Policy on Business Travels (conferences, etc.)

As of April 7, 2014, the following should be considered as the regular policy of Theoretical Heterogeneous Catalysis Group on business travels of the personal (attendance to conferences, scientific schools, etc.):

The group covers the conference fees, accomodation, meals and transport expences, providing that they are reasonable and economically efficient. The group does not pay for any activities not directly related with the business purporses of the travel. In practice (1) you must attempt to minimize the group's expenses the same way you would try to minimize them if you pay from your own salary, (2) you must provide enough documents to prove that your expences have been actually done, that they have been related with the conference, etc. Keep in mind that these documents are not for your boss, who would trust you in most cases even without them, but for the management of ICIQ and of Spanish/European authorities, providing us with finances.

The general guidelines are:

1. An oral talk (preferred), or, at least, a poster presentation must be presented at the conference to justify its financing in line of ERC or MINECO grants. Try to get from the organizers certificates of participation, confirmations of registration, etc.

2. You must have a proof of the conference dates (best is a copy of conference program, or screenshots of the conference site).

3. The group pays the most economical means of travel to the conference location. The normal practice is to arrange the most direct travel to the site at the first day of conference (or a day prior to it if the conference starts early), and the backward travel on the last day of event (or the next one, if the events of the last day of conference finishes late). You may choose to stay, as personal holidays, some extra days the location of conference.

3.1. If the dates of your travel are different from the actual dates of the conference, you must provide the screenshots showing the most economical cost of travel on the actual dates of the event (<math>f_c</math>) to compare them with the cost of the travel you are going to undertake (<math>f_a</math>). The screenshots should have visible indication of the date, when the query has been done. Use SkyScanner to search for cheapest prices, always verify them at the web-site of the airline, and buy directly from the airline's web-site as well.

3.2. If <math>f_a > f_c</math> you will have to pay the diffence yourself.

3.3, If the conference schedule makes impossible an arrival and departure to/from the conference site at the exact dates of event, the group will pay you extra nights of accomodation (assuming that sufficient proofs have been presented), otherwise any extra days taken as personal holidays must be paid by the traveller himself. If you decide to stay in these extra days in the same place, ask separate invoices for the actual dates of the conference, and for the days you take as private holidays.

4. Remember to take all the tickets of everything you have spent ordered by days, to simplify further accounting and management procedures.

5. Do not share expences, as it makes administrative processing difficult.

6. All the paiments that can be done in advance (buying the flight tickets, paying the registration fees, etc.), should be done with the group's credit card (ask Nuria Vendrell to do it).

7. It is possible to get some money in advance (for instance, if you have to pay for the hotel yourself). Please ask Nuria Vendrell very well in advance, if you want to do so.

Additional Notes

If you see that something in your very case contradicts to the rules written above, but agrees to the spirit of this policy, consult with Nuria Lopez about the case.

Shall you meet any problems with ICIQ management while following these guidelines, consult with Nuria Lopez.

Shall you see any way to improve these guidelines, adding important new points, or correcting an obsolete ones, please consider to do so for the good of our group.