This page documents the guidelines for reimbursement of participant travel expenses which are being covered by the IRIS-HEP project. Please read carefully the entire document, including both the general guidelines and any event- or workshop-specific instructions described at the end of this page. Additional instructions or limitations for reimbursement may also have been included in any email you received informing you that your travel is eligible for reimbursement from the IRIS-HEP project.
General Guidelines for Reimbursement of Travel Expenses
Reimbursement will be provided for travel expenses for participants, up to a specified limit, upon presentation of valid receipts. The following guidelines apply:
- Participants should plan on traveling on dates agreed with the IRIS-HEP project for a particular event. These will be documented in “Notes for specific events and workshops” section of this webpage or specified in email from a designated representative of the IRIS-HEP project.
- Travelers should pay for their travel themselves and will be reimbursed up to the specified limits after the meeting/training event has concluded.
- The reimbursement can be done by check or bank transfer, typically within 5-10 business days from submission and approval of the required documentation.
- Only the traveler can be directly reimbursed (not the traveler’s research group).
- Reimbursed travel should use the least expensive options possible, which reasonably meet normal travel time constraints.
- Reimbursed travel should be booked in regular, economy fares. No business class or paid economy class upgrades can be reimbursed. In cases where airlines offer “economy basic” or similar discounted fares, with limitations on carry-on baggage or similar, it is fine to choose the “regular” economy fare permitting baggage.
- For participants flying from outside the U.S., air flights can only be reimbursed if the carrier is allowed by the Fly America Act and U.S. Open Skies agreements and normally reimbursable with U.S. government (NSF) sponsored research funds.
- For long distance ground travel, mass transportation (train, bus) is preferred to long distance taxi. Short distance travel by taxi is allowed. For example, if necessary, a taxi (uber, lyft) can be used from Princeton Junction to Princeton for late arrivals in place of the Dinky (train station on campus). When reasonably convenient public transportation is not available, a taxi may be used from the airport in a given city to a hotel in that same city. Long distance taxis (e.g. EWR to Princeton) should not be used, except in special cases like arrival during the night.
- Car rentals will not be reimbursed unless specifically authorized by the IRIS-HEP Principal Investigator (Peter Elmer).
- For many IRIS-HEP events, some number of meals and coffee breaks will be provided for you. The specifics will be described in an email from an IRIS-HEP representative about the event. Additional meals costs will not be reimbursed.
- Non-Princeton participants coming from locations within reasonable driving distance of Princeton University (or analog with respect to other event locations) may choose to drive their personal automobile. Reimbursement will be provided based on mileage using the standard IRS rates. An itinerary map (e.g. from Google Maps) should be provided in lieu of a receipt.
- Receipts should be provided in electronic form (scanned or clear photos), preferably grouped together into a single pdf file.
- The form(s) for reimbursement are linked below. This should in general be filled out by one week after the end of the event itself and submitted along with the electronic copy of the receipts described above.
If you have any questions or doubts about travel reimbursement please send an email with your travel plan to participant-reimbursement@iris-hep.org before booking to get confirmation on reimbursement.
Forms for reimbursement
Please ignore this section for now. It will be discussed on the last day of the school/workshop itself.
There are two relevant forms for travel reimbursement:
- Guest Reimbursement Request - Everyone requesting travel reimbursement must fill out this form
- Supplier Onboarding Form - Only people requesting reimbursement via wire transfer need to fill out this form. If you would like to receive a check, this form is not needed.
Please note the following:
- The form can be filled out electronically (e.g. in Acrobat Reader). This is the preferred method in order to guarantee legibility.
- You can either sign the pdf electronically (e.g. in Acrobat Reader) or fill it out electronically, print the result, sign it and scan the result.
- If you cannot fill the form out electronically, print the form and fill it out using clear block letters. Sign it and make a clear scan of the completed form.
- On the form:
- Fill out “Today’s date” in the upper right hand corner of the form
- Fill out your name, address and business phone
- Specify the departure and return date from your trip to the school (please use MM/DD/YY format)
- Specify the city, state and country where the event was located for the “Destination”
- For “Business Purpose”, specify “Participation in [name of event]” (as in specific event list below)
- Fill out the list of expenses as appropriate. Include the date (in MM/DD/YY format), a short description of the type of expense and the amount in U.S. Dollars.
- If you paid an expense in something other than U.S. Dollars, look up the exchange rate (corresponding to the date of the expense!) on some online service and make a screenshot of the rate (including the date). Include the screenshot in the pdf with the receipt. Put the equivalent U.S. Dollar cost in the form in the “Amount” column and include the amount in the foreign currency (with label such as CHF, EUR) in parentheses in the item “Description”. (Note that the administration may adjust the conversion amount if the wrong rate or date is used.)
- Add your name, date and signature at the bottom of the form.
- Make a readable scan or clear photo of all relevant receipts for the expenses to be reimbursed.
- Combine the forms and scanned receipt images into a single pdf in the following order:
- Guest Reimbursement Request Form
- Supplier Onboarding Form (if relevant)
- Scans of relevant receipts
- Please name the file using this convention:
- shorteventname-YYYYMMDD-yourfirstname-yourlastname.pdf
- see below for the “shorteventname” to use
- replace “YYYYMMDD” with the numeric values for the year, month and day of the month on which you are submitting the reimbursement claim
- replace “yourfirstname” and “yourlastname” as appropriate
- Send the single pdf as an attachment in email to participant-reimbursement@iris-hep.org with an email subject line including your name and the word “reimbursement”.
Notes for specific events and workshops (reverse chronological order)
MODE Differentiable Programming Workshop 2024
- Location: Valencia, Spain
- Meeting Dates: 23-25 September, 2024
- Business purpose: Participation in MODE Differentiable Programming Workshop 2024
- “event-prefix” for pdf file naming: MODE
IRIS-HEP Institute Retreat 2024
- Location: Seattle, WA
- Meeting Dates: 4-6 September, 2024
- Business purpose: Participation in IRIS-HEP Institute Retreat 2024
- “event-prefix” for pdf file naming: IRIS-HEP-Retreat
CoDaS-HEP 2024 Summer School
- Location: Princeton, NJ
- Meeting Dates: 22-26 July, 2024
- Business purpose: Participation in CoDaS-HEP 2024 Summer School
- “event-prefix” for pdf file naming: CoDaS-HEP
USATLAS/IRIS-HEP Analysis Software Training
- Location: Seattle, WA
- Meeting Dates: 18-19 July, 2024
- Business purpose: Participation in USATLAS/IRIS-HEP Analysis Software Training event
- “event-prefix” for pdf file naming: USATLAS
USCMS/IRIS-HEP Analysis Software Training
- Location: Princeton, NJ
- Meeting Dates: 20-21 June, 2024
- Business purpose: Participation in USCMS/IRIS-HEP Analysis Software Training event
- “event-prefix” for pdf file naming: USCMS