Conference Record

Travel Grants

Most substantial conferences have money to help people attend. Some of it goes unclaimed every year, and the reason is not competition — it is that the schemes are announced on a page nobody reads. A related operational resource is available this page .

The 2015 conference this domain hosted had two separate grant schemes, listed under general information alongside accommodation and travel directions. For wider background, see UKRI .

Reviewed August 9, 2026.

Where the money comes from

The organising association. A scheme funded from membership or from conference surplus, usually with published criteria.

The host institution, sometimes separately, for regional or early-career attendees.

Sponsors, earmarked for a purpose — student places, attendees from particular regions.

Professional bodies you already belong to, which frequently have conference funds unconnected to any specific event.

And your own institution, which is not a grant but is the first place to ask and the one most often skipped because people assume the answer.

Who they are for

Read the criteria rather than assuming. Common categories:

Students and early-career attendees.

Attendees from regions where the cost is disproportionate — distance is the largest cost line, and a scheme addressing it does more per euro than a fee discount.

First-time attendees.

Presenters, where the grant is conditional on an accepted paper.

And members of the association, which is worth checking against a membership you may already hold through your institution.

Why they go unclaimed

The page is buried. Grants appear under "general information", between the venue map and the social programme, and nobody browsing a conference site is looking there.

The deadline is early. Frequently before the paper notification, which means applying before you know whether you are presenting.

People assume they will not qualify. The single largest cause, and it is wrong often enough to be worth testing.

And the form asks for things people do not have ready — a budget, a supporting statement, a supervisor's letter — so the application is deferred and the deadline passes.

Applying well

Find the page before the call for papers closes. Search the conference site for "grant", "bursary", "support" and "funding" — the terminology varies and only one of them will be used.

Write the budget honestly. Total cost, itemised, including what you or your employer will cover. A request for the full amount when you have partial funding is weaker than a request for the gap.

Say what you will do with it. Same principle as an employer request: a specific return reads better than a general one.

And apply even when unsure. Undersubscribed schemes exist, the cost of applying is an hour, and the cost of not applying is the whole grant.

What to do if you get one

Tell your employer. A part-funded trip is a much easier approval, and it frequently converts a refusal into a yes. (Who paid is worth disclosing where it could matter.)

Meet the reporting condition. Many schemes ask for a short report afterwards. Producing it is the difference between being funded again and not — and the schemes with reporting conditions are frequently the undersubscribed ones, because the condition deters applicants.

And say so publicly if the scheme asks. It is how the next person finds out the scheme exists.

The short version