Graduate Student Council

All graduate and professional students in eligible departments may apply for the grants.

Complete the application located on Gator Connect.

GSC awards 2 types of grants- Conference Presentation and Professional Development. When completing the application, you must select either Conference or Professional Development under Travel Type. The differences and acceptable uses are:

1. Conference- These grants are intended for students presenting results of research (either as a poster or oral presentation) or scholarly activities (e.g., art portfolios for M.F.A. students, performances for music and theatre students) at professional conferences or gatherings. They CANNOT be used for publication costs associated with attending a conference.
2. Professional Development- These grants are intended for any scholarly activity that is NOT a presentation of research or graduate work. Typical uses include:
   • Attending a professional conference without presenting
   • Study abroad activities DIRECTLY related to the student's program or research
   • Attending other reasonable activities directly related to the student's program that can be shown to have a benefit for the UF community as well as the individual student

We can not fund travel for fieldwork or coursework required by a student’s curriculum, or programs that give the student tuition/course credit. Additionally, final approval of professional development grants for study abroad trips is provided by SG Finance and the UF Student Body Treasurer.

GSC travel grants can be used for 3 things: conference registration, conference-related travel, and lodging. Grants are intended to cover PERSONALLY INCURRED (out-of-pocket to traveler) expenses up to $400 (domestic) or $500 (international) that are not being reimbursed by another funding source. Students may receive additional support provided by the conference, University, Department, or adviser, and still receive a GSC grant.

They CANNOT be used for: food, incidentals (laundry, phone calls, internet, etc.), poster printing, passport/visa fees (for international travel) or any other expenses.

They CANNOT cover anything purchased by a UF PCARD, or that you are reimbursed for by other UF funding. You may use other means of purchasing, such as credit card, cash, and check.

Home and Condo Rentals (Airbnb, VRBO, etc.)
As with all lodging expenses, proper documentation is required. Adequate supporting documentation must contain the address of the location and the dates of the rental. An invoice (receipt) should also contain the name of the landlord/rental company and the renter. The documentation must also show how the rental was paid (credit card, check, cash, PayPal, Venmo, etc.) A cost comparison is needed to ensure the cost of the rental is more economical than normal available lodging. If the cost is higher, it will not be allowed. If a contract has to be signed, Procurement Services should be contacted.

Yes, you are encouraged to apply in the correct application date window, regardless of whether or not your abstract has been accepted by the conference. If you need to cancel your GSC Grant application or award because your abstract was later declined by the conference, please contact GSCGrants@gmail.com.

Students can receive one award per fiscal year. The award date is defined by the travel start date to the conference.

If your application was denied then you are still eligible to receive a grant within the same fiscal year and encouraged to apply again as long as your next application is submitted according to the guidelines. For example, your next application must be submitted in the correct application window and your department must still be eligible.

If you are applying to multiple separate conferences in the same application cycle and have not yet received an award for the fiscal year, you may apply for both conferences. However, at most only one award can be granted assuming the travel start dates fall within the same fiscal year.

Allow 30-45 minutes depending on how well prepared you are. You will need:

• General information: e.g., college, major professor's email, etc.
• Conference information, presentation title and author string
• For conference travel: both a technical and non-technical abstract
  • The technical abstract is what you have submitted to the conference, if you are presenting research results.
  • The non-technical abstract should be easily understood by an educated person outside your field, similar to what might be found in the Science & Technology section of a major newspaper, such as the USA Today or New York Times. It should include the major components of an abstract: an introduction/motivation, methods, results (or anticipated results), conclusion. Importantly, it should also include a statement on the impact of the work. The statement of impact, like the rest of the non-technical abstract, should be compelling to a non-expert.
• For professional development travel: a professional development essay and a statement of benefit
  • The professional development essay should be a clear, detailed and convincing essay describing the activities you will undertake and their unique benefit to your professional development
  • The statement of benefit essay should be a clear, detailed and convincing essay describing how the activities you will undertake will benefit the broader UF community, beyond you.
• For both types of travel: a budget, with other funding sources listed and described.
  • Budget Explanations should be concise, but as detailed as possible (e.g., which dates, methods, company will be used, exact costs wherever possible, where these were found or how they were calculated, how they compare to other rates/methods)

After submitting the application, please down the pdf copy of your submission. You will not receive a confirmation email. NOTE: The email you provide in your application is the only method GSC has for contacting you regarding the status of your application. Ensure it is correct!

Previous successful research descriptions (non-technical abstracts) and professional development essays are available here. 

Failure to complete every aspect of the abstract and budgetary questions will result in your application being ruled incomplete, and therefore ineligible for funding for that cycle.

Yes, you will need to complete it in one sitting. Please make sure to download the submission PDF as you cannot access the application once submitted.

Grant requests are evaluated by student reviewers within 2 weeks of the application deadline. You will receive an email with the decision on your application as soon as it is reviewed, and will need to submit a SAR within 7 days if you are awarded a grant. If you do not hear from the grant committee within 3 weeks after the deadline for grant submissions, please e-mail us gscgrants@gmail.com.

Grants are evaluated by at least 2, and typically 3-4 blind student reviewers. Reviewers are not able to access your name or email, and evaluate grants based on:

1. Criteria similar to those used in awarding professional research grants, i.e.,
   1. Quality and clarity of the technical abstract
   2. Description of research for the non-expert, which should be compelling to a general audience and include:
      1. Background information
      2. General methods
      3. Results (expected or obtained)
      4. General (non-technical) discussion and conclusions
      5. Potential impacts and applicability of the work for people, community, society, or globe
2. Budget with detailed, clear, and complete explanations
3. Accurate and timely completion of the application
4. Factors unique to graduate students, such as availability of funding from SG, and departmental eligibility
5. Attention to detail, grammar, and completeness

Please note that this is a competitive application process. It is recommended that applicants complete their applications with attention to the points above.

See the Awarded Grants Instructions to submit a TAR. A TAR must be submitted within 7 days of receiving the travel award notification.

GSC is given limited funding by SG to award travel grants. The best way to increase this level of funding is to make your voice heard: contact your SG representatives for your college, email SG officials, and get involved as an SG senator if you're interested and want to make a difference. You can consult the UF student government website for more details, or email gscgrants@gmail.com for further information.

GSC receives and processes more than 1,200 grant applications per year from over 150 degrees, departments, and specialties. However, we receive funding for fewer than 400 awards.

This means that in any given grants cycle, many quality applications must be denied due to falling below of the top 30% of high-quality applications. Additionally, you may receive a line in your denial email providing additional information, such as "Ineligible department" or "Incorrect travel/application dates". Please consult the grant overview tab for appropriate travel and application dates, and e-mail us if you feel your department is wrongly listed as ineligible on the ineligible departments page.

The UF International Center website has all the forms you need.