Financial Aid

The GHS offers financial support to enable doctoral candidates to attend conferences or special courses.

The ability of the GHS to provide financial aid depends on the resources allocated to the GHS by the university. Currently, financial aid of max. 500 CHF per candidate per year is provided.

This amount will be provided as long as the GHS has the financial resources available. The principle by which financial aid will be awarded is "first come, first served." Only courses and conferences that meet the GHS recognition requirements can be financed (see here for more information). 

To better cover the requests across the whole year, the budget for financial aid will be divided in two parts and made available to candidates at the beginning of each semester: from January to June and from July to December respectively.

Please consider your planning carefully, as you can only apply once per semester (either in the spring or fall) for financial aid for a total of 500 CHF per year. Applications that are not granted in spring cannot be resubmitted in fall.

Thank you for your understanding.

Type of Financial Aid

Conference

Prerequisites

  1. Presentation (talk or poster) as first and presenting author.
  2. The conference must meet the recognition requirements of the GHS and be listed in the Doctoral Agreement.
  3. Applications for financial aid must be submitted to the GHS before the conference.
  4. Requests for support received after the event will not be considered.

Application for Financial Aid for Participation in Conferences 

Documents to be submitted to the GHS in one merged PDF file before the conference:

  1. The form Application for financial aid
  2. A copy of the abstract
  3. A confirmation letter from the conference organizers (acceptance email is fine as well)
  4. The conference program

Refunding

  1. For reimbursements by the GHS, the institutes of the Inselspital and the UPD send the following documents to the Finance Office of the University of Bern within one month after the event:

    Complete documents can either be sent by regular mail to the invoice address above or submitted electronically as one single PDF file to kreditoren@unibe.ch.

    • Invoice from the applicant's institute, containing a list of all expenses, with foreign currencies converted to CHF, and addressed to:
      Universität Bern
      Zentraler Rechnungseingang
      Hochschulstrasse 6
      3012 Bern
      VERY IMPORTANT: The invoice must include the reference REF-200-41 (exact spelling required)
    • Copies of receipts, giving evidence of the effective costs
    • Copy of conference certificate
  2. For reimbursements by the GHS, all other institutes of the University of Bern enter the invoice in eforms under "Transfer Posting and Internal Billing"/Ihr Institut kann die Rechnung in eforms unter «Umbuchung und interne Verrechnung» erfassen: https://eforms.unibe.ch/. The invoice must be sent within one month after the event. The credit reference is 200-41.
    It is mandatory to also upload a list of all expenses, with foreign currencies converted to CHF, copies of receipts, giving evidence of the effective costs, and a copy of the conference certificate.
  3. Late submissions will not be considered for refunding.
  4. Contributions from the GHS will only be remitted to an official bank account of the university (i.e. applicant's institute), not to a private bank account.
  5. Travel, registration, and accommodation costs are covered. Poster costs and meals are not covered.

Special Course

Prerequisites

  1. Participation in special courses must be specifically agreed upon with the thesis advisor.
  2. The course must meet the recognition requirements of the GHS and be listed in the Doctoral Agreement.
  3. A course certificate from the organizers must be presented to the GHS after the event.
  4. If no official course certificate is issued by the organizers, PhD candidates must use the GHS Course Certificate and have it signed by the course organizers.
  5. Applications for financial aid for participation in a special course must be submitted to the GHS before the start of the course.
  6. Requests for support received after the event will not be considered.

Application for Financial Aid  for Participation in Special Courses

Documents to be submitted to the GHS in one merged PDF file before the special course:

  1. The form Application for financial aid
  2. The official program or description of the special course
  3. The written recommendation by the thesis advisor
  4. A confirmation letter from the course organizers (confirmation email from the organizers is fine as well)

Refunding

  1. For reimbursements by the GHS, the institutes of the Inselspital and the UPD send the following documents to the Finance Office of the University of Bern within one month after the event:

    Complete documents can either be sent by regular mail to the invoice address above, or can be submitted electronically as one single PDF file to kreditoren@unibe.ch.

    • Invoice from the applicant's institute, containing a list of all expenses, with foreign currencies converted to CHF, and addressed to:
      Universität Bern
      Zentraler Rechnungseingang
      Hochschulstrasse 6
      3012 Bern
      VERY IMPORTANT: The invoice must include the reference REF-200-41 (exact spelling required)
    • Copies of receipts, giving evidence of the effective costs
    • Copy of course certificate
  2. For reimbursements by the GHS, all other institutes of the University of Bern enter the invoice in eforms under "Transfer Posting and Internal Billing"/Ihr Institut kann die Rechnung in eforms unter «Umbuchung und interne Verrechnung» erfassen: https://eforms.unibe.ch/. The invoice must be sent within one month after the event. The credit reference is 200-41.
    It is mandatory to also upload a list of all expenses, with foreign currencies converted to CHF, copies of receipts, giving evidence of the effective costs, and a copy of the course certificate.
  3. Late submissions will not be considered for refunding.
  4. Contributions from the GHS will only be remitted to an official bank account of the university (i.e. applicant's institute), not to a private bank account.

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