School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences
Conference Grant Application Form
Instructions:
 Read the Conference Grant Regulations detailed below. Pay special attention to the requirement to produce
or apply for funds from other sources available to you. Such sources include:
 Your own grants – either nominated travel funds or your own overheads
 Royal Society Funding Opportunities
 Fill out this form (please note a signature is no longer needed)
 Email it to the Research Adviser for your Subject Area for their comments; Duncan Pritchard for Philosophy,
Caroline Heycock for LEL & Martin Pickering for Psychology
 Your Research Advisor will then email it to melissa.mclaughlin@ed.ac.uk
Draft Policy for Support of Staff Conference Travel
1. Who is eligible to apply for travel funds?
a. PPLS academic teaching staff
b. PPLS Postdoctoral Researchers who want to present their own research but do not have access to
any travel funds for this.
2. How much can be requested?
a. The upper limit per person in each Financial Year (1 Aug - 31 July) is £700. This can be split across
different requests during the year.
b. Because the fund is usually oversubscribed, the maximum award may be considerably less than
£700.
3. What are the important dates?
a. Submission: There will be four closing dates per academic year (as detailed below),
b. Applications should be submitted well in advance of the intended date of travel to allow for a decision
by the committee well before the conference takes place. Retrospective applications for conferences
already attended will not be considered. At each Committee Meeting, no more than a quarter of the
annual budget will be allocated.
c.
Deadline for applications
Committee Meeting
4th September 2012
15th November 2012
19th February 2013
28th May 2013
20th September 2012
6th December 2012
12th March 2013
18th June 2013
Reply: The School Research Committee will consider your application at the meeting immediately
following your submission deadline. You will receive a reply shortly after the meeting.
4. Preparations
a. Travel and subsistence costs should be as economical as possible.
b. The applicant must submit written quotations for travel and conference registration fees, or receipts
for costs already incurred. A full conference programme should also be submitted if available at the
time of the application.
c. Applications for funding can be submitted prior to acceptance of a conference submission. Funds will
be made available if and when your participation is confirmed.
5. Criteria
a. Preference will be given to academic teaching staff.
b. Preference will be given to those presenting at the conference.
c. Preference will be given to new staff in their first year.
d. Preference will be given to those who are research active.
e. Some preference may be given to colleagues who have not had an award in the previous session.
f. UK and international conference applications will be judged by the same criteria; no distinction will be
made with respect to funding decisions.
g. Funds are unlikely to be offered to applicants who have not attempted to tap other available sources
of support. If no such sources are available, please explain the problem in your application.
Applicants are strongly encouraged
i. also to apply elsewhere (e.g. Royal Society, AHRC),
ii. to consider whether grant overheads could contribute to some or all of the costs.
iii. to apply for conference and travel expenses when writing grant proposals.
h. Applicants who are organisers of a conference cannot apply for their own participation and
subsistence expenses for that conference.
Full name and title:
Subject area:
University position:
Personnel number:
Contract start and end dates: (if applicable)
Start:
End:
Title of conference:
Location and dates of conference:
Name of organising or sponsoring body:
Dates of your departure and return:
Departure:
Return:
What is the nature of your contribution (please indicate)?
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Invited speaker
Chairman
Presentation (Paper)
Presentation (Poster)
Other (Give Details)
Presentation title:
Other details:
Give details of your recent (since 2008) papers or publications (maximum of 3):
Were you reported as research active in RAE 2008? If not, please explain briefly:
Explain as precisely as possible the relevance and likely benefits attendance at this conference would bring to your
academic activities, and give details of relevant research activities:
Have you received a PPLS conference travel award in the past 3 years? If so, when and for what amount:
Any other observations you wish to make for the information of the Head of School:
Travel (£):
Maintenance (£) Please give a breakdown of accommodation and subsistence, where relevant:
Conference fees (£):
Total (£):
Amount applied for (£):
What action have you taken to obtain grants from other sources?
Do you have any available grant overheads that could contribute to some or all of the costs for this conference
attendance?
Applications should be submitted well in advance of the intended date of travel. Written quotations for travel costs
and conference registration costs or receipts for costs already incurred must be submitted with your application. A full
conference programme including details of speakers, other delegates and their affiliations, should also be submitted.
If the conference programme is not available at the time of the application, it must be submitted after the conference,
along with remaining receipts to account for the full amount awarded.
Now email the form to the Research Adviser for your Subject Area.
TO BE COMPLETED BY THE RESEARCH ADVISER
Do you agree with the replies given by the applicant?
YES
NO
If NO state points of disagreement:
General Observations: Please comment on how you rate the academic standing of the conference/meeting, how
important attendance is at this conference for the development of the applicant’s research, and what degree of
support you give to this application.
Name of Research Adviser: _________________________________________
Date: _____________________________________
Note: Where it is not appropriate or convenient for the Research Adviser to complete this section of the form (e.g. when the applicant is
the Research Adviser, or when they are absent), it may be completed by the Head of Subject Area.