I’m hoping this guide will help everyone to keep up to date and have a central repository of information when it comes to travel requests as a PhD student in the ICG. This is very a much a collaborative effort so feel free to go to the repository (link) and suggest a change to be made for any information that I have missed. I won’t be here forever so I can’t keep it updated forever!
Thanks,
Arthur Tolley
So, you’ve found a place you want to go and you don’t want to pay for it? Find a relevant conference in the same place! Now, how do I actually get approval to go to this conference? This is the ICG internal guide: link, it is missing quite a lot of information, hopefully this guide will fill in the gaps.
Step 1: Find a Conference
The easiest way to do this is to ask your supervisor, ask your peers, read your emails and learn what the big conferences are for your field and research area.
Step 2: Ask your supervisor
If your supervisor recommended this conference then you can skip this step. If not, then in your weekly supervision meeting you should ask them what they think of the conference you have found and if they are happy for you to go.
Step 3: Fill in the ICG Travel Request form
Your request now needs to be approved by the department so you must fill in this form:
link.
If you want to see a breakdown of how I estimate costs then go to this page: link
Step 4: Wait for confirmation
This can take some time, if it is taking too long then email icg-travel@port.ac.uk and ask for an update.
If the conference has an early bird discount or abstract deadlines then don’t hesitate to push the process to go faster. icg-travel@port.ac.uk should email you confirmation and the next steps. For an example of this response go to this page: link
Step 5: Email Reed & MacKay
This is where it pays to do your own research.
You want to have a good idea of the travel and the accommodation before you send this email. Providing as much detail here can really help ease the process. I include the required stations/airports and then the departure times which make your life easy. If you don’t want to get a 4:30am coach to the airport you don’t have to. You can say to R&M that you want to take the 10:37am train to Heathrow for the flight at 14:23pm and they will book this flight for you if it still has availability and falls within any budgetary constraints (of which you should have set out in your travel request form).
The same is true for hotels. If you don’t want to stay at a travel lodge you can ask explicitly for a booking to be made for “6 nights, starting on the 10/05/2024 with checkout on the 16/05/2024 at the Premier Inn at (insert address)” and they will do it if possible, if not they will provide alternatives for you to pick from.
Step 6: Get a Purchase Order
Once you have agreed an itinerary with R&M you will then be required to provide them with a purchase order (PO) from the ICG. The easiest way to do this is the cc icg-travel@port.ac.uk into a reply to the email where R&M are asking you for the PO. You can even tag @icg-travel@port.ac.uk who will get it from tech-finance@port.ac.uk.
Step 7: Provide this PO to R&M
tech-finance@port.ac.uk might send you an attachment containing the PO so you need to forward this to R&M as part of a reply to your itinerary email chain.
Step 8: Double check all booking information
R&M should now provide you will all the booking confirmations and information you need to get to the conference. You should double check this to make sure everything lines up.
Step 9: Go to the conference
Last thing to do is go to the conference and have a good time. If you have any trouble at the conference you can always contact icg-travel@port.ac.uk
VERY IMPORTANT
Keep all of your receipts. To make a claim you need proof of the purchase you have made.
If you go out for dinner, take a picture of the itemized receipt and try to get a physical copy as a backup.
If you paid as part of a group you can highlight which items were yours when you submit the picture as part of your eFin30.
Step 10: Claim back your money
This is the final and probably 2nd most important step. To claim back all the money you personally spent at the conference you need to fill out an eFin30 form (link) and send this off to icg-travel@port.ac.uk. This will then get processed and sent back to you either at the end of the current or the next month.
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