Skip to main content

Travel and subsistence costs

Travel and subsistence costs (meals and accommodation) include reasonable out-of-pocket expenses for field work, research conferences, collaborative trips, archival work and historical research, for the grantee, research personnel, students and colleagues working with the grantee, and visiting researchers.

Air travel must be claimed at the lowest economy rate available.

Travel cancellation insurance.

Seat reservation charges are eligible.

Safety-related expenses for field work, such as protective gear, immunizations, etc.

Entry visa fee (for grantees and/or research personnel) when required for the purpose of research.

Collaborators may claim travel and subsistence expenses related to research planning and exchange of information with the grantee or for the dissemination of research results.

Child-care expenses while a nursing mother or single parent is travelling, with the following restrictions:

  • The eligible cost for a single parent is limited to overnight child-care costs incurred while the grantee is travelling.
  • The eligible cost for a nursing mother who is travelling with a child is limited to the customary cost of child care and airfare if applicable. If travelling with a caregiver, travel and accommodation costs can be claimed in lieu of and up to the equivalent of the child-care costs.  

In lieu of babysitting costs, a grantee is allowed to bring a caregiver to take care of the child while the parent / grantee is at the conference or at the field work site. Should the grantee opt for the in-lieu-of-babysitting costs, the grantee can only charge the equivalent cost of the babysitting expenses towards the cost of travel. (The name of the person receiving the payment, along with the amount paid and the dates and the number of hours spent babysitting, must be submitted to claim for this.)

For example, if the grantee was to leave her child at the hotel's daycare and they charge $20 an hour, and she left her child for five hours a day for four days, the grantee would be entitled to claim up to $400 to cover the cost of the caregiver's travel.

Travel health insurance for research personnel who do not receive any such benefits from their institution and/or other sources.

Relocation costs for eligible research personnel and their immediate family members (economy airfare, or cost of land travel, up to the equivalent of economy airfare).

Tri-Council allows a $50-per-night allowance for travellers claiming non-commercial accommodation (gifts in lieu of hotel fees) as long as no hotel accommodation fees are claimed at the same time.

There should be a separate claim for each trip. Any claim containing multiple trips and purposes, and not following what is required on the list below, will not be approved for payment. (Payment of such will result in a subsequent reversal of charge when disclosed in a future spot check or audit, as these are considered by Tri-Council as non-compliant transactions.)

Information required:*
  • Dates and destinations
  • Purpose of the trip and its relevance to the research project
  • Traveler’s affiliation to the research project

* All of the above must be provided