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Postgraduate Research Travel Awards

The School of Divinity makes a number of awards each year to enable postgraduate research students to undertake travel, principally to conferences, where presenting a paper will contribute to the development of their thesis and to the discipline more widely. Awards assist students in taking such trips but are not intended to cover full costs.

The School also recognizes that visits to another academic library in Scotland may be desirable to further research in particular fields. Awards for such travel may also be made upon application.

You should be aware that funds available are limited so the granting of an award ought not be assumed in planning travel. In determining an award, if any, the School will take into consideration the likely academic value of the trip and previous awards made to you within this scheme.

How to apply

Applications are considered three times each year, normally at meetings of the School’s Research and Postgraduate Committee in mid-October, early February and late May/early June. You will be informed of the dates of the meetings at the start of the academic year.

Download the Research travel awards application form (Word, 59 KB) .

  • A completed application form with appropriate supporting documentation must be submitted via MMS (paper-based applications will not be accepted).
  • Applications forms must be submitted in .doc or .dox file formats; pdfs are only accepted for supporting documentation (e.g. evidence of conference registration fees, travel quotations). See below for instructions about submitting into MMS.
  • Applications must be submitted at least one week before the relevant meeting.
  • The written support of your supervisor is required before an application can be considered by the School. It is your responsibility to provide a copy of your application to your supervisor in good time requesting that s/he lend support. Supervisors email their views directly to the Postgraduate Secretary divinitypg@st-andrews.ac.uk

Notes

General

Travel awards will only cover a proportion of the costs.

Travel awards are normally only given to full-time, fee-paying research students who are resident in and around St Andrews.

No retrospective applications will be considered. You will, therefore, need to ensure that you submit an application to be considered at a committee meeting prior to the conference you wish to attend. No exceptions will be made to this rule.

Where other sources of support are available these should be used. Evidence of seeking alternative support will be considered favourably.

Awards will normally only be made where you will be presenting an academic paper that closely relates to your research. The School recognizes that at the time of needing to apply for a travel grant you may not yet know if your proposal for a paper has been accepted by a conference organizer. Awards may be made conditional upon such acceptance being forthcoming so you should not delay submitting an application until confirmation from a conference organizer has been received. Where a conditional award is made, you should ensure that you forward evidence of the acceptance of your paper to the Postgraduate Secretary at the earliest opportunity; confirmation of your award will then be issued.

You will need to ensure you keep receipts of any expense inccurred. There can be no reimbursement without receipts.

Estimates

You are required to submit an estimate of expenses as part of your application.

You should use public transport and aim to secure the lowest suitable fare.

You must include at least one quotation or formal estimate from the following list of University-approved suppliers: DP & L, Click Travel, Key Travel, Northenden Diamond Travel, Selective Travel Management, or The Co-operative Travel Management.

This does not mean that you must then purchase travel or accommodation from that, or any company on this list.

Where accommodation is provided as part of a conference registration fee you should ensure that the supporting documentation you supply clearly indicates any range of options from which you intend to make your choice.

 

Specific guidance on completing the expense estimate part of the application.

Do not alter the legends in the ‘item’ column – should you do so, you may render your application ineligible.

Flight(s), Train(s), Bus(es) – figures here should match the lowest estimate in the evidence you provide.

Event Registration Fee – a pdf copy of a webpage is acceptable as evidence; merely a url is not.

Accommodation – where possible, differentiate between registration fee and accommodation. (Pdf of a webpage or email is acceptable as evidence.)

Food – indicate how you are estimating (other evidence is not required), e.g., 4 days @ £2. (Further evidence for food is not required.)

Other expenses – please itemise and include appropriate evidence.

 

Claiming an award

If your application is successful you will receive a letter of award and the estimate form will be returned to you. Following your trip you should complete Part Two and columns B and C.

Actual expense incurred should be completed on this form in two columns: B - actual amount incurred (this should match the receipts you provide). C - amount claimed Submit the form along with all receipts (originals, not copies) and a University Student Travel and Subsistence Form (PDF, 71 KB) to the School Office 

Claims must be made within 60 days of the completion of the trip. If this is not possible you should email the School of Divinity’s Director of Operations [divdop@st-andrews.ac.uk] at least one week before the deadline. Failure to do so may result in your award being rescinded.

You should also refer to the University’s  Financial Operating Procedure - Travel, Subsistence & Expenses Policy

 

Submitting your application via MMS

Go to: https://mms.st-andrews.ac.uk/mms and choose the ‘module’ DIV-RESEARCH.

Select ‘Coursework’ from where you will see slots into which you upload your application and supporting documentation.

Separate slots will be available for each round so if, for example, you are submitting an application for the February 2013 round then:

  • Submit your completed application form (as a .doc or .docx) into the slot called ‘Feb13 Travel Application’. You upload as you would attach a document to an email, so you browse, attach and upload.
  • Submit your supporting documentation (one file per slot) into one or more of the remaining slots called ‘Feb13 Travel Supporting Documents A-E. The process is the same as for your application form.

The MMS screen confirms that you’ve uploaded a file(s).

This is the same process as you went through for submitting assignments into MMS if you were an undergraduate or taught postgraduate of ours in recent years.

Should have difficulties with uploading your documentation into MMS then speak to Margot Clement the Postgraduate Secretary.

Important update: In previous rounds, considerable staff time has been expended chasing applicants for the proper documentation and/or the required information. From the February 2013 round this extra work will not be undertaken; incomplete, incorrect or late applications will simply not be considered.