Travel Grants

Scope, purpose, and limits 

These grants are intended to support attendance at scientific meetings that relate directly to the applicant's research interests, and where they will be presenting their original work. The grant contributes to costs incurred by clinical and non-clinical neurologists, psychiatrists, neuroscientists and others for overseas visits or attendance at scientific meetings.

Travel Grants are restricted to those in doctoral training (ie. PhD students, or UK based 3-year research MD) and post doctoral training (whether clinically qualified or not) and for work undertaken while based in the United Kingdom. A maximum of three separate awards may be available to each applicant, with not more than one award in any 12 month period. 

The awards are not intended to support student electives, undergraduate projects or MSc students. Support will not normally be given where the applicant is supported by a Fellowship or grant funding that already provides travel costs; nor for research visits that form part of an ongoing grant-supported collaboration. The awards are not intended to support taught training courses or teaching-based summer schools. We prioritise candidates at an early stage of their career, and so if you are 10 or more years from your PhD, please ensure that the letter of support explains your special case or exceptional circumstances.

If a travel grant is awarded then a single payment is made. The outcome of applications is typically notified by email, ~4 weeks ahead of travel. A hard copy confirmation of the award and cheque is then sent by post. It is your responsibility to ensure that the UK address you provide is correct and sufficiently detailed to receive a cheque. Please note we do not send post abroad.

We provide up to up to £400 for UK meetings, up to £600 for European meetings outside of the UK, and up to £1000 for meetings further afield, depending on the destination. As part of the assessment, we also expect partial funding from your institution or for example a travel award from the conference. Application must be initiated on this website at least 9 weeks before the planned meeting and fully submitted at least 8 weeks before the meeting date. Do not attempt to subvert these rules by misrepresentation of the dates of travel or the dates of a meeting.

Applications for support for virtual conference fees will be considered. The same application criteria apply.

Applying

The following data are required by the application process:-

1. Full completion and submission of the online application form. It is not necessary to complete the application form and document upload at one sitting as you can return to it until content that you supply is complete.
   • Name and Title (including the name you use for your UK bank account, should an award be made)
   • Organization:
   • Address (with sufficient detail to receive a cheque, if an award is made):
   • Mobile Tel:
   • Current Status in Organization (PhD student, Post doc, etc):
   • Up to five recent papers (if you have published your work in peer-reviewed journals)
   • Travel Destination and Method:
   • Reason for Travel:
   • Travel Date Out:
   • Travel Date Return:
   • Costs of Travel, Accommodation, Extras, Registration Cost, and the Total cost
   • Grant Requested from Brain (note the limits above, and expectation of co-funding from other sources.)
   • Your other Travel Cost Support and amount unspent: 
   • Other Sources of funding secured or sought (and Decision date if known):
   • Do not request funding above our limit of support.

1. Upload a copy of the submitted abstract [Scanned image in jpg and png format OR Acrobat pdf file, not .doc or .docx]. An email confirmation of acceptance is NOT sufficient and you must include the abstract. A grant to attend a scientific meeting is conditional on acceptance of the abstract, but the abstract does not need to have been accepted by the time of application. An acceptance letter/email can be uploaded at the same time as the abstract, if the abstract has been accepted before 8 weeks ahead of the meeting. For travel to laboratories, upload the letter of invitation from the host department and case for support. 
2. Upload of a brief CV (1-2 pages, summarising Degrees, Institutions, Dates, Postgraduate Education) as .jpg or .pdf (NOT .doc or .docx format)
3. Upload a supporting statement from your Head of Department. Note that the letter must be from the Head of Department or Director of the institute in which you work, not your PhD supervisor or a departmental lecturer or Head of the institution to which you are traveling. (use .jpg or .pdf  NOT .doc or .docx format)

MANY PEOPLE UPLOAD THE WRONG FILE TYPE - IN PARTICULAR WORD FILES (.DOC OR .DOCX). THESE CANNOT BE READ BY THE SYSTEM. PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS, UNLESS YOU WANT YOUR APPLICATION TO BE REJECTED! Please ensure your uploaded PDFs do not have restricted permissions and are not password protected.

Cancellation of travel

If you are unable to travel, you must notify the Guarantors of Brain (using the contact form) and return the cheque.  You cannot carry forward an award to pay for another meeting.  

In return

If your application is successful a short report (equivalent to one side of A4 paper) must be uploaded (image or pdf) within three months of the stated meeting date, countersigned by your supervisor and confirming that the grant was required in full for travel or refunding un-spent amounts to Brain. Failure to submit a post meeting report will make you ineligible to apply for future Brain travel grants.

If you have not needed all of the money that was awarded, please return the remainder as a cheque made payable to "Guarantors of Brain"

Please see our General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) page before signing up or applying