Provost’s Postdoctoral Travel Award and Postdoctoral Career Enhancement Award – Nov 15 Deadline
The Office of the Provost houses the University of Houston Postdoctoral Fellows Association, UHPFA (www.uh.edu/provost/university/postdocs/). The association was created to provide and inform postdocs about funding opportunities, career development, grant proposal writing, and the opportunity to network with each other, faculty, alumni, leaders in academia and industry, and more. The Office of the Provost funds awards in two categories for postdocs – travel and career enhancement.
Details and applications for these awards are available at the ‘Awards’ tab on the UHPFA website. There are three application deadlines each year (ca. mid-November, late January and late April). NSM has been underrepresented among applicants for travel awards. The awards are competitive but the odds are good.
Travel Award
This award will fund up to $1,200 to partially cover the costs of attendance and delivery of one or more oral or written (poster) presentations at a national or international meeting. The application to present must have been peer-reviewed with the possibility of rejection. There must be evidence of acceptance of the peer-reviewed presentation. The meeting could have already taken place at the time of application or award but must take place during the time window of the travel award (see the guidelines). Oral presentations are favored over posters, but awards for poster presentations have been made. An added strength of the postdoc travel application is the planned participation in professional/career development programs and workshops at the conference. Additionally, meeting with potential employers is a factor that will strengthen the application. It is important that the postdoc mentor put some effort into their recommendation letter. Up to four awards per cycle are anticipated for each application cycle.
Career Enhancement Award
This award will fund up to $1,000 to partially cover the costs of participating in a career enhancement opportunity. There are many such activities, but examples include visiting a collaborator where you will learn new skills and/or collect data, participating in an internship, taking a short course, etc. Again, the travel/training could have already taken place during the designated time window for the current call for applications for this award. It is anticipated that up to one career enhancement award will be made each application cycle.
Application Deadlines for 2019-2020 (Both Awards)
- November 15, 2019 by 5 p.m. for travel between Sept 1, 2019-Feb 28, 2020
- January 29, 2020 by 5 p.m. for travel between March 1, 2020-May 31, 2020
- April 30, 2020 by 5 p.m. for travel between June 1, 2020-Aug 31, 2020
If you have questions, feel free to contact Jim Briggs (jbriggs@uh.edu), Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs.