Travel Grants

How to Apply

Write a letter of motivation of up to one page in length (in PDF, plain text or MSWord format) for how you and your institution would benefit from your attendance at ETD2011. Indicate in the letter: if you will present a poster or paper at the conference; at what stage of development your institution's ETD project is; which previous international ETD conferences you have attended; and in which years you received travel funding from the conference organisers / NDLTD.

Send this letter, along with a letter of support from your institution, to heinrich.spingies@nrf.ac.za

The deadline for applications is 1 July 2011.

Conditions of Grants

Travel grants for delegates to attend the ETD annual symposium are an investment in ETDs worldwide.  The NDLTD believes it is important that delegates from all nations have an opportunity to attend the annual conference and generally provides funding (amount varies) for scholarships.  Final decisions about Travel Scholarship awards are the responsibility of the ETD 2011 Local Conference Organizing Committee. 

1. Scholarships might be provided for:  travel, lodging, and/or conference fees.
2. To receive travel funding a candidate must be from a developing country and must provide a letter of support from his/her superior noting that the conference is of particular interest to the institution.  The applicant must also provide a short (two to three page) report on follow up plans to implement an ETD program at his/her institution.
3. The ETD 2011 Conference Organizing Committee will ensure that travel grants are distributed appropriately to ensure wide representation from a range of developing countries. 
4. Since funding for travel grants is scarce and in order to ensure that as many institutions in developing countries as possible are able to benefit from attending the ETD annual symposium, the ETD 2011 Conference Organizing Committee will ensure that, except in very special circumstances, the same institution does not receive a travel grant to more than one symposium.  Requests for second time funding will be referred to the NDLTD Conference Standing Committee for review and consideration.  The same guideline applies to individuals applying for second time funding whether they are at their original institutions or have moved to a new one.
5. Information about travel grant recipients (name, institution, country and sponsor) will be sent by the Chair of the ETD 2011 Conference Organizing Committee to the Chair of the NDLTD Conference Standing Committee after the conference.
6. The candidate’s institution must be willing to provide some portion of the travel budget at least equivalent to the domestic portion of the trip.
7. Candidates for lodging support need not be from developing countries, but must demonstrate need of financial support.  Where lodging support is provided, this will be at whatever level is deemed appropriate by the ETD 2011 Conference Organizing Committee.
8. Conference fee scholarships will be available to any candidates deemed appropriate. These scholarships may be full scholarships or partial scholarships (reduced fees).
9. The ETD 2011 Conference Organizing Committee will evaluate and award the scholarships which allows for fair review but also provides sufficient time for the recipient to make travel plans. Cut off date: To be announced

At the time recipients of travel grants submit their final expense claims to the ETD 2011 Conference Organizing Committee they are also required to submit a short (one page) report on how attendance benefited them and what action(s) they will be able to implement at their home institutions.  Outstanding expense claims will not be settled until the reports are received. Note that the requirement to submit a report applies to all recipients of travel grants even if their expenses were paid before the conference.  Reports must be submitted no later than three months after the conference has taken place and the ETD 2011 Conference Organizing Committee will indicate a specific deadline on the application.  The reports will be made available to sponsoring organizations if requested.