Participant Support

Participant support is a restricted and highly scrutinized budget line item that can only be used to support participants undertaking research experiences, College-hosted seminars, forums, and outreach programs that aim to expose participants to new research and educational techniques or to bring experts together to discuss research findings. Please reference the Participant Support Policy for details. 

Participants are individuals who are NOT College employees who are receiving a training, research experience, session in a workshop, conference, seminar, or symposium funded by an external grant or award.

All participant support costs should be specified and justified in the budget justification of the grant proposal and included in the grant budget approved by the sponsor.

Examples of eligible participant support expenses:

• Student or external participant stipends to participate in training
• Housing, meals, room/board expenses during the training experience and travel to/from
• Travel expenses during the training experience
• Conference registration fees
• Participant/student supplies

Examples of ineligible participant support expenses:

• Honoraria paid to a guest speaker or lecturer
• Payments to participants in human subject research studies
• Memorabilia or gifts for participants
• Payments or expenses for training leaders or providers
• Expenses for PIs, College employees, or collaborators to attend meetings, conferences, or seminars
• Conference support costs such as facility rentals, media equipment rentals, or conference food and snacks unless specifically approved by the awarding agency

Please refer to the Participant Support Policy for full guidance.

Please note, funding within participant support budgets typically requires sponsor approval before reallocation to other budget line items. Please reference the Budget Adjustments section for details.