Conference Travel Support
The best general source of funding is the Graduate College’s Conference Travel Awards for Graduate Students program. Each semester, the Graduate College provides grants not to exceed $350 for students who will present papers at conferences. The Department submits its top two applicants to the Graduate College, which then makes the final decision. Students must submit their applications to the main office by September 15, for the fall competition and February 15, for the spring competition.
The Department will provide limited travel support for students not selected for funding through the Graduate College competition. In order to be eligible for funding, students must have applied for the Graduate College Travel Award, must have a formal place on the conference program, and requests should be endorsed by their academic adviser. The Department encourages the student’s adviser to match or exceed the Department’s contribution.
Full-time doctoral students within the first four years of their program enrolment can receive conference travel support from the Department. In each academic year before advancing to candidacy students can receive up to $300, once they have obtained ABD status students can receive up to $500 of funding. The Department will also consider funding requests from part-time doctoral students and students beyond the fourth year, based on merit and on funding availability.
To be eligible for a conference travel grant, the student must be registered and in good academic standing during the term the award is received. For fall term awards, travel must take place anytime from the beginning of the previous summer to the end of the following summer. For spring term awards, travel must take place anytime from the beginning of the spring term to the end of the following fall term.
Dissertation Travel Grants
The Graduate College has a Dissertation Travel Grants program to subsidize travel and costs associated with dissertation research (approximately 12 awards of up to $5,000 College-wide per year, depending on funding availability). These awards are not to be used for conference travel. The Department provides limited matching support, resources permitting. The Department is limited to three nominations each semester. Students interested in applying should follow the Grad College application guidelines and submit all materials to the DURP PhD Program Director. Applications for Spring awards are due by March 1 (the Department will submit nominations by the mid-March deadline). Travel funded through Spring of each year by this competition must begin no later than May 31 and conclude by August 31 of that year.
Dissertation Completion Fellowships
The Graduate College offers a Dissertation Completion Fellowship competition that helps UIUC graduate students complete the doctoral degree by providing a stipend along with a tuition and partial fee waiver. Complete details about this Fellowship along with application requirements can be found here. DURP may nominate up to two students. Ph.D. students that are interested in applying for this Fellowship will need to notify the department of their intention to apply by March 1 and then submit their application materials at least 10 days prior to the Graduate College deadline. Notification and application materials should be submitted to the DURP PhD Program Director (Professor Faranak Miraftab).