Establish an internal practice to provide conference travel assistance funds to BUFA members within the Faculty of Humanities in fulfillment of the obligation established in Appendix C of the Collective Agreement between Brock University and the Brock University Faculty Association (BUFA) – July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2026.

This practice applies to BUFA members within the Faculty of Humanities.

It is the intention of the Faculty of Humanities to establish a Conference Travel Assistance practice and outline the criteria by which BUFA members are eligible for assistance. Conference travel assistance is intended to help defray part of the travel costs associated with presenting a refereed paper or abstract at a recognized conference or meeting.

1. Qualifying faculty members (“Members”) may claim reimbursement of actual expenses not otherwise funded, up to a maximum of $900 CAD per fiscal year (May 1 to April 30).
2. Conference assistance may be applied against conference registration fees, return economy air fare, train fare or mileage (at Brock University rate), ground transportation, hotel accommodation and meals.
3. A Member should submit an on-line conference travel assistance application to the Dean of Humanities at least two weeks prior to the proposed travel date. Evidence that a paper is being presented (e.g. copy of conference schedule showing the Member’s name on the agenda) must be included with the application.
4. The conference travel assistance on-line form can be accessed on the Brock University website at the following link: https://brocku.ca/humanities/faculty/bufa-conference-travel-assistance/
5. When a conference travel assistance on-line form has been submitted, the applicant will be notified by e-mail as to whether the application has been approved by the Dean of Humanities.
6. Expense reports should be charged in their entirety to the Member’s account, e.g. PER, Start-up, or Research account.
7. Expense reports should be submitted as usual in the Workday finance system, indicating in the memo field in the header of the expense report that BUFA Conference Travel Assistance funding has been approved. An e-mail should be sent to the Assistant to the Faculty Financial Manager, indicating the relevant expense report number(s) in the Workday finance system.
8. Finance will process the applicant’s expense report and the transaction will be posted to the Member’s account. The Assistant to the Faculty Financial Manager will then prepare a transfer of funds for the approved amount of conference assistance and reallocate the expenses to the Non-Teaching Cost Centre, where this conference assistance funding is budgeted. In the event that total expenses charged to the Member’s account are less than $900 CAD, reimbursement will be limited to the expense actually incurred.