Managing Your Funds

In most cases, the entire amount of each grant will be transferred to an account at MIT for the MIT applicant and his or her department to manage directly. All grant-related allowable expenses should be covered directly by this account, including travel to MIT by the international colleague(s). In the case of the MIT-Imperial College London Seed Fund, only the MIT team's portion of the grant will be managed at MIT; the portion allocated to the team from Imperial College London will be managed there.

Grantees are required to complete a final report at the end of the grant period.

• GSF grantees are responsible for managing all aspects of their travel. Faculty traveling abroad need to be in touch with MISTI managers about travel guidelines for themselves and their students.
• MIT strongly urges ALL MIT travelers to fully understand the risks and to not travel to Extreme and High Travel Warning countries or regions. This includes places where MIT’s Travel Insurance coverage is unavailable.
• MIT students are not permitted to travel to high-risk countries or regions unless a travel risk policy waiver is granted (MIT Student High Risk Policy Waiver Application). 
• Please review this list of countries and regions and take them into consideration when preparing proposals.
• MIT faculty must register the trip at MIT Travel Registry.
• It is often preferable for the international team to cover its expenses related to visiting MIT out-of-pocket and be reimbursed via a trip report in Concur at the end of the trip. If this is not possible, MISTI recommends that MIT grantees pay for the collaborators' airfare, housing and meals with their own MIT travel or department card. When the trip is complete, close out the transactions in Concur.
• Awards may cover up to 75% of the U.S. Department of State maximum per diem rate for the proposed travel abroad plus a reasonable estimate of the economy-class airfare. For instance, if the maximum per diem rate for Paris is $454, you may request up to $340 per day for a trip to Paris, plus economy-class airfare. For travel to MIT, applicants are eligible for up to $350 per day in expenses, plus economy-class airfare.
• For more detailed information, please consult the MIT Travel Staff for policies and procedures pertaining to the use of travel cards and Concur expense reports. Also, the MIT Housing Office is an excellent resource for temporary accommodations near MIT.
• For your reference: MIT Faculty Health and Safety Checklist 2023-2024. 
• Find the PDF for MIT Student and Safety Checklist for Students 2023-2024 here.

Maximum award amounts vary depending on the fund. 

Funding may be used:

• To cover travel and meeting costs to facilitate international projects and collaboration
• Awards may cover up to 75% of the U.S. Department of State maximum per diem rate for the proposed travel abroad plus a reasonable estimate of the economy-class airfare
• For travel to MIT, applicants are eligible for up to $350 per day in expenses, plus economy-class airfare
• Funding will be made available to MIT applicants and must be administered by his or her department*

*For the MIT-Imperial College London Seed Fund, funds awarded to the Imperial College London applicant will be administered by Imperial College London.

Funding may not be used for the following:

• Research-related supplies or equipment
• Salary and/or fringe benefits of any personnel
• Conference and registration fees
• Faculty, staff or students from other institutions (not noted in the proposal)
• Funds are not intended to be used for long-term stays (over two months) abroad or at MIT.  * However, MISTI may be able to send MIT undergraduate and graduate students to work on faculty-led projects abroad through our internship program
• Funds may not be used to cover MIT Visiting Student fees. Here is the MIT visiting student policy.*
  • Students whose Visiting Student appointment duration is less than 5 weeks will have the visiting student fees waived
  • Students may visit MIT for three weeks or less without applying for Visiting Student status
• Funding should not be used for graduate students’ dissertation field work
• At the completion of the grant cycle, all unused funds will be returned to MISTI Global Seed Funds.

* An exception: MIT-Italy Seed Funds may be used to cover long-term stays (over two months) at MIT and the MIT Visiting Student fees.

To reimburse a visitor to MIT for out-of-pocket expenses, create a new Travel Report in the Concur system.  Print out the cover sheet of the Concur Travel Report, attach it to the wire instructions form and send to the Travel Office at NE49-4037. More info here.

• All arrangements for visiting faculty and students must be made by the grantee's department.
• For information on how to host visiting faculty, consult the MIT International Scholars Office (ISchO).
• For information on the MIT Visiting Student procedure, consult the MIT International Students Office.

Grantees are required to complete a final report at the end of the grant period.

Funds are intended to be used during the initial phase of developing international collaboration. Funds are not considered as sponsored research and cannot cover salaries or materials. As such, no intellectual property should be derived from these funds, nor should they be cited in technology disclosure forms.

Proposals are viewed by the evaluation committee, selection board, and the GSF administrative staff. We advise you not to provide details of patentable ideas, copyrightable software, or any confidential information, as this proposal could be considered a public disclosure and harm your patent and confidentiality rights. If you choose to submit patentable ideas, copyrightable software, or other confidential information, you do so at your own risk. Please contact the TLO for further advice if needed.