Travel grants for young researchers

SPPS supports young scientists working in a Nordic country who would like to attend a conference or course in another Nordic country. The SPPS council prioritizes application as follows:

1. SPPS congress and SPPS PhD conference

2. Events sponsored by SPPS

3. Any other plant science conference or course within the Nordic countries.

General rules

• You must be a member of SPPS at the PhD or Postdoc levels. Join here!

• Applications for travel grants to an SPPS congress or SPPS PhD conference have specific deadlines that will be announced in connection with the congress announcement.

• Applications for other events can be submitted at any time and they should be handled by SPPS before the event. It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure the proposal reaches SPPS in good time. SPPS suggests to avoid making any bookings until a decision has been reached.

  • Grants up to 10,000 SEK will be evaluated on a regular basis (allow 2-3 weeks processing time).

  • Applications above this amount should reach SPPS at least 2 weeks before a council meeting. Dates are announced in our front page.

• SPPS travel grants cover:

  • Reasonable traveling expenses

  • Reasonable accommodation that is not included in the conference fee

  • If needed, personal insurance for the duration of the travel

• SPPS travel grants do NOT cover:

  • Conference fees (including accommodation covered by these fees)

  • Food

  • Overhead fees and/or booking fees

• Active participation in the meeting (oral or poster presentation) or course is required. Make sure to ask for a certificate of attendance.

• After the activity, grantees are expect to submit a picture (at least 500 pixel width) and a report (ca. 1/2 page) for the SPPS webpage.

• SPPS has committed to work towards the UN sustainability goals. Avoidable CO₂ emissions will negatively impact applications that include traveling, even if a train ticket is more expensive than a flight. However, we acknowledge that time is a limited resource and that some places within the Nordic countries are difficult to reach without an airplane. If you feel that you cannot avoid air travel, you must include a comparison between air-bound and ground transportation options including a door-to-door time plan, financial cost and CO₂ footprint. The CO₂ footprint can be calculated with the help of many free resources on the web like this Emmission Calculator.

How to apply

Incomplete or faulty applications will be automatically rejected.

1. Download the cover page template from one of the links below

2. Make one single pdf file containing:

• A filled and signed cover page

• A motivation for the application describing the actitivy and how this will have an impact of the young researchers work/development (max. 1 page)

• A clear budget divided in items with estimated costs and a justification for each item.

• A CV and publication list (max. 2 pages).

• Documentation for the applied expenses (e.g. screenshot showing train/flight/accommodation prizes).

• Documentation (e.g. screenshot) of at least 2 alternative accomodation possibilities to the option included in the budget. One of them should typically be in a lower prince range. The council might fully reject an application if acomodation costs seem excesive.

• A written justification of the need for air travel, including a comparison to ground transportation with respect to CO₂ footprint, finantial costs, and door-to-door time plan.

3. Send the pdf file as an e-mail attachment to the grant office (grants@spps.se) with the subject 'Grant application'