URS Conference Grants

URS Conference grant applications will reopen for the summer cycle on May 5 at noon.

Conference Grants

Offset Your Conference Presentation Costs!

Enrolled Duke students are eligible to apply for a URS Conference Grant. This grant is an award of up to $800 for Trinity students to use towards registration, travel, or other expenses to present faculty-mentored research they have conducted at Duke for one conference per semester. This award provides financial support for conferences, contingent on university requirements and restrictions regarding approved travel destinations.  

Please note: Due to a higher demand for conference funding than we currently have money for, we are only accepting applicants who are presenting research, in alignment with our office’s mission to support undergraduate research initiatives. We encourage you to discuss with your mentor and/or your department to explore other potential funding options that may be available to support your conference attendance. Thank you for understanding.

Eligibility

  • You must be an enrolled undergraduate student at Duke. In the summer, you must be enrolled in at least the upcoming fall semester.
  • You must be a Trinity student.
  • You must be presenting research. We are unable to support conference attendance at this time.
    • We are only able to support one conference a semester.

Preview the Spring 2025 Application | Trinity Students

  • Note, this file above is simply a preview of the application. Spring 2025 applications are currently closed. 

Pratt Students

Pratt Students, because your department offers Conference Grants, you are unable to apply for our conference funding. For more information on your department's conference grants and other undergraduate research resources, visit this webpage. At this moment, that application is closed.

How our grant works

Starting in Fall 2023, URS can pay directly for awardees’ conference registration or travel. Awardees will work with the URS Program Coordinator to register for the conference or arrange payment for travel. To accommodate this process, it is best if students applying for this grant submit their application at least two weeks prior to regular registration deadlines and six weeks prior to the conference dates for travel if able to. For students preferring to pay for conference costs and be reimbursed up to $800, that will remain an option for the grant.  If students are accepted to and attend a conference during the time when funding is not available, they can still apply when the grant re-opens as long as the conference takes place within the same academic year.  

If your total expenses to attend the conference will surpass $800, please list your other sources of funding on the application to demonstrate how you have thought through your expenses and considered the resources you have available.   

Application Processing

URS expects that conference presentation preparation is being mentored and in consultation with Duke faculty/staff mentor/s. Take note that your application submission will prompt an email to your Duke faculty mentor(s) asking them to answer some questions, which they will need to complete and submit on your behalf. 

Once your application is complete (your application and your mentor support submitted), the URS office will review your application and let you know about your funding decision within two weeks of submission.   

If you are awarded a URS Conference grant, an award letter will be provided with further instructions for working with the URS Program Coordinator to register for the conference or book travel or arrange reimbursement.  Please note that you will be required to submit a reflection about your conference within two weeks of the date of the conference.  Finally, if URS pays for registration fees or travel for you to attend the conference, you must attend the conference. Failure to adhere to any of this agreement will mean that you are not be eligible for any future funding from URS, including conference grants, independent study grants, assistantship grants, or the Deans Summer Research Fellowship. 

Updated: 4/29/25

Students may apply to present at a conference.

Attendance of conferences or meetings, and the award of a URS conference grant, does not 'officially' excuse absences from class or missed deadlines. For this reason, conference awards are rarely made for more than three days of missed classes. ​Before you apply, check your syllabi and with your instructors to ensure that your conference will not adversely affect your coursework.

Budget Information:

  • Eligible budget expenses include: Transportation (mileage, airfare, Uber/Lyft, transportation passes etc.), lodging, conference registration fees, abstract submission fees, membership fees (if lowers registration rate).
  • Non-eligible expenses include: meals, entertainment activities

For students applying to attend in-person conferences:

  • Review current Duke travel policies (see Duke Global Administrative and Travel Support). If you have questions about this policy or your location, please contact globaltravel@duke.edu.
  • You are responsible for making sure that you have the required permissions, and have followed the required steps for Duke-funded travel to the location in which this conference is being held.

Updated: 1/14/25

Application Status: CLOSED