The Research Travel Funding Program for students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty members has observed steadily increasing application numbers over the past several years. To help manage application pressure and assist with budget forecasting, the following changes will be implemented now:

1) Faculty members, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students will be limited to receiving funding once every two calendar years. For example, if an applicant receives funding for travel to a conference in 2026, they will not be eligible to receive funding again until 2028. Note that this limit will apply retroactively to January 1, 2026--i.e., applicants who received funding in 2025 will remain eligible to receive funding in 2026.

2) Undergraduate students will be limited to receiving funding once during their undergraduate degree.

3) Retroactive application requests will no longer be accepted. Applicants must submit their travel funding request form in advance of their travel dates. Travel claims must be submitted within 30 days of returning from travel.

A few reminders: the travel grant is for researchers presenting their scholarly work; funding is not guaranteed, and applications will be declined if funds are exhausted for a particular fiscal year. A notice will be sent to the campus community if funds have been exhausted. Other sources of funding can be utilized to help offset the costs of travel for dissemination purposes. For example, for faculty members, this may include your PDTR fund and external grant applications. For students, this may include the UPEI Student Union’s Academic Enrichment Funding program and support available through your department or graduate program.