Graduate Student Travel Award

HOBI Travel Funding Policy

Purpose

Travel to conferences, symposia, and special research opportunities is essential for the professional development of our graduate students. Pending annual availability, the Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics Student Travel Award provides up to $1000 per student, per year, to 8 students: 4 from the Health Outcomes & Implementation Science concentration and 4 from the Biomedical Informatics concentration.

Process

Any student whose planned travel meets the criteria outlined below should submit a HOBI Student Travel Award application to the Education Office via Docusign at least 90 days in advance of the planned trip.

Review Process

Applications will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis by the review panel, composed of 1 faculty member and 1 student connected to the appropriate major (BMI or HOIS).

Reviews will be conducted for 2 periods each year: 1 for fall term, and 1 for spring/summer terms. The purpose of the funds are to facilitate student development; should more travel requests occur in Fall, more awards may be provided in Fall. Some funding would still be reserved for Spring/Summer conference travel as well, pending student requests and availability of funds.

Review Criteria

1. Merit of professional development opportunity
   • Priority given to first-author paper or poster presentations
2. Relevance of professional development opportunity
   • Priority given to field-specific conference paper presentations connected to a student’s research and to first-time talks (also includes national meetings where job networking is possible, and off-campus sites for collaboration)
3. Financial need
   • Priority given to students who have demonstrated need and applied for additional funding from other sources (Grad Student Council, College of Medicine, Office of Research, conference funds/mentor funds)

Application

1. Complete online application, and submit accompanying documentation in Docusign
   • Budget (with expenditure categories and expected charges, and expected source of cost-sharing or other funds)
   • Documentation of acceptance at conference or research venue
   • Expected travel dates

Questions

Please contact HOBI-Education@ad.ufl.edu with any questions about the application.

Supplemental travel funding opportunities outside the department

UF Graduate Student Council Travel Grants

The UF Graduate Student Council provides travel grants of up to $350.

College of Medicine Office of Graduate Education

If you are the presenting author, you are eligible for at least $300 per fiscal year. Travel is paid through your mentor or the department, and then the Office of Graduate Education transfers appropriate funds to the account that funded the travel once the expense report has been cleared through the university accounting. The OGE does not provide up-front funding, nor does it directly reimburse students.