Mobility Grant

Primarily, the grant covers the costs of participating in specialised events with a presentation, including

• participation fees, which are compensated based on expense documents;
• travel and accommodation costs and daily allowance, which are reimbursed based on unit prices used in the national Kristjan Jaak scholarship programme.

Note: The doctoral school will not reimburse the cost of social events, lunches or dinners, membership fees or excursions (except excursions related to the research theme), which are separately shown in the calculation of the participation fee.

Travel costs include all the expenses related to the journey, including local transport, travel insurance, etc. In justified cases, the doctoral school-supported mobility may start one day before and end one day after the event. The distance is calculated using the European Commission’s online distance calculator.

Accommodation costs are covered by the accommodation allowance, which is paid for the duration of the event abroad and, where justified, for one night before and one night after the event.

Living expenses are covered by the daily allowance of 32 euros per day for mobility abroad. The days are counted based on the official dates of the event, plus, where justified, one day before and one day after the event.

If the unit costs-based calculation exceeds 2,000 euros, the remaining costs must be paid from another source or the doctoral student’s resources.

Bank transfer fees and VAT are not eligible for funding and are not reimbursed. To cover such costs, please contact your supervisor and/or the head of unit. For further guidance, contact the project leader of the Estonian Doctoral School.

Doctoral students can apply for a mobility grant at the university where they are matriculated. Information on calls for application is communicated via the universities’ mailing lists. The contact details of the doctoral school project leaders can be found on the Estonian Doctoral School website.

To apply for a mobility grant, the doctoral student must submit the following to the doctoral school project leader at their university:

1. a formal application including a motivation letter;
2. confirmation of acceptance of the presentation from the conference organiser, or, when participating in a course, seminar or other activity, confirmation from the host institution (for example, registration confirmation, letter of invitation, etc.);
3. when requesting the reimbursement of a participation fee, confirmation of the amount of the participation fee;
4. a letter of recommendation from the supervisor.

Applications are evaluated based on the following criteria:

• the applicant is a doctoral student at an Estonian university;
• the applicant has not received a mobility grant from the doctoral school in the current calendar year;
• the event for which support is applied has not yet taken place;
• the application has been correctly prepared;
• the purpose of the trip is clear; the destination and the tasks are suitable. The travel is strongly linked to the doctoral thesis, its substantive needs and completion;
• the duration and budget of the application are well-considered and reasonable.

For reimbursement of costs, it is necessary

• to submit a signed activity report to the Estonian Doctoral School project leader on the doctoral school’s form,
• for a junior research fellow to complete a travel report, and a doctoral student without an employment contract with the university, an expense report,
• to attach documents certifying the payment of the participation fee (invoice, payment confirmation) to the travel report or the expense report,
• to attach the programme of the event and an official letter of confirmation from the organiser, stating the event date(s), to the travel report or the expense report.

The travel order or the expense report must include the sentence: “The travel/study mobility is in accordance with the University of Tartu project “Cooperation between universities to promote doctoral studies” (2021–2027.4.04.24-0003) and its goals and action plan.”.

Doctoral students participating in an event with a presentation or poster presentation must comply with the notification requirements. According to the guide , the opening slide of the presentation or poster must show a logo, which is available in Estonian and English in the files prepared by the State Shared Service Centre. In case of non-compliance with the notification requirements, the mobility costs are not eligible for funding and will not be reimbursed by the Estonian Doctoral School.

University of Tartu

• Faculty of Science and Technology
• Faculty of Social Sciences
• Faculty of Arts and Humanities

Tallinn University of Technology

• Mobility grant information

Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre

• Mobility grant information