Professional Development Support Funds (PDS)

Frequently Asked Questions

Update: As we continue to help reimburse students impacted by conference cancelations due to COVID-19, LGS will now reopen the Professional Development Support (PDS) application portal for Non-Competitive Training and Research awards. Students with proposals that comply with public health guidelines for travel and social distancing may apply for PDS funds in the Training and Research categories. 

Please refer to the PDS website for guidelines and instructions. If you have any specific questions, please direct them to lgs.profdev@emory.edu. 

Please visit our PDS website: https://www.gs.emory.edu/professional-development/pds/index.html for the latest updates regarding applications that do not involve travel.

During the PDS program suspension period, we will adjust the window for submitting follow-up documentation and reports. For trips/projects that have occurred during February and March 2020, you will now have up to 60 days from the end date to submit these items.

Like many other disruptions related to the Coronavirus, this guidance may interfere with your professional plans in the coming months. We are very grateful for your patience and understanding.

If you have any specific questions, please direct them to lgs.profdev@emory.edu.

Students who applied to use the Laney Graduate School’s Professional Development Support funds to attend canceled meetings will receive reimbursement through the normal PDS process. 

We ask students to make a good-faith effort to work with meeting organizers and travel agencies to try to recover any fees before submitting for PDS reimbursement. Most meeting organizers are working cooperatively to ensure that participants can recover lost expenses due to cancelations. Travel agencies and airlines generally offer refunds in the form of credit for future travel. We will pay unrecovered expenses through the normal PDS reimbursement process. We are committed to resolving these circumstances and are working to ensure that canceled conferences do not affect students’

 If you are affected by a conference cancelation, please take note of the following: 

  • Keep all documentation related to meetings, travel expenses, and efforts to recover expenses and fees.
  • Submit a PDS Report to your program administrator, who will need to update the CollegeNET Admit system with an updated reimbursement amount.