Attending conferences and publicly sharing your research, innovations, and ideas are important parts of engaging in academic research. These awards aim to support undergraduates as they disseminate their unique contributions to the UW community and beyond.

Eligibility

In order to apply for and be able to receive the award, the following must be true:

• Applicants must be currently enrolled UW undergraduate students with a faculty mentor (not a postdoc or graduate student)¹.
• Faculty mentors must provide a statement of support (brief sentences endorsing you to present at this conference) in order for your application to be considered complete and reviewable by the committee.
• Applicants must be accepted to present and presenting at the conference they are applying for by time of submitting the application.
• Group presentations:
  • Each co-presenter must meet all eligibility requirements and apply separately/individually of their co-presenting group.
  • The committee will fund group presentations to the extent possible (e.g. we may reduce award sizes to fund the most co-presenters versus awarding a single award to a group member). This policy does not apply to presenters going to the same conference who are presenting separately.
• Applications must be submitted before the first day of the conference. Applications received after the first day of the conference or upon your return will not be considered. We encourage applicants to complete their application up to 3 months before traveling.
• Applicants may apply for and receive the Undergraduate Research Conference Travel Award once during their time as an undergraduate.
  • Exceptions exist for those who are either a part of the Washington Research Foundation Fellowship or Levinson Emerging Scholars programs.
• Applicants must submit for any of the following expenses: travel (airfare, train fare), lodging (e.g. hotel), conference fees (e.g. registration, abstract review fee), and poster printing.
  • This award does not directly provide coverage for mileage, ground transit including Uber/Lyft, or meals.
• Applicants and applications must follow the Office of Undergraduate Research and applicable UW department policies as outlined. Failure to follow requirements may result in your application not being considered, reviewed, or awarded.

Requirements of the Award

General Requirements

Applicants must accept the award within 14 days of receiving the notification of award. After 14 days, the award is no longer available. You are eligible to apply for a new award.

• Awardees are expected to present at the following year’s UW Undergraduate Research Symposium.
• Awardees are asked to fill out a brief, reflective, survey on their travel experiences and receiving the award.
• International travel: If your conference is outside of the U.S., we strongly encourage you to register your trip with UW Global. Register using the Non-Curricular Travel (Student) form provided on the UW Global website. Registering your travel allows you to proactively receive UW’s global travel insurance for students [with a $25 fee charged to your student account], and access to resources like International SOS to be more prepared for emergencies.

Payment of the Award

After accepting the award, awardees will be asked to confirm the method of payment of the award. Do know that the method of receiving the award may impact the actual total dollar amount of the award received due to UW Travel Policy.

• Student database payment: Awardees may receive up to the total award paid via their student account. Funds received this way are not taxable unless the student is already receiving financial aid, scholarships, or other academic awards where the total exceeds their qualified student expenses for the academic year. If the student is unsure what qualified expenses are, or if they are concerned that they are already receiving other funds through their account, it will be helpful for them to check with Student Financial Aid Services to see what portion of the award they are able to receive via your student account (this can be done via email or live chat hours linked on their website). Once the student can confirm your eligibility to receive any portion of the award via student account, we may proceed. We encourage students to set-up direct deposit for payments, otherwise they will receive a check mailed to their permanent address.
• Staff direct purchase (cannot guarantee full award): Awardees may receive up to the total award via staff direct purchases on behalf of the student if purchases can be made proactively and have not been made yet (e.g. flights, conference registration, etc.). In addition, this option is viable if the student cannot receive a portion of the award as payment to their student account. This method requires meeting one-on-one with a fiscal staff member to make the appropriate purchase on the student’s behalf. We cannot guarantee the full award.
  • Allowable expenses: The following expenses are allowed to be purchased through staff payment:
    • Travel (including airfare or train fare)
    • Lodging (including hotel, AirBnb, etc.)
    • Conference fees (including registration, abstract review fees, etc.)
    • Poster printing
  • Non-allowable expenses: These expenses include mileage, City of Seattle lodging, ground transit (e.g. Lyft/Uber).
• Reimbursement (cannot guarantee full award): Awardees may receive up to the total award via reimbursement as a student employee or non-employee reimbursement. If the purchases have already been made or cannot be received as a portion of the award as payment to the student account, we are able to reimburse them for their purchases up to the total award. This requires that you are able to provide appropriate documentation for reimbursement (as outlined by UW Travel Policy). We cannot guarantee the full award.
  • Reimbursements may be made up to 60 days after purchase of allowable expense.
  • Reimbursement items must include the name of the awardee on the invoice/receipt/proof of payment. Otherwise, reimbursement will be made to the payee.
  • Allowable expenses: The following expenses are allowed to be reimbursed:
    • Travel (including airfare or train fare)
    • Lodging (including hotel, AirBnb, etc.)
    • Conference fees (including registration, abstract review fees, etc.)
    • Poster printing
  • Non-allowable expenses: These expenses include mileage, City of Seattle lodging, ground transit (e.g. Lyft/Uber), payments made with Venmo/CashApp/PayPal.
  • To departments: The Office of Undergraduate Research is willing to perform cost transfers between departments/labs if the expense was paid for directly by the department/lab or faculty mentor.

Apply

Timeline/Deadlines

We highly encourage you to submit your application as soon as you receive conference acceptance, and highly encourage applying at least 3 months in advance of your conference.

Applications are due (complete with faculty mentor statement of support) by the 7th of each month. Applications will be reviewed for two weeks, with final decisions being released by the last week of the month, but no later than the first full week of the following month.

Review Month	Deadline Date	Notification Date
April 2026	April 7, 2026, 11:59 p.m. PST	By May 6, 2026
May 2026	May 7, 2026, 11:59 p.m. PST	By June 5, 2026
June 2026	June 7, 2026, 11:59 p.m. PST	By July 6, 2026
July 2026	July 7, 2026, 11:59 p.m. PST	By August 6, 2026
August 2026	August 7, 2026, 11:59 p.m. PST	By September 4, 2026

Application

Access the application using the button below. Login with your UW netID and password.

Other Funding Opportunities

Whether you receive an undergraduate research conference travel award or are simply seeking out funds to cover more of your conference travel, there may be options for you! Below we’ve included some considerations for you as you navigate other funding opportunities.

• We encourage UW Bothell undergraduates to consider seeking conference travel support through the UW Bothell Student Academic Enhancement Fund (SAEF).
• We encourage UW Tacoma undergraduates to consider seeking conference travel support through the UW Tacoma Center for Student Involvement fund.
• The Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) divisions (spanning all academic disciplines) offer conference and travel awards to undergraduate researchers presenting at various types of conferences. Visit each division webpage to access information on deadlines and applications. Note: To be eligible to apply for these awards, you must have a membership through CUR; know that the UW does not have an institutional membership.
•  As you consider funding, make sure to consult your research mentor, group, or lab and explore departmental funding opportunities.Whether your research team can support conference travel or your academic department offers scholarships or travel grants for undergraduates, start by reaching out and asking.
• Some conferences offer travel awards and student fee waivers. When applying for conferences make sure to explore conference-specific funding available through awards, scholarships, and fee waivers.

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