Award Opportunities
- Mentoring Award
- Postdoctoral Scholar Award
- Dependent Care Award
Professional meetings, conferences, workshops and other scholarly activities are critical for career advancement. Expenses for dependent care during travel to these events present a major challenge for postdoctoral scholars (postdocs), both male and female, as most funding agencies and training funds do not cover such expenses. Postdoctoral scholars, in particular, are in need of these travel opportunities to develop a professional network and identify career opportunities prior to entering the job market (the postdoc position being the last “step” in their training). This grant program seeks to alleviate expenses of child- and adult-dependent care costs incurred by postdocs during these vital professional development travel opportunities.
This program is funded and administered by the Office of Postdoctoral and Research Scholar Affairs and also funded by the Office of Research Affairs.
To be eligible to apply for a Postdoctoral Scholar Dependent Care Professional Travel Grant, the person must be a UC San Diego postdoctoral scholar in the following title codes during the time of travel:
We encourage applications from all UC San Diego postdoctoral scholars regardless of gender from all UC San Diego Departments and Divisions.
A postdoctoral scholar may apply for additional travel grants during the same fiscal year, but the total funds awarded will not exceed $1000 between July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020.
An adult or child may be considered a dependent in the following categories:
Submissions will be accepted on a rolling basis.
The application form must be submitted at least 2 months and no more than 6 months in advance of the travel dates.
If you submit the form less than 2 months or more than 6 months in advance of your travel dates, your application will not be reviewed.
If no home care is available, please explain why in your detailed justification for the grant.
Note that modifications, changes, or updates to submitted and approved proposals must be reviewed and approved before expenses are incurred. Failure to do so may mean that expenses will not be able to be reimbursed and/or that the award may be forfeited.
Recipients of this award will be selected by a committee composed of faculty, representatives from the UC San Diego postdoctoral community, Postdoctoral Association and Office of Postdoctoral and Research Scholar Affairs.
In addition to the specifics of the request, the following will also be taken into consideration:
Recipients will be notified of the award decision at least 1 month in advance of their travel dates.
Once selected, recipients will be sent a pre-evaluation assessment via email. This assessment will need to be completed before the time of travel.
Once travel has occurred, the recipients need to submit receipts (e.g. airline ticket receipt, invoice/receipt for caregiver services rendered, etc.) or caregiver invoices for the amount requested no later than 45 days after travel. Expense receipts/invoices submitted later than 45 days after travel will be ineligible for funding.
The recipients will also be sent a post-evaluation assessment via email.
Both assessments (pre- and post- evaluations) and receipts/invoices need to be submitted before the award will be issued.
The award is approved explicitly for the expenses described in the application. Modifications or changes to approved expenses must be submitted prior to travel and approved, or they will not be eligible to claim as expenses.
For an example of a caregiver invoice, click here [Excel].
Please note that this award is taxable income and reported on your W-2 as “other income.” To alleviate some of the tax deduction, the award amount will be augmented by 20%. For example, if $1000 is awarded, we will provide a total of $1200.00.
However, please be aware that we cannot account for every tax situation and yours may require a higher tax rate and payroll deduction. If you would like to estimate the amount of tax that you may be paying based on your annual income (including this award), you may use the IRS tax tables found on their website: www.irs.gov
If you are awarded and no longer willing or able to travel, please contact postdoc@ucsd.edu to cancel your grant request.
The Dependent Care Professional Travel Grant Program will grant funds to be used for either child- or adult-dependent care. Please note that modifications to an approved proposal must be reviewed before the expenses are incurred and unauthorized changes may mean the award is forfeited. Examples of these expenses are as follows:
For the first year of the program (2016-2017), recipients reported that attending a professional development activity with this dependent care funding allowed recipients to:
This pilot program was supported in part by an Innovation Grant from the Vice Chancellor’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Alexandra Bortnick, Ph.D., former Chair of the UC San Diego Postdoctoral Association, served as Principal Investigator on this successful grant application. The Office of Postdoctoral and Research Scholar Affairs, Postdoctoral Association and the Committee on the Status of Women are also sponsors of the pilot.
For a complete breakdown of the pilot program and outcomes, view the Innovation Grant 2016 presentation: [PDF].
Due to the success of the pilot program, Vice Chancellor for Research and Office of Postdoctoral and Research Scholar Affairs will continue the program in 2017-18 with an increased budget to allow for individual awards of $1000.
UC San Diego Maternity Benefits for Postdoctoral Scholars
UC San Diego Family-friendly Programs and Services
National Postdoctoral Association Childcare Resources
Please note that UC San Diego postdocs who apply to these opportunities are still eligible for the UC San Diego Dependent Care Travel.
Lactation Accommodation at UC San Diego
UC San Diego Early Childhood Education Center
UC San Diego Academic Senate Faculty Dependent Care Travel Grant
Please note that this grant is only available to senate faculty at UC San Diego, not postdocs. Postdocs may only apply for the Postdoctoral Scholar Dependent Care Professional Travel Grant.