Travel 

Travel in the RTG 2386

To Members of Cohort 3

On 11 January 2023, you received a confirmation for the conference trips you had applied for from this e-mail address: mb-manager@hu-berlin.de

You do not need to reapply if these are the conferences you wish to attend.

Should you wish to use the conference money for a different conference, please write to: mb-manager@hu-berlin.de

Advance payment

It is possible to receive an advance payment on the costs for your projected conference trip. Please write to: mb-manager@hu-berlin.de in order to receive the necessary forms.

Where to Send Your Travel Forms and Documentation

Please send your travel reimbursement forms and documentation to: mb-finance@hu-berlin.de

(A) Finances - Rules & Regulations for contact

If writing to mb-finance@hu-berlin.de, please choose from the following list of keywords for your e-mail subject line as only e-mails with a meaningful and suitable subject line will be processed:

  • Travel application + place of travel
  • Travel reimbursement + place of travel

(B) Travel Grant Application Form (before travel)

(1) The filled-in and fully-signed form (Download .doc file here - form last updated: 12 April 2022) should be sent as a PDF to mb-finance@hu-berlin.de.

(2) Add additional lines to the form, e.g., if needed to explain your travel route.

(3) If you plan a trip, please fill in the Travel Grant Application form, add the relevant information about the conference, workshop, etc. which you plan to attend, get it signed by your supervisor and turn it to the management office.

(4) The RTG will financially support your trips only if you are an active participant, i.e. if you present (talk or poster) at a conference, or in another setting. Short-term or long-term lab visits (where you will play an active role as a researcher) are also possible.

(5) Please attach to your application only the relevant pages of conference programs, showing dates, location, start/end of conference, and your contribution/session in the program, if applicable.

(6) Links to conference webpages and pdf files with extensive conference programs will not be accepted.

(7) Note: The Federal Travel Expenses Act (Bundesreisekostengesetz BRKG) and the uses and implementation provisions in the form of organizational guidelines apply to your application. Therefore, you are obliged to hand in and get signed (by your supervisors) a separate Travel Authorization (Dienstreisegenehmigung) from your university. You are legally required to have your trip authorized before departure even if the RTG 2386 will finance your trip.

(C) “ENTSENDUNG” - INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE or RESEARCH TRAVEL ON A SALARY

(This applies only to candidates on a salary = employment contract / Arbeitsvertrag, not scholarship agreement / Stipendienbescheid)

Are your going on a Dienstreise or on a Entsendung? At the university, both terms are used synonymously if you travel abroad. All conference or research trips abroad (Dienstreisen) are also international assignments (Entsendung). This terminology is important in the context of the international fight against clandestine work / moonlighting.

Generally, the territorial principle applies to the social security obligation. This means that social security contributions are to be paid in the country in which you are working. Hoewever, the status of “working” may include you on a research trip to Ankara or at a conference in Warsaw. To prevent problems and possible double social security obligations, international regulations (decrees 883/04 and 987/09) were issued that apply to all employees in the 27 EU states, the EEA states, Switzerland, and Great Britain.

Read more: HU travel dept. newsletter March 2022, download pdf in English)

Travel to EU and EEA states

So, in order to confirm your social security status at the border and to confirm your social security contributions in Germany for your travel in all EU and EEA states, the so-called A1 certificate was created. With the presentation of certificate A1, the obligation to also belong to the social security system of the foreign country which you are visiting (in our example: Ankara/Turkey or Warsaw/Poland) does not apply. You must carry the form A1 with you on all international conference or research trips in order to avoid complications at international borders, avoid additional bureaucracy, and avoid possible fines for you or the university.
>> HU employees write to entsendung@hu-berlin.de (give your full name, employing institute, travel period and travel destination) and allow 2 weeks for an A1 form to be issued.

Other states

Of course, there are also states that are not covered by the A1 certificate regulations. Germany has concluded a bilateral agreement on social security with more than 20 other countries.
>> HU employees write to entsendung@hu-berlin.de (give your full name, employing institute, travel period and travel destination). Allow 4 weeks for the correct form to be issued.

HU employees:
Please read more on the HU intranet: https://intranet.hu-berlin.de/pages/mobilitaet-reisen/apps/wiki/entsendungen-a1-bescheinigung/list/view/46161106-a38c-44e2-aab4-ea19c063a0ae?currentLanguage=NONE or contact: entsendung@hu-berlin.de

All others: Please find out from your university’s administrators.

(D) CO2 compensation

DFG (German Research Foundation, our funding agency), in accordance with federal government requirements, asks that we compensate for the CO2 footprint for each trip.

At the end of each year, the RTG 2386, from its funds, will buy CO2 certificates to compensate for all your trips. 1 ton of CO2 costs at least €30 in certificates (climate scientists agree that certificates below €30 are a sham). Note that if you travel by train your CO2 footprint can be offset against the CO2 saved!

DFG and the German Federal Environment Agency require Gold Standard certificate vendors. Quality certificates cost at least 30€/ton CO2. (E.g., the Gold Standard tree sellers Bauminvest sell their certificates at €31/ton CO2). In implementing CO2 compensation, the DFG follows the approach of the German government. This means that the emissions generated by air, car and rail travel are determined using a CO2e calculator recommended by the Federal Environment Agency. The term CO2e (CO2 equivalent) is used as a unit of measurement to standardize the climate impact of the various greenhouse gases. One CO2 certificate can be purchased for each ton of carbon dioxide equivalent emitted. These certificates must come from projects that have been certified under UN rules under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) or meet equivalent standards. (At the Federal Environment Agency, it specifically says: Gold Standard).

(E) Websites to use

EUROPEAN Flights: Airport X – Airport Y
(1) Total number of flight hours (outbound and return) – Europe* (check your flight hours: https://flugzeit-rechner.de/)

* There are different emissions and costs to be calculated per ton CO2 when using European or Transcontinental flights.

(2) Calculate CO2: https://klimaktiv.co2-rechner.de/de_DE/mobility-flight#panel-calc

TRANSCONTINENTAL Flights: Airport X – Airport Y
(1) Total number of flight hours (outbound and return) – Transcontinental*. Check your flight hours: https://flugzeit-rechner.de/

* There are different emissions and costs to be calculated per ton CO2 when using European or Transcontinental flights.

(2) Calculate CO2: https://klimaktiv.co2-rechner.de/de_DE/mobility-flight#panel-calc

RAIL Travel: Rail station X – Rail station Y
(1) Calculate total number of kilometers (outbound and return):

(a) To calculate your kilometers, please download and install “Entfernungsrechner” (zip) from these webpages: https://www.tbne.de/Entfernungswerk-Preislisten.241.0.html or https://www.evg-online.org/deine-vorteile/services/service-meldungen/entfernungsrechner-fuer-fahrverguenstigungen/ (TBNE is the organization of federally owned and non-federally owned railroads in Germany, EVG the railway union.)

(b) You may also list your CO2 from the following page (without downloading Entfernungsrechner): https://www.umweltmobilcheck.de/
However, this means that you will not be able to offset your CO2 usage with CO2 saved by using the link under point (2).

(2) Calculate Tons CO2used / Tons CO2 saved: https://klimaktiv.co2-rechner.de/de_DE/mobility-flight#panel-calc

(3) Rail travel abroad: You may calculate the travel kilometers abroad by using a car routing app.

(4) Be pragmatic about the rail kilometers! (I.e.: Don't waste too much time trying to find out the absolutely exact distance.)

(F) Reimbursement - Regulations and Timing

(a) You must hand in your application for reimbursement + documentation within 6 months of returning from your travels (exact dates!) - the Federal Travel Expenses Act (BRKG = Bundesreisekostengesetz) prohibits reimbursement after 6 months!

Please do not send lots of separate files but compile into two PDFs:

  • Yourlastname_reimbursement_rechnung_YYMMDD
  • Yourlastname_documentation_anhang_YYMMDD

Note: You are expected to hand in your application for reimbursement + documentation within the calendar year in which you applied for it. Project budgets are calculated and granted for the calendar years, and unless you have agreed a reimbursement for the folliwing financial year, you mus hand in your applications for reimbursements before 1 December

Note: If you travel in December, you cannot expect reimbursement before January or February.

(G) Important general notes

(1)  If there is something to explain, explain it! Preferably on a separate page, attached to your travel application (if applicable) or your travel reimbursement request.
Neither the M&B management nor the central finance dept. of HU have the time to try and work out what happened on your trip, or why your invoices and the bank statement submitted don't match, or similar. Also, someone will have to be able to recapitulate all of this in 5 or 10 years’ time ... this is how long the financial documentation for your trip has to be archived according to federal finance law.

(2) When booking hotels/accommodation in Germany, you should:

(a) ... make sure that your booking is registered as Dienstreise / Geschäftsreise (business trip).
Why? Because otherwise the hotel will charge you the City Tax for tourists, and City Tax charged by German hotels is not refundable.

(b) ... provide the hotel with an office adress for the invoice, not your private address.
Why? Because otherwise costs for breakfast cannot be reimbursed.

(3) With your reimbursement application you will have to supply a conference/workshop/lab visit report of no less than 500 words or your poster (pdf file) or your talk slides. Reimbursements for travel/conference fees are strictly only possible within six months of travelling/attending (cf. (Federal Travel Expenses Act - Bundesreisekostengesetz BRKG).

(4) Please also attach a copy of your Travel Authorization (Dienstreiseantrag) - see point A(8) above.

(5) If you fall ill and wish the project to reimburse you for costs that you were are/were unable to cancel or retrieve from the organizers, you must (a) provide us with the copy of an official sick note from a doctor (Krankschreibung) and (b) with documentation (letters, screenshots) proving that you were unable to cancel/retrieve that particular expenditure.

(H) Travel Grant Application Form

Download .doc file here (form last updated: 12 April 2022)

(I) Travel Grant Expenses and Reimbursement Form (after travel)

Download .doc file here (version dated 17 Januar 2022)

Please do not send lots of separate files but compile into two PDFs:

  • Yourlastname_reimbursement_rechnung_YYMMDD
  • Yourlastname_documentation_anhang_YYMMDD

Note: The Federal Travel Expenses Act (Bundesreisekostengesetz BRKG) and the uses and implementation provisions in the form of organizational guidelines apply to your application. Therefore, you are obliged to hand in and get signed (by your supervisors) a separate Travel Authorization (Dienstreisegenehmigung) from your university. You are legally required to have your trip authorized before departure even if the RTG 2386 will finance your trip.

 

 

This page last updated on: 26 May 2023

Send your documents to:
mb-finance@hu-berlin.de