NCURA Region VI/VII Regional Meeting Participant Support Travel Stipend

AI4RA will support twelve research administrators to attend the NCURA Region VI & VII Regional Meeting in Denver, CO, Sunday, November 8 through Wednesday, November 11, Each recipient will receive up to $2,500 to reimburse travel and per diem costs to attend the conference.

Application deadline: 11:59 PM your local time, Sunday, August 9th
Review period: August 10th – August 23rd
Decisions announced: August 28th

This timeline allows recipients to secure the early-bird registration rate (deadline: October 8, 2026) and the conference hotel block rate. Once notified, please book both as soon as possible to take advantage of these rates.

Apply for participant support on the form below.
Register for the regional meeting: NCURA Regional Meeting 2026: Regions VI & VII

Note that National Science Foundation and entity (University of Idaho) travel policies apply. To comply with these requirements, the hotel rate should be the conference hotel room block rate or a comparable rate with an acceptable reason for not booking with the conference hotel. GSA per diem rate will be reimbursed. Ground transportation and flight cost policies also apply. Please keep these policies in mind when booking. See below for process and additional details.

Participant Must:

  • After conference attendance, submit a reimbursement request form, to be provided by University of Idaho, with required receipts and documentation to determine allowability of costs. Documentation should include receipts for all costs except per diem, and documented departure and arrival times, and mileage calculation for personal ground transportation (including departure location and arrival location).
  • Attend the following NCURA Region VII sessions and add your name to the attendee list provided by the presenters, to confirm attendance for the record (unless a presentation conflict exists):
    • AI4RA workshop (mandatory)
    • AI4RA sponsored session
    • Concurrent session on prompt engineering (Sarah Martonick and Julie Wenzel as presenters)
    • Concurrent session on evaluation of AI outputs ( Barrie Robison and Co-Presenter)
    • Other AI related sessions as time and schedule allow for
  • Sign up for AI4RA groups.io group  before requesting reimbursement
  • Participate in Vandalizer 2-week trial before conference attendance. Note, if workload or other conflicts prevent this, please email ai4ra@uidaho.edu with your preferred trial period and we will do our best to make it work.
    • Must spend a minimum of two hours in the platform or submit a minimum of 5 support tickets
    • Provide feedback via support tickets
    • Send summative feedback email to ai4ra@uidaho.edu at the end of the trial detailing what worked for your role, what was difficult to use, what could be beneficial in making the platform more useful or user-friendly, etc.
  • Co-write a blog post for AI4RA blog with a co-author of your choice
    • 1-2 paragraphs
    • What you learned at Regional relating to AI in RA (beyond AI4RA workshop content)
    • How you intend on implementing this information in your work

Please include a letter of support (from your supervisor) with your application. The letter should endorse your participation in the Regional Meeting, outline the anticipated benefits of your involvement, explicitly indicate that you are approved to attend if awarded a Participant Support Travel reimbursement, and confirm the institution’s commitment to cover any costs beyond those provided by this reimbursement (up to $2500 for eligible costs). The letter of support must be signed by your direct supervisor or an appropriate signer in your leadership hierarchy.

Attendance at the AI4RA workshop on November 8th is required to receive this travel support. The extra cost can be included in the reimbursement request and would cover per diem for that date and a hotel night for early arrival to attend the Sunday workshop. Receipts must be provided for all expenses except per diem, which will be calculated based on the GSA for the meeting location and arrival and departure times. Reimbursement will be initiated after conclusion of the conference and upon receipt of the required reimbursement form and all required documentation from the participant. The AI4RA team will confirm all conditions were met (see eligibility requirements above) before approving the reimbursement. Participants will need to register with the University of Idaho payment system to receive reimbursement – more details will be provided to selected participants.

Institution Type (select multiple)*
Position Area (check all that apply)*
If your institution has already used AI to address challenges, describe what you have already tried or implemented, how effective those solutions were, and where you see gaps that could be further addressed.
Have you used Vandalizer previously?*

Rate each of these from strongly disagree to strongly agree

I trust AI outputs.*
I want to use AI in my work life.*
I’m not worried AI will take my job.*
I can use AI safely in my work.*
I understand how AI models work.*
Have you taken an AI literacy course or received AI training previously? *
Are you a current NCURA member?*
Have you attended an NCURA National, Regional, or FRA/PRA meetings previously? *
Files accepted, .pdf, .docx, .doc