoronto.ca

Online Application Form

Additional Info

Payment Activation

Required Documentation

NOTE: Automatic forfeiture of an SGS Conference Grant offer will occur if a recipient does not meet all of the eligibility and payment collection requirements (see Eligibility to Apply and Safety Abroad sections above).

To collect payment, awardees must submit the following required documents within 2 weeks of the completion of their trip and no later than the appropriate collection deadline listed below or by the end of the awardees’ last registered session, whichever is earlier. NOTE: Students are typically not registered during the session in which convocation occurs (e.g. not registered in May for June convocation, or not registered in September for November convocation):

A completed online SGS Conference / Research Travel Grant Payment Activation Form (access Payment Activation Instructions below);
1. Awardees will be expected to confirm on this form that all Safety Abroad requirements were completed prior to travel outside of Canada. Safety Abroad procedures are mandatory for all U of T students travelling outside of Canada, including to the U.S.A., and must be completed before the travel occurs (regardless of receiving SGS Conference Grant support).
Proof of conference attendance and active-participation; and
1. Screenshot of, or URL to, webpage where online conference program, applicant’s name and title of presentation are posted (title and location of conference must be visible); or
2. Official certificate of attendance/participation from conference organizer listing conference’s title and location, applicant’s name and title of presentation
Registration fee invoice.
1. Receipt issued by the conference organizer showing the amount of the paid registration fee and the title of the conference
  - If the registration amount listed (as advertised) is significantly lower than the proposed registration fee amount the applicant specified within their application, the value of the grant may be adjusted accordingly. However, SGS Conference Grant offers cannot be increased.
  - If the invoice is in a currency other than Canadian dollars (CAD), the applicant must provide a conversion showing the foreign currency amount and its equivalent amount in Canadian dollars (CAD)
2. If registration fee will be waived / covered by the conference organizer:
  - Applicants may enter the advertised registration fee amount (at the student-rate) into their application and receive an offer that consists of both the registration fee and location top-up amounts, if the applicant will also be able to provide the following items:
    - A screenshot from the conference organizer’s website (title of conference visible) showing the advertised registration fee amount at the student-rate and
    - Email / letter from the conference organizer (title of conference mentioned) confirming that the applicant’s registration fee will be waived / covered

For detailed instructions and access to the online SGS Conference / Research Travel Grant Payment Activation Form, review the Payment Activation Instructions.

Collection Deadline

Successful applicants will receive an email notifying them of the following:

- Their offer amount.
- Reminder that SGS Conference Grants are awarded once per graduate degree program (i.e., one during master’s, one during doctoral) and collection of the offer will deem recipients ineligible to apply for future SGS Conference Grants during the same graduate degree.
- Successful applicants are strongly encouraged to submit the required documentation to collect their offer within two weeks of the completion of their trip.
- Uncollected grants will automatically become void as per the appropriate deadline:
  - Winter/Spring cycle = October 15 or the last day of the applicant’s last registered session, whichever is earlier
  - Fall cycle = April 15 or the last day applicant’s last registered session, whichever is earlier
  - NOTE: Students are typically not registered during the session in which convocation occurs (e.g. not registered in May for June convocation, or not registered in September for November convocation)

Safety Abroad

Safety Abroad procedures are mandatory for all U of T students travelling outside of Canada, including to the U.S.A., and must be completed before the travel occurs (regardless of receiving SGS Conference Grant support).

Automatic forfeiture of an SGS Conference Grant offer will occur if a recipient does not meet all of the eligibility and payment collection requirements (see Eligibility to Apply above and Payment Activation below).

The following steps must be completed prior to departure and cannot occur retroactively:

- - Complete the online registration request form. This should occur at least one month before departure. The Safety Abroad Office will register the student and send a confirmation email.
  - Sign on to the Safety Abroad Database and complete a profile, including emergency contact and passport and travel health insurance information.
  - Complete the online Safety Abroad Workshop (valid for 1.5 years)
  - Sign and submit waivers to the Safety Abroad Office.
  - Submit a Safety Planning Record (students should contact safety.abroad@utoronto.ca to confirm if this step is applicable to their travel).
- - Obtain supplementary health insurance (if not already covered).

For travel to a region designated by Global Affairs Canada as “Avoid Non-Essential Travel” or “Avoid All Travel,” students must contact the Safety Abroad Office at safety.abroad@utoronto.ca as soon as possible to request special approval for the trip.

Please contact the Safety Abroad Office at safety.abroad@utoronto.ca for further information on this process and/or the requirements.