Please note: IGH is unable to provide Travel Awards for events hosted by the Institute, such as the Innovations in Gender, Sex, and Health Research Conference in November 2010. Separate scholarships for Innovations in Gender, Sex, and Health Research may become available. If you are a graduate student or post-doctoral fellow seeking funds to attend Innovations in Gender, Sex, and Health Research, please e-mail sally@f2fe.com and indicate that you would like to receive information and updates about the conference scholarship program.

Timeline and Funding

	Spring	Fall	Winter
Conference date	Within nine months of the application deadline
Application deadline	May 14, 2010	September 24, 2010	November 1, 2010
Notification of decision	Within eight weeks of the application deadline
Funding per award	Up to $2,500 per award

Table of Contents

• Description
• Available Funds
• Eligibility
• Allowable Costs
• Review Process and Evaluation
• How to Apply
• Contact Information
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

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Description

The mission of CIHR's Institute of Gender and Health (IGH) is to foster research excellence regarding the influence of gender and sex on the health of women and men throughout life and apply these research findings to identify and address pressing health challenges. IGH achieves its mission by providing support for research, knowledge translation and capacity-building activities. The travel awards program gives award winners the opportunity to share their research findings with other scholars, network with colleagues, and advance their careers in gender, sex and health research.

The IGH travel award program offers financial support for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows presenting their own research at national or international meetings, conferences or symposia. Applicants must be presenting research that has a substantive focus on gender and/or sex and health. Priority will be given to first-time applicants and applicants whose research aligns with IGH's strategic research directions, though all applications relating to gender, sex and health research will be considered.

Available Funds

The maximum amount for a single award will not exceed $2,500. The funds may be used to cover the costs of travel, accommodations, meals, and conference registration fees. IGH's contribution to the amount available for this funding opportunity is subject to availability of funds voted annually to CIHR by parliamentary appropriations and the conditions that may be attached to them. The number of awards given per competition will be affected by the above factor as well as the number and quality of applications.

Eligibility

To be eligible for this funding opportunity, applicants must be:

• Registered in a Masters or Doctoral program at a CIHR eligible institution or hold a post-doctoral fellowship at a CIHR eligible institution;
• Presenting a paper or poster at a meeting, conference or symposium that takes place at least two months after (and no more than nine months after) the travel award program application deadline;
• Presenting a paper or poster that is relevant to IGH's mission and that has a substantive focus on gender and/or sex and health research; and
• First author and presenter of the paper or poster.

Only one travel award will be given to an applicant in any given CIHR fiscal year. Priority will be given to applicants who have not been prior recipients of an IGH travel award. All meetings, conferences, and symposia (both national and international) related to the Institute's mission are eligible under this program. Applications that are not related to gender and/or sex and health will not be reviewed.

Allowable Costs

Applicants must provide a clear budget justification for the amount of funding being requested, including a breakdown of estimated costs for eligible expenses.

Expenses eligible for support include:

• Travel costs
• Accommodation expenses
• Per diem for meals (applicants must use their home institution's per diem rates)
• Conference registration fees

Review Process and Evaluation

Applications will be assessed according to the following criteria:

• The presentation or poster's relevance to IGH's mission and strategic research directions
• The applicant's demonstrated excellence in research (academic achievement, contributions to research, research and leadership experience) reflected in the applicant's curriculum vitae
• The clarity of the objective(s) and rationale (see Section 3 of application form)
• The potential impact of the presentation on the applicant's career
• Justification of financial need

The evaluation committee is typically comprised of the Institute's Scientific Director, the Assistant Director, members of the Institute Advisory Board, and researchers in the field of gender, sex and health research. The review process usually takes 4-6 weeks. IGH will notify applicants of the competition results by e-mail.

Please note if the application is funded travel award recipients must acknowledge the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Institute of Gender and Health in their presentations or posters. IGH will provide successful applicants with official CIHR logos and guidelines for acknowledging IGH.

Successful applicants will also be required to submit a brief (1 page) report about their experience at the conference. The Institute of Gender and Health will provide travel award winners with a final report template.

How to Apply

To be eligible for funding, an application must include the following documents:

1. A completed Institute Community Support (ICS) form [ PDF (244 KB) | Help ]. Please follow the instructions specific to this Travel Award Program when completing this form;
2. A short curriculum vitae (CV) (2 pages maximum - travel award applicants are not required to submit the Common CV);
3. A letter of support from your research supervisor;
4. A copy of the abstract submitted to the selected meeting and the letter confirming its selection for presentation (the confirmation can be sent at a later date);
5. Confirmation of your status as a Masters or Doctoral student or as a post-doctoral fellow at a CIHR eligible institution. Acceptable means of confirming your status include: an unofficial transcript or a letter from the registrar for Masters/PhD students; a copy of the letter confirming your post-doctoral award or confirmation in the letter from your research supervisor for post-doctoral fellows.

IGH will not accept late or incomplete applications. It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that her or his application includes all of the required documents.

Please e-mail your ICS form and other attachments to Monica Penner at ea-igh@exchange.ubc.ca by the deadlines specified above. An original signed ICS form together with all the supplementary documents must also be sent by mail or faxed to the address below. IGH will e-mail applicants to confirm receipt of their applications.

Contact Information

To submit your application or for information about this funding opportunity, please contact:

Monica Penner
Executive Assistant
CIHR's Institute of Gender and Health
University of British Columbia
Room 305, TEF 3 building
6190 Agronomy Road
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3

Telephone: 604-827-4470
Fax: 604-822-1622
Email: ea-igh@exchange.ubc.ca

Frequently Asked Questions

1. The conference I am planning to attend takes place before the application deadline.  Am I eligible to apply?
   
   No. These awards are not given retroactively because a condition of being selected to receive the award is acknowledgement of CIHR/IGH funding in the poster/paper presentation.
   
   
2. Why does the conference have to take place 2 months after the application deadline?
   
   This requirement is based on the timeline needed for the review and applicant notification process. The review process takes approximately 4-6 weeks, after which the Scientific Director makes the final funding decisions based on recommendations from the review committee. Once the funding decision has been made, IGH will then notify applicants of the results and provide logos and guidelines for acknowledgement of support to successful applicants. Successful applicants will be contacted by CIHR with instructions for receiving the travel award funds.
   
   
3. How long does it take to receive a CIHR Personal Identification Number (PIN)?
   
   It usually takes 1-2 days to receive a CIHR PIN. To obtain a PIN, please fill out CIHR's new user registration form.
   
   
4. I cannot save the fillable ICS PDF form and send it electronically, what should I do?
   
   If you are using Adobe Acrobat Reader, make sure you have the most up to date version of the software installed on your computer. Acrobat Reader is available as a free download from Adobe. When you use Adobe Reader, you will be able to fill out the form and print it. Unfortunately, this version of the software does not allow users to save an electronic version of the form. If this is the case, please mail a hard copy of your printed form or scan the printed version and e-mail it to IGH.
   
   If you have Adobe Acrobat standard, you will be able to fill out the form and save an electronic version which can be e-mailed to us. Unfortunately Adobe Acrobat standard is not available as a free download. However, you may be able to access this software through your university or department.
   
   If you continue to have difficulty with the PDF form, please email ea-igh@exchange.ubc.ca for assistance.
   
   
5. If I send the ICS form electronically, I can't sign page 5 - is that a problem?
   
   All applicants are required to provide a signed copy of page 5 of the ICS form. If you are not able to send a signed copy electronically, you may send the signed copy of page 5 by mail or fax, or scan page 5 and e-mail it to IGH.
   
   
6. Do I need to send both an electronic copy and a hard copy of my application (with all supporting documentation)?
   
   Yes.
   
   
7. Do both copies of the application (electronic and hard copy) need to be received by the application deadline for me to be considered?
   
   No. However a full copy of either version of your application must be received by the application deadline for your application to be considered in the competition.
   
   
8. Does the CV need to be in the CIHR common CV form?
   
   No. The only requirement is a maximum length of 2 pages.
   
   
9. Does the letter of support from my supervisor need to be signed? Do you need a hard copy of the letter from my supervisor?
   
   If an electronic letter of support is sent from your supervisor (from a university account email address and/or on university letterhead), it does not need to be signed. A hard copy is not required if the electronic copy fulfils the above requirements.
   
   
10. If I am submitting more than one abstract to the same conference, should I include information on both/all of them?
    
    No. You may only submit one abstract for the competition.
    
    
11. If I have not received confirmation of my acceptance at the conference yet, can I still apply?
    
    Yes, but if you are selected to receive a travel award, confirmation of acceptance to the conference must be submitted to IGH before the funds will be released.

Past Travel Award Recipients