EMBL Courses and Conferences are a major European platform for sharing and expanding research, knowledge and contacts through face-to-face and virtual interaction
Limited financial assistance is provided by the EMBL Advanced Training Centre Corporate Partnership Programme and EMBO in the form of both registration fee waivers and travel grants. These are available for on-site participants at EMBL Courses, EMBL Conferences, and EMBO|EMBL Symposia in Heidelberg, as well as for virtual or on-site participants at EMBO Workshops and EMBO Practical Courses in Heidelberg. We are currently working on securing funding for all of our virtual participants, and ask that you please apply for financial assistance for both on-site and virtual participation.
Your place in the meeting is only confirmed by paying the registration fee, which is mandatory even when receiving a fee waiver.
The fee waiver will cover the registration sum that you have paid to attend the course or conference.
The travel grant will cover the cost of travel (airfare, train, bus, taxi, accommodation, visa, and/or registration fees*) and is provided up to specified caps which are normally as follows:
– up to €400 for participants travelling to an EMBL Course, EMBL Conference, or EMBO|EMBL Symposium from within Europe.
– up to €1000 for participants travelling to an EMBL Course, EMBL Conference, or EMBO|EMBL Symposium from outside Europe.
– up to €500 for any participant travelling to an EMBO Practical Course or EMBO Workshop.
– up to €1000 for any participant working in Chile, India, Singapore or Taiwan travelling to an EMBO Practical Course or EMBO Workshop.
– up to €700 for any participant working in Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovenia, and Turkey travelling to an EMBO Practical Course or EMBO Workshop.
*Registration fees are only covered for EMBO Practical Courses or EMBO Workshops
The organisers may reduce the grant cap to accommodate more participants. Recipients will be notified of their travel cap amount when they are informed of the outcome of their application. Original receipts must be provided with your signature for all costs incurred within two months of completion of travel. Scanned copies cannot be accepted.
For EMBO Practical Course or EMBO Workshop participants with children, there is the possibility to apply for a childcare grant to offset child care costs incurred by participants or speakers when participating at a course or conference. Eligible costs include fees for a baby-sitter or child-care facility, travel costs for a caregiver, or travel costs for taking the child to the meeting etc. Please note that priority will be given to early stage researchers. A maximum amount of €500 can be awarded per participant applying for an EMBO childcare grant. In order to apply for this grant for EMBO Workshops, you must be registered by the abstract submission deadline.
Applies to selected courses only. Availability will be indicated during the abstract or motivation letter submission process.
This grant covers costs related to your attendance to the course (registration, travel and accommodation costs). The grant is restricted to PhD students and postdocs who conduct basic biomedical research.
Whether you are eligible to apply for a travel grant, depends on when you received your university entrance qualification (e.g. Abitur, A-levels, High school diploma, Final state examination):
– for PhD and MD students, as well as graduates, the university entrance qualification must not have been obtained more than 11 years ago at the time of the envisaged course
– for postdocs, the university entrance qualification must not have been obtained more than 13 years ago at the time of the envisaged course
On-site participants
You may apply for financial assistance when submitting your abstract or motivation letter. In your application you will be asked to answer questions regarding why your lab cannot fund your attendance and how your attendance will make a difference to your career. Application for financial support will not affect the outcome of your registration application.
Virtual participants
If you are attending an on-site conference virtually, you can still apply for financial assistance in the submission portal by the abstract deadline. Read the instructions on how to apply for financial assistance. Only submissions for financial assistance will be accepted. Presentation abstracts cannot be submitted here and will be declined.
In your application you will be asked to summarise your current work, answer questions regarding why your lab cannot fund your attendance, and how your attendance will make a difference to your career. Application for financial support will not affect the outcome of your registration application.
Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds travel grant
For the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds travel grant, there is a pre-application question during the motivation letter submission process, and if selected you will be requested to complete a standard form and documentation consisting of your travel expense estimation.
The scientific organisers will select the recipients of all financial assistance during the motivation letter or abstract selection process. Results will be announced approximately 6 – 8 weeks before the event start date, however for some events this may be delayed. Selection results do not impact your admission to the meeting. Selection is based on scientific merit, your current work or study location, the reasons for needing financial support, and the impact this event will have on your career.
Costs will be reimbursed after the meeting only once a reimbursement form and original receipts (from travel costs) have been received.
Check out this list of external funding opportunities or get more information on attending the conference as an event reporter.
For further information about financial assistance please refer to the FAQ page.
All academic and student registrants are invited to apply for a registration fee waiver, provided by the EMBL Advanced Training Centre Corporate Partnership Programme and EMBO. The registration fee waiver covers the registration sum that you have paid to attend the meeting. Conference participants are not required to pre-pay the registration fee to be selected for a fee waiver for a virtual meeting. If you have already paid the registration fee and are awarded a fee waiver, it will be reimbursed after the meeting. Course participants are required to pay the course fee in advance, which will then be reimbursed after the recipient has attended the course.
For participants and speakers with childcare responsibilities there is the possibility to apply for a grant, provided by the EMBL Advanced Training Centre Corporate Partnership Programme and EMBO, to offset childcare costs incurred when participating at a virtual event. Eligible costs include fees for a babysitter or childcare facility or travel costs for a care giver. Please note that priority will be given to early stage researchers. Costs will be reimbursed after the meeting only once a reimbursement form and original receipts have been received. Attendance at the event is required in order to be eligible to receive the reimbursement. In order to apply for this grant, you must be registered by the abstract submission deadline.
Applies to selected courses only. Availability will be indicated during the abstract or motivation letter submission process.
This grant covers costs related to your attendance at the course (registration, travel, and accommodation costs). The grant is restricted to PhD students and postdocs who conduct basic biomedical research.
Whether you are eligible to apply for a travel grant, depends on when you received your university entrance qualification (e.g. Abitur, A-levels, high school diploma, final state examination):
– for PhD and MD students, as well as graduates, the university entrance qualification must not have been obtained more than 11 years ago at the time of the envisaged course
– for postdocs, the university entrance qualification must not have been obtained more than 13 years ago at the time of the envisaged course
Applications for financial assistance can be submitted via the submission portal* (for the submission of abstracts for conferences or the submission of motivation letters for courses) by completing the financial assistance application section (underneath the section for entering abstract/motivation letter information). The link to the portal can be found in the registration confirmation email that you will receive after registering for the conference or course.
If you are not submitting an abstract, you can still apply for financial assistance for conferences. Read the instructions on how to submit your application for financial assistance before you submit it to the portal. Note that priority will be given to those submitting an abstract to present at the conference. In your application you will be asked to answer questions regarding your motivation for applying, and, for registration fee waivers, the reasons why your lab cannot fund your attendance and how your attendance will make a difference to your career. Application for financial support will not affect the outcome of your registration application.
*For some events, applications for childcare grants will still be done by email. Information about the grant will be sent out shortly after the abstract/motivation letter deadline. Please contact the event conference officer if you have any questions.
The scientific organisers will select the recipients of registration fee waivers during the abstract selection process for conferences and the participant selection process for courses. Results will be announced approximately 3 – 4 weeks before the event start date. Selection results do not impact your admission to the meeting. Registration fee waiver selection is based on your current work or study location, your motivation for applying, the reasons for needing financial support and the impact this event will have on your career. Childcare grants are allocated based on career stage, with priority given to early-stage researchers.
View a list of external funding opportunities or information on attending a conference as an event reporter.
For further information about financial assistance please refer to the FAQ page.