IMCC4 Diversity Travel Grant Awards Competition (DTGAC)
The IMCC4 Diversity Travel Grant Awards Competition closed March 22. We cannot accept late submissions. Award recipients will be announced in April.
The 4th International Marine Conservation Congress and Society for Conservation Biology Marine Section offered new Diversity Travel Grants as part of our Diversity Initiatives. In 2016, the Diversity Travel Grant Awards Competition focused on international diversity, awarding competitive grants to present at IMCC4 for delegates from countries defined as developing by the World Bank and delegates from countries designated as Small Island Developing States by the United Nations. Please read the guidelines in full. Delegates must first submit an abstract in the Call for Abstracts, then apply for the DTGAC. Continue to check the website for updates.
Guidelines
The IMCC4 Travel Grants Committee is considering applications for Diversity Travel Grants to help offset costs for qualifying delegates to present at the SCB Marine Section’s 4th International Marine Conservation Congress (IMCC4) in St. John’s, Newfoundland from 30 July – 3 August 2016. Awarded funds will be used to reimburse awardees to offset the travel costs and/or registration fees to present at IMCC.
The need for support of marine conservation efforts is acute in many parts of the world, especially in developing nations and nations with little or no access to conservation funding. SCB Marine and IMCC are thus initiating the Diversity Travel Grant Awards Competition (DTGAC) to fund attendance to present at IMCC4.
The availability of travel reimbursement funds is determined by the amount of money raised through sponsorships. Individual reimbursement awards are expected to help delegates who have an accepted abstract offset some of the costs of presenting at the meeting and will vary between $200 and $3,000 USD.
Important Dates: Interested applicants must first submit an abstract during the IMCC4 Call for Abstracts by 7 March 2016 and check the box marking your interest in applying for the DTGAC. Applicants will then be able to access the extended application for the DTGAC. Applications will be accepted through 22 March 2016. Applicants will be notified of the status of their application by the Diversity Travel Awards Committee by 10 April 2016, and awardees must register for IMCC4 by 24 April 2016. Presenting at IMCC is required to receive the funds.
Before you start your application, please read the full guidelines and instructions below. Applications that do not follow the instructions will not be considered.
General Instructions
Eligibility: Delegates who meet the following criteria may apply for an IMCC Diversity Travel Grant Award:
- Must be a member of the Society for Conservation Biology and the Marine Section (https://conbio.org/membership/become-a-member). New members can join the Marine Section in Step 5 of 6 of the join process (see this screen shot). Already a member? Join the Marine Section via your SCB Member Home page (here's how).
- Must be residents of developing countries (as defined by the World Bank) or Small Island Developing States (as defined by the United Nations). Applicants must be a citizen of or currently a long-term resident of the country/region. If you are from an underserved community that is not listed, please put your justification in the comments section. Researchers from a non-qualified region who conduct research in a qualified region are not eligible.
- Must have abstract accepted by IMCC4 Scientific Program Committee. (Applications will need to be completed prior to notification of abstract acceptance. The DTGAC Committee will check on the behalf of applications to be sure abstracts were accepted.) Submitting a DTGAC application does not guarantee acceptance of the abstract.
Preference: You must meet the eligibility criteria above to apply for a travel and/or registration reimbursement award. Applicants increase their chances of receiving an award if their abstracts receive the best evaluations by the IMCC4 Scientific Program Committee and DTGAC Committee.
The IMCC4 Diversity Travel Grant application form may be accessed online. A link to the application will be available on the exit screen of the abstract submission system once you have submitted an abstract and checked that you are interested in applying for a diversity travel grant. The link will also be in your abstract confirmation email. Online application forms should be filled out in English unless otherwise agreed upon with the SCB Marine Section Science Officer. Incomplete submissions will not be considered. Completed application forms are to be submitted online by the deadline of 22 March 2016. (No extensions will be granted.)
Upon receipt of a grant, awardees will fill out a member profile from the Marine Section Communication Officer. Winners may also to be asked to submit content to the IMCC4 blog and/or social media. Award decisions will be made by the IMCC4 DTGAC Committee and approved by the IMCC4 Meeting Chairs and SCB Marine Executive Committee. Funds must be used to travel to IMCC4.
If you are among the awardees, you will be asked for your preferred reimbursement payment mode. You will receive instructions to submit receipts for reimbursement. If you have a Paypal account, it is a much more convenient option. If not, a certain portion of the reimbursement (usually $50 USD) will be taken by the bank as an international money transfer fee. Ability to pay for travel up front and be reimbursed is preferred, but not required. If you are fully unable to pay for approved travel costs up front and be reimbursed, the IMCC4 DTGAC Committee and IMCC4 Meeting Manager will help book travel.
Questions? Please e-mail scbmarinegrants@conbio.org
Fields in the online application form
Field: "SCB Member Number:"
Provide your SCB member number. You must be a member of the SCB Marine Section to qualify.
Field: “First name," “Last (family) name:"
Should be self-explanatory.
Field: “Country:"
Indicate your country of current long-term residency.
Field: “Citizenship:"
Indicate your country (or countries) of current legal citizenship.
Field: “Postal Address:"
Provide your postal address.
Field: “Email:"
Give your email address.
Field: “Student:" Are you currently a full-time student?
Provide name and address of the university, and your study program. Otherwise insert “no."
Field: “Special Session Organizer:" Are you organizing a Workshop, Symposium, or Focus Group?
Indicate the title and ID of the Workshop, Symposium, or Focus Group. Otherwise insert “no."
Field: “Funding:" Are you actively looking for travel funding elsewhere?
Please describe your efforts of applying for travel funding elsewhere.
Field: “Activities:" Are you otherwise actively contributing to IMCC4?
Please indicate the category and title of your presentation (symposium talk and title of symposium, contributed talk, speed talk or poster) and/or otherwise active role. For example:
- Symposium “SY38 Conservation of Crumple-Horned Snorkacks”, Talk “Crumple-Horned Snorkack migration stopovers”
- Contributed poster “Antagonistic Interactions between Phoenixes and You-know-who”
- Organiser TPE “Dementors and climate change mitigation”
Field: “Abstract ID:"
Fill in the ID number of your submitted absract. This can be found in the confirmation email.
Field: “Extended poster or talk (oral or speed) abstract:"
Fill in the abstract of your talk or poster, extended to 500-700 words. Leave out the title and the list of authors.
Field: “Funding requested:" Full or Partial
If partial funding is requested, please enter the dollar of amount of funding requested in US dollars. If full funding is requested, please indicate the origin for your flight to IMCC4. Full funding includes round-trip coach airfare, accommodations during IMCC4 (most likely at the Memorial University dorms) and regular IMCC4 registration fees.
Field: "Comments:"
Please add any additional comments.
