Grants & Prizes Ecological Opportunities Fund Honours, Awards and Prizes Building Capacity for Ecology Fund Honorary Member List Research grants General notes Grants to attend meetings & courses Grants to run meetings & events Grant reports List of Tansley Lectures

Grants to attend meetings and courses

• Student support for attendance at BES meetings
• Student conference and meeting support grant
• Travel grants for ecologists from developing countries to attend BES meetings  
• Attendance at conferences, symposia and workshops
• Specialist Course Grants

Student support for attendance at BES meetings

If you are a student you can get automatic discounts at the BES Annual General Meeting, Annual Symposium and Special Symposium. You need only to select the student member box on the online registration form to receive a 50% discount on registration, meals and accommodation. Proof of student identification will be required at the registration desk. Where there is a choice of standard and en-suite accommodation, only standard accommodation will be discounted through this grant.

This grant is only open to current BES members. Exceptions to this being undergraduates who can apply without having to be a BES member.

Please note that meetings organised by BES Specialist Interest groups are not eligible for this grant but can apply for funding under the Student Conference and Meetings Support grant.

Value of the award:

50% of the cost of registration fee and meals and standard accommodation whilst at the meeting

Closing dates:

By the registration deadline of the meeting.

Application:

ONLY BES STUDENT MEMBERS AND UNDERGRADUATES ATTENDING THE BES ANNUAL MEETING SPECIAL SYMPOSIUM OR ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM can receive the student discount by simply indicating student status on registration form and by providing appropriate proof of status confirming this on the day of registration.

Conditions:

The applicant must be a bone fide BES student member. If satisfactory proof of status is not produced, then the applicant will forfeit the grant.

PhD applicant's annual income, whether from a salary and/or the personal maintenance element of a grant, must not exceed £15,000 per annum.

Applications are only considered on an individual basis for a single meeting, bulk applications on behalf of a group of students are not accepted.

Discounts cannot be provied if the applicant has not applied to the BES prior to the meeting taking place. Those who have been awarded the discount will have 50% from the cost of registration, meals and accommodation taken off the costs of the meeting and if it is not a BES run meeting the meeting organisers will invoice the BES for this discount on their behalf.

Committee responsible for the grant:

Meetings Committee

Student conference and meeting support grant

The BES has, in the past, received many applications from ecologists, mainly postgraduate students, from around the world requesting funds to attend ecological conferences and workshops not directly sponsored by the BES. As two of the Society’s Strategic Aims are to "distribute ecological research in effective and novel ways" and to "help create and foster the next generation of ecologists" the Society has created this new grant to help students cover some of the costs of attending relevant ecological conferences and workshops that they may not otherwise have been able to afford. In this way the BES hopes that more young ecologists can present their work to, and network with, ecologists in their related fields.

Value of the award:

The award may go towards travel and meeting costs but the maximum amount will be not be more than £300 per applicant.

Closing dates:

The 2008 round has been fully awarded. Applications will not be assessed for 2009 meetings from the 10th of January 2009 subject to funds being made available in 2009.

There is no closing date. Applications will be assessed on a first-come first-served basis. The website will be updated when the year's funds have been fully allocated.

Application:

This grant is only available by applying using the BES online application form. 

To view or download the online questions before filling in the online form  click here (this form is only for guidance and applications will need to be submitted using the online form)

To apply for this grant click here

Please make sure you give your referees ample time to fill in their references as your online application will not be complete until they do so.

Conditions:

1. Applications to attend international meetings will normally only be considered from final year PhD students. Applications from other categories of student will usually only be accepted for attendance at national conferences/workshops.
2. Only students receiving a stipend of less than £15,000 may apply.
3. Applications must be accompanied by a referee statement from the applicant's place of learning (preferably his or her supervisor).
4. Only those applicants who have guaranteed participation at the conference / workshop can apply. Participation can be through either presenting posters or through oral contributions.
5. The grant will only be for attending workshops or conferences where the organisers are not already directly receiving BES funding for student support.
6. Applicants may only be awarded grants one to attend one conference per calender year, up to a maximum of two awards per person.
7. Applicants need to be current BES student members in order to qualify for this grant.
8. Applicants need to submit a report no later than three months after the conference / workshop has taken place.

Committee responsible for the grant:

Grants Committee

Travel grants for ecologists from developing countries to attend BES meetings

The Society makes a limited number of travel and subsistence grants available to ecologists from the Developing World (see below), so that they may attend Society Annual Meetings and Symposia (including those run jointly with other Societies etc) within the UK, and develop robust and productive contact with UK-based specialists in their chosen field of study. Applicants may apply before registering or submiting a paper or poster for the meeting however a condition of the award will be that funding may be withdrawn if the applicant does not carry out the objectives listed in the application by the deadlines set.

Grants of up to £2,000 are available to fund a visit normally expected to last around 14 days. Previous award winners are free to re-apply, however this may be taken into consideration by the judging panel.

The applicant must:

1. Nominate a Meeting or Symposium and either University Department or Research Institution that they will visit before or after the scheduled Meeting/Symposium
2. Provide a letter from their Head of Department or Work Supervisor to confirm that there are insufficient departmental/domestic funds available to support the visit (and demonstrate that they have made serious attempt to procure alternative funding for the visit)
3. Indicate in detail how the visit will enhance his/her research and indicate the area/field of intended collaboration with the UK academic institution
4. Supply a copy of a letter from the UK host institution demonstrating a willingness to ‘host’ applicant pre- or post-Meeting/Symposium and indicate that the area/field of intended collaboration is appropriate to their institution. To assist in realistic budgeting, the letter should also attempt to estimate the costs that the applicant will likely to incur during their stay. (i.e lab costs, uk-travel, meals, accommodation)
5. Furnish a short report after their visit, including receipts and copy of Meeting Registration Documents, and a letter from the domestic Head of Department or Work Supervisor confirming that the visit has taken place

No applicant may request travel grant support on more than two occasions and the two visits must be separated by a period of at least 18 months

Value of the award:

Normally up to £2,000

Closing date:

1 February

Application:

Emailed to grants@britishecologicalsociety.org using our downloadable form , plus supporting statements from the UK host institution and the applicant's institution. These can be sent directly from the institutes work email addresses if more convenient. Please also fill in and submit a monitoring form to help us with our applicant monitoring statistics.

Committee responsible:

Meetings Committee

Conditions:

Applicants for a BES Travel Grant for Ecologists from Developing Countries should:

be a scientist and a citizen of a country that is classified as 'low-income economy' or 'lower-middle-income economy' according to the World Bank categorization. Applicants from countries classified as 'low-income economies' will have priority.

normally have at least a B.Sc. or equivalent degree

usually be working or studying at a University or Research Institution (including field centres, NGOs, museums, etc.) that provides basic research facilities

be working in scientific areas within the remit of the BES (the science of ecology) and of relevance to the Meeting they are applying to attend

Criteria for judging applications:

The principal criteria is the demonstration that the visit will enhance the applicant's research, and the potential for collaboration with UK scientists.

Preference will be given to those who present a paper or poster at the Meeting/Symposium and/or who have been invited to give a lecture/seminar at their hosting department/institution.

Applicants who can demonstrate genuine research activity (e.g., papers published in international or local journals) will also be advantaged.

Planned longer-term outputs from the visit, such as a possible grant proposal to a specific body for further research or a proposed research paper will increase the chance of funding.

Attendance at conferences, symposia and workshops

Support is offered to ecologists (including students) to attend events for which the Society has elected to provide support. Grants are normally made towards travel, subsistence and/or registration costs. Occasionally, grants are made to support key or plenary speakers. Events that are typically supported include the European Ecological Congress and the INTECOL Congress, as well as one-off events organised by individuals or other academic societies. Awards may be administered either through the event organiser or may be made directly to delegates, on application to the BES. In all cases, details of events to be supported and methods of application are advertised in the Bulletin.

Currently the BES is accepting applications for support to attend:

• International Association for Ecology (INTECOL)
  The 10th International Congress of Ecology  to be held in Brisbane, Australia  16 - 21 August 2009
• EURECO - GFOE 2008  "Biodiversity in an Ecosystem Context", Leipzig (Germany), 15.-19. September 2008

Students and others can apply for funding to cover travel costs as follows:

• EURECO 2008 - up to £400 or 75% of the cost, which ever is smaller
• INTECOL 2009 - up to £400 or 75% of the cost, which ever is smaller

Students who are also BES members may in addition apply for funding to cover 50% of the costs of registration, accommodation and meals.

Students based in Australia will not be eligible for BES travel support as they need to apply for travel support from the Ecological Society of Australia to attend INTECOL 2009.

Priority will be given to those intending to give presentations. Applications will continue to be accepted until either all the funding has been allocated or the meeting has taken place. No retrospective claims for funding will be considered.

Only students receiving a stipend of less than £15,000 or un-employed post-docs may apply.

This grant is only open to current BES members. Exceptions to this being undergraduates who can apply without having to be a BES member.

Applicants will be advised of the outcome of their application within 6 weeks of applying.

Awardees will be paid after the conference has taken place, on receipt of a certificate of attendance and appropriate receipts.

There are a limited number of grants available. When meetings are listed above application is by form and it should be completed and returned as soon as possible to the BES. Please also fill in and submit a monitoring form to help us with our applicant monitoring statistics.

Committee responsible for the grant:

Meetings Committee

Specialist Course Grants

The Society set up this grant initiative in 1997 to help students to meet the costs of specialist field courses. This grant is now open only to current BES members. Members need to be an undergraduate, post-graduate or recent graduate not in full-time employment. However, where a specialist course forms part of a credit bearing programme e.g. Degree/Diploma/Certificate, the Society will only fund applicants provided they can demonstrate that:

they do not work for an employer who might reasonably be expected to fund their course, or

they are self-financing, and

they have not previously received a BES Specialist Course Grant.

An application form must be completed to apply for a grant. Only one course grant can be given to any one individual and there is a maximum of two grants available per course. Brochures, further details and booking forms for the courses are available from each centre, we will provide a list of  eligible courses when they have been chosen by our panel. There are a limited number of grants, which will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.  The grant covers the course fee which includes accommodation but not travel. Application is by form, available from the BES office and downloadable from this webpage.

The 2008 round has now been fully awarded. The date from which applications will be awarded is February the 17th. Applicants may apply before this deadline, though decisions will only be made from the 17th of February.

Courses covered by the grant run from March to October. The Education Training and Careers Committee (ETCC) decides which courses grants are available for. Those organising courses that are not included on the list of courses may apply, in writing, to the ETCC for their course details to be added. Grants are awarded to individuals, not groups of individuals or organisations. 

Click here for the list of 2008 eligible courses.

The list of 2009 eligible courses will be made available from December 2008.

Value of the award:

The course fee, which may include accommodation

Opening date:

17th February 2009 (Fully awarded for 2008)

Application:

By form. This should be emailed to grants@britishecologicalsociety.org. Please contact the BES well in advance if this is not possible. Please also fill in and submit a monitoring form to help us with our applicant monitoring statistics.

Conditions:

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

If the course is fully booked we will be unfortunately be unable to transfer the award to an alternative course.

Applicants must pay the centre all monies additional to the award amount. i.e single supplements. The centre will invoice for the full amount after the course so the applicant does not need to pay a deposit though they will be held liable for cancelation fees by the centre.

Grantees are required to produce a short report on the course within one month of the completion of the course.

Committee responsible for the grant:

Education, Training Careers Committee

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