The Society for Marine Mammalogy provides conference support for a limited number of scientific colleagues who are full-time principal investigators (PIs) employed by governments, universities or other organizations in countries where scientists have less access to research funds.
The following criteria have been chosen to establish the classification of eligible countries/regions: (1) Using the most recent World Bank classification, all countries/regions in the categories Upper Middle Income, Lower Middle Income, and Low Income are eligible; and (2) Within the High Income countries/regions, those countries/regions that spend less than US $50 million or less than 1% of their GDP on Research and Development (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_research_and_development_spending) are also eligible. Applying these criteria, in 2024 investigators are eligible, provided they do not reside in: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and United States.
This grant is meant for applicants who are primarily working scientists, and who a) are nationals and b) operate in a country/region where resources to support international conference attendance are inadequate or simply don’t exist. The grant is not open to applicants who are full time students (who are instead encouraged to apply for student travel grants). After screening for eligibility by the Chair of the Committee on International Relations, the applications will be ranked by the Committee and a selection made based on funds available. Selection criteria will address the potential value of the contributed communication to the advancement of marine mammal science and conservation in the applicant’s country/region, the applicant’s country/region representation within the Society’s membership, and the perceived difficulty of being a marine mammal scientist in the applicant’s region. Requirements include the following: a) full SMM membership at the time of the Conference; b) first (presenting) author of an abstract accepted by the Conference Committee; c) full participation in the Conference. Colleagues who have not obtained a Travel Grant in the previous two Biennial Conferences (2022 and 2019) will be given precedence.
When requesting support, please try to limit the request to your minimal needs. We have a fixed amount of funding available, and the less we will award pro capita, the more colleagues we will be able to support.
The Low Income Country Travel Grant application will be accessible within the SMM2024 abstract submission form until Tuesday, March 26 at 12pm Australian Western Standard Time (AWST) (GMT+8).
If you have any questions about applying for a travel grant, please contact: Lucy Keith Diagne Chair, International Relations Committee (international@marinemammalscience.org).