Faculty of Arts Graduate Student Conference Award

Through a commitment of financial support from the Faculty of Arts, awards are available to encourage full-time and part-time graduate students in the Faculty of Arts to present their own research (oral, poster, paper) at an academic conference and engage in academic dialogue within their field of study and research. Recipients will receive an award valued at up to $100 for virtual conferences or up to $200 for in-person conferences.

Interested students must submit an application that is available on the Faculty of Arts website prior to the conference as soon as they have confirmed that they will be presenting at a conference.

Applicants will be notified of the decision within 2 weeks of submitting their application. Upon approval, the award will applied to the term in which the conference occurs. The award will be coded to the student’s Quest account and first applied to any outstanding tuition and incidental fees. Any credit balance will be released as a refund via direct deposit.

Eligibility and Selection Criteria

  • Graduate students must be registered full time or part time in a research-based master’s or doctoral program in the Faculty of Arts in the term of the conference.
  • Regardless of the value of the award issued, students are limited to receiving the award once per fiscal year (May-April).
  • Applicants must be presenting their own research (oral, poster, paper), which is of direct benefit to their research/academic studies, at an in-person or virtual academic conference.
  • Applicants must submit an application that is available on the Faculty of Arts webpage (see below). The student's supervisor must approve the application.
  • As a result of limited funding for this program, applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as they have confirmed that they will be presenting at a conference. Applications will be accepted at any time throughout the year, provided the conference has not already occurred. Applications received after the conference has taken place will be rejected.
  • Applicants may apply for the award provided that funds still remain for the term in which the conference will take place. If the estimated travel dates or conference dates straddle two academic terms, the application will be considered for the term in which the student’s expected return travel date or conference end-date occurs.
  • Award recipients must notify the Faculty of Arts Graduate Studies Office immediately if their attendance type changes (e.g., in-person to virtual). In this case, the award value will be adjusted to reflect the new attendance type.
  • Award recipients who do not end up attending the conference are required to notify the Faculty of Arts Graduate Studies Office immediately by email to arrange for repayment of funds awarded.
  • The Faculty of Arts Graduate Studies Office will perform audits of select award recipients who will be required to provide proof of presentation which may include conference brochure, agenda or screenshot of website listing the recipient as a presenter.
  • With the applicant’s consent, the Faculty of Arts Graduate Studies Office may publish research summaries and expected outcomes provided by the applicant on the application form on their website in order to promote graduate student research at Waterloo.

Terms of the Award

  • Funds will be provided during the term of conference participation
  • Upon receipt of an award nomination from the Faculty, the awards will be paid by Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs and applied to the student’s account in Quest.
  • Students are able to receive this award once per fiscal year

Award Value

Recipients will receive an award valued at up to $100 for virtual conferences or up to $200 for in-person conferences.

The number of awards available will vary from year to year depending on the available budget. The annual budget will be split across three terms, normally with more budget allocated to the Spring term. Applications will be approved on a first-come, first-served basis each term, depending on the  available budget. Applications will be accepted each term until funds are depleted.

Students are advised to seek additional financial support from their supervisor, department and/or GSPA (through the Graduate Student Research Dissemination Award - GSRDA) to assist with defraying the costs associated with conference, travel and accommodation expenses, as appropriate.

Please download the Conference Funding Application form, complete it and email the form to supervisor/department head for further processing.