A scholarship or travel grant is funding provided by the organizer or sponsors that enables selected individuals to attend a conference. It typically covers the registration fee, travel expenses, and sometimes accommodation – a key instrument for promoting early-career researchers, diversity, and international participation.
English: Travel grant, scholarship, bursary
Funding amount: Registration fee, often plus travel/accommodation
Application: Formal application with a selection process
What is a scholarship / travel grant?
A scholarship – often called a travel grant in an international context – is financial support that enables individuals to attend a conference who would otherwise find it difficult or impossible to afford it on their own. Typical recipients include students and doctoral candidates, postdocs, scientists from low-income countries, early-career professionals without research budgets, or practitioners from the non-academic sector.
There are various motivations behind scholarships: scientific policy (supporting the next generation), strategic (diversity within the community), reputational (the association demonstrates commitment), and economic (sponsors gain visibility through their support).
Funding categories
- Registration fee: Most common form – ticket is fully or partially waived
- Travel grant: Flat rate or based on receipts, possibly capped by region of origin
- Accommodation support: Flat rate for hotel costs, or organized student housing
- Meal allowance: Rarely separate, usually included in the ticket
- All-inclusive package: Registration fee + travel + accommodation + meals
- Non-monetary awards: Certificate of attendance with "scholarship status," networking slots, mentoring
Funding sources
- Organizing association: Internal funding from membership fees or surplus
- Industry sponsors: Funding as part of sponsorship packages
- Scientific foundations: Third-party funding with clear allocation criteria
- International associations: Funding via regional subgroups
- Government funding: National scientific institutions
- Crowdfunding: Increasingly established in smaller communities
Selection process
A good scholarship process is clear and transparent:
- Call for applications with clear criteria, deadlines, and funding amounts
- Application form with mandatory information: personal details, CV, letter of motivation, and potentially letters of recommendation
- Anonymized evaluation by a defined selection committee
- Scoring based on fixed criteria (need, contribution to the conference, diversity goals)
- Decision with clear justifications
- Approval with automatic ticket issuance or travel expense confirmation
- Verification for travel-based funding
- Reporting to sponsors and, if applicable, publication of the scholarship recipients
Common selection criteria
- Academic qualifications: Academic performance, publications, presentations
- Personal contribution: Acceptance of an abstract in the call for papers as a prerequisite
- Financial need: Income situation, travel distance, lack of institutional budget
- Diversity goals: Gender, region, career stage, discipline
- Motivation: What does the recipient hope to gain from the conference?
- Impact: Multiplier effect in their home community
Compliance and tax law
- Grants are often taxable – for monetary awards, check if they are treated as income for the recipient
- Scholarship certificates must be issued correctly
- GDPR regarding application data – application forms are sensitive (income details, personal circumstances)
- Industry funding in the medical sector is sometimes subject to pharmaceutical codes and strict transparency rules
- Selection criteria must not be discriminatory
- Reporting obligations to third-party funders must be met
Best practices
- Early announcement – several months before the registration deadline
- Clear, documented criteria instead of gut feeling
- Diverse selection committee to avoid systematic bias
- Anonymized evaluation where possible (similar to double-blind review)
- Constructive feedback even for rejected applicants
- Make recipients visible: On the event website, in the app, during welcomes
- After the event: Use feedback from recipients to improve future processes
- Multi-year funding commitments with sponsors as a long-term partnership
Scholarships in Converia
Converia covers complete scholarship workflows: application forms with defined mandatory fields, a selection process with evaluation logic, automatic ticket granting upon approval, separate recording of funding amounts, and comprehensive reporting for sponsors and donors.
Facilitating diversity in a structured way
With Converia, you can organize funding programs in a legally compliant and transparent manner – without parallel spreadsheets and with clear traceability.
- Event registration – Ticketing & registration
- Voucher and discount codes – Ticketing & registration
- World congress – Formats & trends
Application form, evaluation logic, automatic ticket granting, and sponsor reporting in one system.