Travel Grants are available as bursaries to support attendance at a conference or workshop relevant to malacology. Grants are preferentially conferred on students but researchers without professional positions may also apply. The maximum amount for one of these awards is £500 for Society members and £300 for non-members; the Society anticipates that at least five awards will be made annually.

Successful applications for Travel Awards that are concerned with the study of Bivalvia may be awarded as Sir Charles Maurice Yonge Awards.

Completion of the Application form

To apply complete an application form which can be found here.

When completing the form, a font size of at least 10 pt and Times New Roman or Arial font must be used.

Answer all questions. For question 4, please provide full details of the conference, meeting or workshop that you are seeking the Travel Award for. When giving a breakdown of the costs for the meeting (question 5), include full financial details in respect of your request (e.g. travel fares, accommodation and subsistence costs, or both). Note that poor breakdown of costs to be funded may result in decreased funding or disqualification of applications. If you have applied for, or received, other support for the meeting, list the source of the funds and give the amount secured or requested.

Your application should have the support of your project supervisor; please ask your supervisor to complete question 7 and sign and date the form. Please note that the supervisor’s comments make an important contribution to the decision making process and should provide sufficient detail about the applicant and the benefits expected from their travel. Note that it is your responsibility to ensure an email, if required, is provided by the supervisor. The Society will not contact supervisors on your behalf.

Submission of your application

Please submit your signed and completed application by email to the Honorary Awards Secretary at MSL_awards@nhm.ac.uk, with “Travel Award Application” and your surname in the subject title. If you are unable to scan the file with your supervisor’s signature, please ask them to email their support to the Honorary Awards Secretary.

The next deadline for this scheme is 15^th December 2022. From January 2023, there will be two annual closing dates, 1^st March and 1^st September.  If you are not a member at the time of application, but wish to apply for the higher award of £500, we will allow applicants to apply for membership after 1^st January so that you may benefit from a full year in the Society. It will be a requirement for you to send confirmation of your membership to the Honorary Awards Secretary in the first week of January if you are to be considered for the higher award.

The Society does not accept applications for support in arrears, i.e. after travel has taken place. For travel scheduled between 1^st June and 30^th November, applications should be submitted by the 1^st March, and for travel scheduled between 1^st December and 31^st May, applications should be submitted by the 1^st September.

Conditions

The Society is trialling upfront payments of travel awards to alleviate financial pressure on recipients. Recipients of Travel Awards will be asked to provide evidence of attendance at the event for which funding was sought, and if travel does not take place, recipients commit to repaying their award. Recipients are requested to acknowledge the financial support of the Society on posters or during oral presentations, and to submit a report following their travel.

Any enquiries should be directed to the Honorary Awards Secretary at MSL_awards@nhm.ac.uk.