Training & Travel Grants

Objectives

These grants help PhD students and postgraduate research assistants to meet the costs of specialist field training courses and to network and publicise their research by presenting their work at workshops and conferences.

Deadline

DEADLINE EXTENDED: Tuesday 23 March at 09:00 (GMT)

Training and Travel Grants are awarded on a first come, first serve basis, therefore once all of the funding has been allocated, we are no longer able to accept applications.

If the meeting you wish to attend is between January and the end of June, you must apply to the first round. If the meeting is after June, you should apply to the second round. (Please note that awards may take up to 2 weeks to be processed, therefore events taking place in the first two weeks of July are eligible for application within the first round). 

To Apply

REGISTER ONLINE

When applications open, register/log in to our online grants system, complete your contact details, and navigate to ‘Your Applications’.

Virtual Events and Courses

Applicants can now use these grants to attend a virtual conference/course, to cover registration fees up to £250. In these circumstances, the applicant must provide proof of registration on acceptance, and meet the standard eligibility and criteria as outlined below. If you are unsure that your event meets the BES criteria, contact Siri McDonnell.

Eligibility and Conditions

All applicants are required to:

• be a BES member.
• have at least a B.Sc. or equivalent degree.
• use an institutional email address in order to apply. Any exceptions must be discussed in advance of submission with Grants & Events Officer, Siri McDonnell for approval.
• be a PhD student, postgraduate research assistant (within 3 years of completing relevant degree) or equivalent (Postdoc researchers are therefore not eligible to apply).
• work or study at a university or research institution (including field centres, NGOs, museums, etc.) that provide research facilities.
• work in scientific areas within our remit (the science of ecology) and of relevance to the training course or meeting they are applying to attend.
• give a presentation if attending a meeting.
• no retrospective claims for funding will be considered.
• no applicant may receive more than two Training & Travel Grants in any five year period. There must be at least three years between grants.

There is no application deadline; instead, there are two opening dates within a 12 month period (January and July). Once funding for one round has been allocated, the round will close until the next opening date. If the meeting you wish to attend is between January and the end of June, you must apply to the first round. If the meeting is after June, you should apply to the second round. (Please note that awards may take up to 2 weeks to be processed, therefore events taking place in the first three weeks of July are eligible for the first round). 

Our website will be updated when the funding for each round has been allocated.Our Training and Travel grants are awarded on a first come first serve basis; submitting an application does not guarantee funding.

If you want to attend an event/training that falls within our remit, please email our Grants & Events Officer, Siri McDonnell.

A maximum of two places per training course may be funded on a first come first serve basis. No more than two applicants from the same institution may attend the same meeting/conference.

The applicant is responsible for booking to attend the course/event/workshop and as the grants are paid in retrospect, must pay the relevant institution/organiser the required fee at the time of booking as well as all monies additional to the award amount i.e. single supplements.

Successful applicants are bound by the booking conditions of the organisation running the event, course or workshop and non-attendance on a booked course or event will result in the applicant being personally liable for the cancellation fee.

It is a condition of all of our grant schemes that applicants submit a report within three months of the end date of your award. Reports will be submitted via our online grants system.

Our Events

We offer significant student registration discount on the costs of our own events, including our symposia and majority of our Special Interest Group (SIG) events. Therefore, Travel Grants are not available for these meetings. Grants may be considered for SIG events if the meeting is taking place outside the country in which the applicant resides.

We have a limited number of grants available to attend our Annual Meeting and Symposia if you are a student, postgraduate research assistant, and a citizen of/working in a ‘low-income economy’ or ‘lower-middle-income economy’ country according to the World Bank categorization.

Annual Meeting

Travel Grants to our 2020 Annual Meeting are now OPEN.

Apply here

We are pleased to be able to support a limited number of students/postgraduate research assistant who are a citizen of/ and working in a ‘low-income economy’ or ‘lower-middle-income economy’ country according to the World Bank categorization to attend our Annual Meeting each December. These will be awarded on a first come first serve basis.

If you wish to apply for a Travel Grant to attend our Annual Meeting, please note the same conditions apply as the standard Training & Travel Grants (please see above). In summary you need to:

• Be a student/postgraduate research assistant
• Be a citizen of and working within a ‘low-income economy’ or ‘lower-middle-income economy’ country according to the World Bank categorization.
• Have a talk or poster presentation accepted at the meeting
• Be a member of the BES

Please note: applicants who are awarded a grant to cover registration fees for the Festival of Ecology 2020 will still be eligible to apply for all of BES Travel Grants in 2021, including those to our 2021 Annual Meeting.

This counts as a standard Training & Travel Grant, therefore the following applies: no applicant may receive more than two Training & Travel Grants in any five year period. There must be at least three years between grants.

Grants of up to £1000 are available.

When applications open, register/log in to our online grants system, complete your contact details, and navigate to ‘Your Applications’.

Value

Unless the applicant is self-funded, it is expected that their organisation will provide at least £150 of support towards the costs of the event.

• a maximum of £300 is available for events and courses being held in the applicants’ country of residence.
• a maximum of £500 is available for events being held outside the applicants’ country of residence.
• grants of up to £1,000 are available to attend our Annual Meeting if the applicant is a citizen of and working in a country that is classified as ‘low-income economy’ or ‘lower-middle-income economy’ according to the World Bank.
• the grant will be paid after the event has taken place, on receipt of a brief report, certificate of attendance and any appropriate receipts.
• all costs must be clearly justified within the budget section. Costs that are not justified will not be considered. Please ensure all costs are clearly calculated in GBP (British Sterling).