Society-Supported Conference Grants
Awards of up to £2,000 are available to members who wish to organise a conference (in person or virtual) in any field of microbiology, either independently or in partnership with another Society.
Please read all information on this page carefully and ensure you have read the guidance notes before applying.
Society-Supported Conference Grant guidance notes
Eligibility
Current paid-up Full, Full Concessionary or Postgraduate Student members who have held membership for a minimum period of one year and paid two consecutive membership subscription payments.
We especially welcome applications for events which involve international researchers and/or include participants from industry or infection science as part of the event. Proposals that include provisions for these audiences will be prioritised.
Applicants must not have received a grant from this scheme in the previous calendar year.
Applicants cannot apply for funding for an event that was also funded in the previous calendar year by another applicant.
What is covered by the grant?
Awards of up to £2,000 are available to contribute towards funding the costs of invited speakers travel and accommodation, and other event expenses excluding alcohol and catering (see guidance notes for further details on speaker expense allowances).
Application Process
There are two rounds of applications per year. Applicants are advised to submit their application at least six months prior to the conference date.
Closing dates:
2024: 03 June 2024 and 20 November 2024
2025: 01 April 2025 and 01 October 2025
Applicants must include the following information with their application:
- A full meeting programme
- An event Code of Conduct must be submitted demonstrating how you have clearly addressed equality, diversity and inclusion when identifying invited speakers for the meeting. You can view the Society’s Code of Conduct as an example.
All required supplementary material should be provided at the point of application. Full expected costs of the invited speaker and other expenses (excluding catering and alcohol) should be given in the appropriate part of the application.
In order to apply, please submit the below application form to [email protected]
The Microbiology Society is leading the way with the Knocking Out AMR project, an ambitious, bold and extensive scheme of work aiming to promote feasible and effective solutions to AMR. To accompany this, we are building a Knocking Out AMR collection to serve as a central hub for the AMR content published in our portfolio. As part of the project, we would like to identify any grant applications that are AMR-related. If your application is AMR related, please could you indicate this on your application form in the ‘Proposed title of meeting’ section e.g. title of your meeting followed by (AMR related). Providing this information has no bearing on the outcome of any subsequent grant award.
Society-Supported Conference grant application form
Society Supported Conference Grant 2023 Statistics
In 2023, there were a total of 16 applications over two rounds. 81.25% of those who applied were successful.
Award Criteria
Award decisions are reviewed by a points system based on a defined set of criteria. Please find the criteria below.
Scientific/Educational case for the meeting - Applicant clearly describes the rationale for the meeting and has demonstrated how the event links to the Microbiology Society aims and objectives. Applicant has provided specific details, such as why the event is timely, topics, concepts, and information on the research/work of the invited speaker. Applicant emphasises the importance of this research and having the speaker at the named meeting and specifically describes what the intended audience will gain from attending the meeting, including how they will facilitate knowledge exchange and networking.
Meeting Programme - Programme provides a general outline of the meeting including potential speakers, affiliations and talk topics/themes with time slots roughly allocated. The programme includes a variety of content delivery options to engage delegates, including but not limited to, panel discussions, posters, and oral presentations.
Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion - Applicant has addressed equality, diversity and inclusion when identifying invited speakers for the meeting. Selection of invited speakers is appropriately justified where membership diversity statistics cannot be reflected. Applicant has included a meeting code of conduct.
Costs - Applicant describes a detailed and complete budget (travel, venue, lodging, etc) and seeks cost-saving measures, and other funding sources to guarantee meeting success.
Conditions of the grant
If a grant is awarded, the organisers will be required to:
- Acknowledge the financial support of the Society in all subsequent publicity, conference programmes and any resulting publications.
- Include printed materials, supplied by the Society, such as information on Society publications or upcoming conferences in the delegates packs or to display them for the whole duration of the conference.
- Display the Society’s logo on the conference website in line with the Society's branding guidelines.
- Clearly badge speakers funded by the Society as such, within but not limited to the following: programme book, abstract book, website and opening slide of a funded speaker’s presentation.
- Display the Society’s slide on rotating holding screens.
- Submit expense claim forms and receipts within three months after the meeting.
- As a Society publisher, we are not for profit and everything we offer our community happens thanks to the revenue generated by publishing, this includes the ability to offer funding through our grant schemes. To continue to generate revenue to support future grant applicants, grant recipients will be expected to submit content to at least one of our communication channels, please see our guidance notes for further information.
Administration of awards
Applicants should expect to receive notification of the outcome of their application within two months of the closing date. Applicants are notified of an awarded grant via email.
Successful applicants will receive information on how to claim their grant. All claims must be made within three months of the funded project and substantiated by receipts.
Events that have received funding
Below are some of the events which have received funding through our Society-Supported Conference Grant.
2024
| 26 – 29 August | Auckland, NZ | PARASITES IN THE PACIFIC: The joint annual meeting of the New Zealand and Australia Societies for Parasitology and The 7th International Conference on Anaerobic Protists (ICAP VII) |
| 5 – 7 September | Nottingham, UK | 6th International Conference of the European College of Veterinary Microbiology |
| 26 – 28 September | Tokyo, JP | SMBE Satellite Workshop on Pathogen Pangenome Evolution Between and Within their Hosts |
| 2 – 3 December | Glasgow, UK | Influenza Update Meeting 2024 |
2025
| 19 – 24 January | Ventura, USA | Understanding the Host-Fungal Interface to Combat Disease |
| 2 – 5 March | Dublin, IR | 17th European Conference on Fungal Genetics (ECFG17) |