The Centre will make up to 30 travel awards available each year for registered graduate students and post-doctoral fellows.  There are two funding periods:

Period 1:  Up to 15 awards will be available for travel occurring between July 1 - December 31, 2008
Period 2:  Up to 15 awards will be available for travel occurring between January 1 - June 30, 2009

• Applicant must be a registered graduate student, post-doctoral or clinical fellow (having received an M.D. or Ph.D. within the last five years) at the time of abstract submission to the meeting.

• The applicant must be conducting diabetes research at the University of Toronto or one of its fully affiliated institutions. 

• The trainee's supervisor must hold a full-time faculty appointment with the University of Toronto and must also be a registered member* of the Banting and Best Diabetes Centre. (*Faculty who are new to the field of diabetes research and are not members of the BBDC can request free membership by contacting the Centre prior to submitting an application. For more information, please see the Membership section of the BBDC's web site at www.bbdc.org).

• Trainees will be eligible for a Travel Award upon written confirmation of acceptance of a first author abstract for presentation at a national or international meeting. Only one trainee per abstract will be considered for each award (e.g. co-first authors are not eligible). The content of the abstract must be directly related to an area of diabetes research.

• In cases where the trainee has a co-supervisor, the senior author of the abstract should be listed as the trainee's primary supervisor.

• Trainees cannot submit the same abstract if the abstract was funded in a previous BBDC Trainee Travel Award competition.

• Under normal circumstances awards will be limited to three per lab per BBDC fiscal year (July 1 to June 30), although supervisors may submit more than three applications per year.

• Only one award will be granted per trainee per BBDC fiscal year (July 1 to June 30). Therefore, trainees who receive a BBDC Travel Award in period 1 are not eligible to submit an application for period 2.

Each award will be in the sum of up to $1,000 Canadian.

Applications will be ranked by a sub-group of the BBDC Research Committee on the basis of scientific merit. Although the BBDC takes a broad view of cellular and molecular biology in diverse model systems and possible relevance to diabetes, the content of the abstract must be directly and obviously related to diabetes research in order to receive a favourable score for funding

Submit a completed application form, abstract, and abstract acceptance letter (if received) to the BBDC by the deadline date (see application form for complete instructions).

Download the BBDC Trainee Travel Award application form. (PDF)

If notification of abstract acceptance is not received before the Travel Award application deadline date, please submit the application form and abstract to the BBDC by the deadline date, then forward a copy of the acceptance letter as soon as it is received. In the event that the abstract is not accepted for presentation, the application will be removed from consideration.

Period 1:  For travel occurring between July 1 and December 31, 2008 the deadline for receipt of applications is 5 p.m., October 7, 2008. Late applications will not be considered.

Period 2:  For travel occurring between January 1 and June 30, 2009 the deadline for receipt of applications is 5 p.m., March 31, 2009. Late applications will not be considered.

Period 1:  All applicants will be notified in December 2008. Funding decisions will also be posted on the BBDC's web site.

Period 2:  All applicants will be notified in May 2009. Funding decisions will also be posted on the BBDC's web site.

Trainees are encouraged to apply for all other possible travel awards. Supervisors must agree to provide the remaining funding required for the trainee to attend the meeting.

Successful applicants will be reimbursed for travel expenses upon presentation of original receipts only. Photocopies or credit card statements alone will not be accepted. Both the airline ticket or E-ticket AND the boarding passes must be presented if claiming airfare expense.

Reimbursement will be paid to the trainee, or to the supervisor if travel expenses were paid from the supervisor's operating grant. The BBDC will NOT reimburse the student or supervisor for travel funding obtained from other sources, including other University Departments or Extra-Departmental Units.

Eligible Travel Expenses:

• Conference Fee
• Return economy airfare, train, or bus fare
• Accommodations (except when conference is held in Toronto)
• Meals
• Taxi fares or other means of ground transportation
• Parking expenses
• Per kilometre allowance if using personally owned automobile for short distance travel (i.e. less than 500 km from the GTA)

Ineligible Travel Expenses:

• Accommodations if conference is held in Toronto
• Long distance telephone calls and internet connections
• Materials and services for presentations (i.e. slides, overheads, poster materials, photocopying, etc.)
• Personal travel insurance or traveler's medical insurance
• Passport or visa costs

For further information, contact the Banting and Best Diabetes Centre:
Phone: (416) 978-4656 Fax: (416) 978-4108
E-mail: diabetes.bbdc@utoronto.ca