Travel Awards

PDPA offers travel awards for BU postdocs to pursue opportunities for their professional development. This may include traveling to opportunities external to campus (e.g. presenting at a conference), or registration fees associated with virtual events.

We accept and review proposals three times per year using the application process described below.

• Selection Criteria
• Submission Deadlines and Award Dates
• PDPA Travel Award Information

Selection Criteria

Applications are open to any individual with a postdoc appointment at Boston University, though scholars may only receive one award during the duration of their postdoc.

There are two kinds of travel awards based on the availability of funding.

1. PDPA Travel Award, which is entirely based on financial need, where the postdoc would be attending the conference solely with their personal funds. There will be 2 awards of $500 each for every cycle in this category.

2. BU Postdoc Travel Award, this award is for those postdocs who have some financial support either from their PI or administrative units or other sources. There will be one award of $1000 for every cycle in this category.

Applications are reviewed by faculty from a broad range of disciplines, so please ensure that you are able to communicate to a broad audience. Both travel grant applications will be evaluated using the following selection criteria:

• Value of the professional development opportunity as described in application and/or letter of support.
• Merit of research demonstrated by research abstract, or strength of connection between professional development opportunity and candidate’s research as described in course/workshop description.
• Merit of the individual’s research background and scholarly activities as described on their CV/resume.

Submission Deadlines and Award Dates

This award has three review cycles per year. The deadlines for each cycle are:

Electronic submission is required using the form below. It is preferred that PI letters of support  are attached in the application form, or in some cases they can be sent separately to postdocs@bu.edu, but must be received by the award cycle deadline. Applications without a letter of support will not be considered for funding. 

Guidelines for claiming travel award

• Travel award is given as a reimbursement of conference or meeting expense. It cannot be given as an advance.
• Once the travel is complete, it is the postdoc’s responsibility to initiate and submit a travel expense report through BU Central Works. Travel reports should be completed within 6 weeks to 3 months of conference travel.
• Postdocs or their designated staff person can email postdocs@bu.edu for the cost center.
• PDPA cannot file travel expense reports.
• If a conference travel ends before by June 1 of that fiscal year, then the expense report should be submitted before the deadline of BU fiscal year expenses, which is typically around June 10.