Postgraduate Research Conference Grants - Scheme 8

Objectives: To provide partial support for conferences held in the UK, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, which are organised by, and are for, postgraduate research students. 

Please note that only one grant, per Scheme, per person, per LMS financial year (1 August - 31 July) is allowed.

Eligibility:

• The organiser should be a postgraduate research student (or group of students) in mathematics, registered for a Doctorate at a university based in the UK, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands at the time of application and when the conference is planned. Please note that should a grant holder leave the UK before the planned conference then the grant will be withdrawn. There is the possibility of the grant being transferred to a suitable co-organiser who is still based in the UK, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands, with the agreement of the Early Career Research Committee Chair.
• The applicant should be the postgraduate student and must have the support of a member of academic staff at the postgraduate student’s department. In the event that the application is successful, the member of academic staff will be responsible for claiming and reporting on the grant.
• Non LMS members will need to ask an LMS member to counter-sign their application.
• Applications must comply with the Society's policy on Women in Mathematics - please note that the Society considers a lack of invited women speakers to be a very real problem, and a failure to include women speakers are grounds for refusal for funding.
• Additionally, please note the following advice on diversity at conferences/workshops/seminars.

Criteria:

• The conference must be held in the UK, the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands.
• The conference must be aimed at and open to students from several universities.
• The Society expects that the meetings which it supports will be open to all.
• The Society will support only mathematical meetings or the mathematical component of wider meetings, and here the word mathematical excludes mathematics education.
• The grant is not intended to cover the cost of secretarial help or publicity.
• The grant may not be used to cover room hire but requests for grants to cover room hire at De Morgan House will be considered, where special circumstances can be shown.
• Reasonable registration fees of between £10 and £20 per day should be charged. The registration fee should not be included with the accommodation fee, accommodation fees should be specified separately.
• The grant cannot be used to cover registration fees.

Value of award:  The maximum award is £2,500 towards actual expenses for travel, accommodation and subsistence costs of participants. In addition, the Society allows the use of the grant to cover Caring Costs for those attendees who have dependents.

The life of an LMS Grant is two financial years (1 August - 31 July). All awarded grants need to be claimed no later than the 31 July in the second year of the grant, i.e., if a grant is awarded in the 2023/24 financial year, the grant will need to be claimed by the 31 July 2026. Any grants that have not been claimed within the two-year period will be withdrawn.

Deadlines and decision timetable:

Applications should be submitted well in advance of the date of the conference.

• Please note that applications will not be considered between mid-April and mid-November.
• Grants will not be made retrospectively.
• The Society is reluctant to award grants to conferences which clash with other significant mathematical meetings in the UK such as the British Mathematical Colloquium or the British Applied Mathematics Colloquium. 

Queries regarding applications can be addressed to the Grants Administrators or the Chair of the Early Career Research Committee (ECRC) who will be pleased to discuss proposals informally with potential applicants and give advice on the submission of an application.

Grants Administrator:  Lucy Covington Email: ecr.grants@lms.ac.uk

Chair of the Early Career Research Committee (ECRC): Professor Jelena Grbic  

Application Form:

To submit an application, you must be logged into your user account or registered as a user.

• Postgraduate Conference Grant Online Application Form 

• Guidance Notes

Other sources of funding:

Information about other funding offered by other organisations can be found here.

LMS Caring Costs Policy 

The LMS wishes to enable carers and parents to take part in the activities that it supports. Applicants for grants across Schemes 1-9, for Early Career Research activities or who will run Society Meetings can request funding to help mathematicians with caring or parenting responsibilities to participate in their activities. In addition, individuals requiring support for caring to attend conferences, workshops, research schools and meetings or to make research visits - not necessarily organised by LMS - can apply for a Caring Supplementary Grant to contribute to such costs.   

The Policy is available here. 

Testimonials

“We received an ECR Grant from the LMS to organise the 23rd Postgraduate Group Theory Conference (PGTC), held in London over three days and across three different universities in July 2022. My co-organisers were Miriam Norris (Kings College London) and William Murphy (City, University of London). The Postgraduate Group Theory Conference is one of the most important early careers events for algebra in the UK. Receiving a generous amount of funds from the LMS allowed us to invite experts from around the world to give talks and to subsidize the costs of participants. This was particularly important as this was the first in person PGTC since the pandemic, and it was a great success”. - Kamilla Rekvényi, Imperial College London

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“Grant scheme 8 ensured we would be able to provide full reimbursement for our speakers at an early stage of conference organisation. This meant we were able to invite a range of prominent speakers, all with busy schedules, far in advance of the event." – Kobe Marshall-Stevens, University College London