Europe Travel Grants

Applications for the 2008 Europe Travel Grants Round have now closed, and all applicants notified of the outcome of their grant application. 

Subject to budget, the next round of grants/fellowships will be offered in the first half of 2009.

The university is pleased to invite Monash PhD students and staff to apply for the 2008 Europe Travel Grants scheme. The Europe Travel Grants aim to assist Monash early career researchers and deepen the university’s links with centres of research and educational excellence in Europe. They support the cost of travel and accommodation associated with a period of research or a conference for Monash PhDs or early career researchers. Staff and PhD candidates from any Monash campus in Australia, South Africa or Malaysia can apply. In exceptional cases, visits by European colleagues to Monash may be eligible for support.

Further information about the grants is available below. This information is taken from the document "Europe Travel Grants 2008 - General Information".

Support Offered

These grants offer support towards airfares and accommodation expenses to a maximum value of $A8,000. Up to twelve fellowships will be available. Two of the twelve grants are earmarked for applications involving research at King’s College London.

Eligibility

(a) General rules

(i) Travel to Europe

The fellowships are available to Monash University PhD candidates and early career researchers with a permanent or fixed term appointment at Monash University.

For the purpose of these grants ‘early career researcher’ means a researcher whose PhD has been awarded within the last ten years.

Applicants must provide a rationale for travel, and identify benefits to their research career and the university that would result. Rationales could include:

• To meet with Europe-based experts, or to undertake part of a research project with Europe-based colleagues. Projects that involve collaborations with research teams and individuals that are regarded as international leaders in their field will be highly regarded, as will projects that build upon existing successful collaborations with institutions
• To access specialist facilities eg. archives, or scientific facilities
• To conduct fieldwork
• To attend a conference to present a paper or poster. Funding for this activity will only be considered if the applicant is the principal author of the work being presented. This must cover original, ongoing research, be largely the applicant’s own work and report recent findings. In the case of doctoral candidates, it must be directly related to the applicant’s thesis topic. Applicants applying for support for this activity must submit an abstract of the paper(s) which must show details of all authors and their associations, i.e. name of department/centre and institution in which they are conducting their research.

Applicants are required to have their research proposal and release from teaching commitments (as applicable) approved by the relevant Department Head or Dean.

(ii) Hosting a visitor from a European partner

In exceptional cases research staff from partner institutions in Europe may be funded to visit Monash. Responsibility for any such application (and reconciliation of finances and final reporting, if successful) lies with the host department at Monash. To qualify for support for incoming visits, the hosting department must outline a very clear work plan for the visit leading to a well-defined outcome. For example, support may be for a visit made to work on a joint application for ARC funding where the visitor will be an international Partner Investigator, where this complements the project proposed.

(b) Rules applicable to travelling Monash doctoral candidates only

Doctoral candidates must provide a letter of endorsement of the proposed project from their supervisor, and must demonstrate that the program will contribute to the research which will be reported in the thesis submitted for the degree.

Doctoral applicants are ineligible if, at the date of the conference or the date on which the fieldwork/research will commence they are:

• full-time students in the first six months of enrolment in a doctoral program or
• full-time students who have been enrolled in a four-year doctoral program beyond 42 months
• part-time students in the first twelve months of enrolment in a doctoral program or
• part-time students who have been enrolled in a doctoral program beyond seven years.

Periods of candidature intermission, prior to the application, are taken into account in calculating candidature length. In exceptional circumstances academic units may make a case for an application from a candidate outside the eligibility periods (eg, where conferences occur only once every four years and it is the only opportunity available to the applicant to present his/her work, an exception may be made).

NB. Doctoral students cannot access this grant and the existing Monash Research Graduate School Travel Grant Scheme for the same period of travel.

(c) Use of funding

Support is to be used towards airfares and accommodation expenses only.

Funds are NOT available for the following:

• basic research costs (staff and equipment);
• activities already funded, or those which could reasonably be expected to be supported by other funding sources;
• insurance in connection with the funded projects including travel insurance; and
• any private activities undertaken by participants in conjunction with the travel.

(d) Ethics

It is the responsibility of the grant recipients to ascertain whether it is necessary to obtain ethics committee approval for the proposed research activity in both Australia and the host country and to obtain such approval if it is required. Information relating to ethics compliance can be found on the Monash website at: http://www.monash.edu.au/research/ethics/

(e) Intellectual Property

It is the responsibility of the grant recipients to ensure that any existing and resulting intellectual property is appropriately protected. This includes ensuring that the intellectual property interests of their institutions are adequately protected. Information relating to intellectual property can be found on the Monash website at: http://www.monash.edu.au/research/internal/forms/policies/intellectual-property.html

Grant recipients will be bound and protected by the policies of Monash in relation to intellectual property, codes of conduct, ethical clearance etc. However, whilst working at a partner institution, Monash participants must respect and abide by its policies.

Application and Selection

Applications must be submitted to Michael Simmonds, Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International), Building 3C, Clayton Campus, by close of business, Friday, 15 August 2008.

Applications will be judged on the overall academic merit and relevance of the proposed activity.

In the case of applications that propose research activities at a host institution, access to specialist facilities, or fieldwork, competitive applications will provide:

• evidence from colleagues at the host institution (and any other organisations critical to the project) of their interest in and support for the proposed collaboration; and
• if applicable, evidence of any successful past collaborations with the relevant department at the partner institution(s) by the applicant’s department.

In all cases, applications that present a clear plan leading to outputs such as internationally co-authored publications in refereed journals, joint applications for research funding and/or other ongoing forms of substantive research-focused collaboration will be at a significant advantage.

A selection committee comprising the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International) or nominee, a representative each of the Monash Research Committee, and the International Advisory Group will assess applications.

NB. Successful applicants who are doctoral students will need to apply for study away through MRGS at least four weeks before travelling. Applications are available at: http://www.mrgs.monash.edu.au/research/students/variation.html

Management and Award Arrangements

Successful applicants are required to book and pay airfares and accommodation by the end of November 2008. Reimbursement will be based on the provision of original receipts. Reimbursements will not be made after December 15, 2008. The recipient will be reimbursed on the production of original receipts for travel and accommodation directly related to the program approved by the selection committee, and up to the amount awarded for the fellowship.

Provided that the payment requirements detailed above are met, travel may be undertaken at any time between 27 June 2008 and 31 December 2009.

Doctoral candidates will be reimbursed via the Monash Research Graduate School. Academic staff will be reimbursed via the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International).

The recipient must follow the university’s travel policy in organising travel under this fellowship.

Reporting

Fellowship recipients must provide a written report to the Selection Committee within two months of completing the travel. The report will include details of expenditure incurred, the activities undertaken and benefits derived. A final report template will be provided to successful applicants.