Grants and bursaries
Any current RSS fellow is eligible to apply for a conference grant or bursary, however the scheme is aimed primarily at assisting young statisticians (defined as those under the age of 30 or who are in the first seven years of statistics-based careers), fellows returning from a career-break and/or parental leave and those fellows from countries classified as economically developing areas (EDAs) who would not otherwise be able to attend.
These grants will usually be expected to help cover the costs incurred for accommodation, travel or childcare. The maximum amount per grant or bursary is £500.
Applicants are asked to state clearly the purpose of their attendance at the conference and the activities/sessions they expect to participate in, including any talks or posters they hope to present, as well as setting out the costs involved in attending.
Applications will be considered on their individual merits by the honorary officer for meetings and conferences, who will consider making exceptions for special cases. Applications from non-Fellows will not be considered.
A maximum of four J H West bursaries of £500 each will be awarded to fellows from economically developing areas (EDAs) to assist with travel costs to the conference. This bursary will only be allocated to those who have had talks or posters accepted for presentation.
A further fund is available for the award of RSS Conference grants up to a maximum of £500 each.
In allocating grant and bursary awards priority will always be given to those who have not previously (or recently) been awarded a Society conference grant. In addition, grant and bursary awards will only be awarded to those who have demonstrated clear plans to further their statistical development while at the conference. Successful applicants will normally be expected to register for and attend the full duration of the conference.
Cathie Marsh bursary
The Cathie Marsh memorial bursary was launched in 1994 by the Social Statistics section in memory of Cathie Marsh who chaired the section from 1990 to 1992. The aim of the bursary is to encourage young statisticians or social scientists in empirical enquiry and those using quantitative methods through attendance at the conference.
The scheme is open to Society Fellows who are at an early stage in their careers and for whom a bursary award would allow attendance, which would not otherwise be possible.
Applications will be considered on their individual merits by a subcommittee of the Social Statistics Section. One bursary award of a maximum of £500 is available to put towards the costs of attending.
Please note it is not possible to receive both a Society grant and the Cathie Marsh bursary for attendance at the same conference.
Applications
Applications must be made using the official application form – please only apply for the grant or bursary relevant to your circumstances. Applications for 2024 are now closed.
Condition of awards
All grant and bursary awards are made provisionally and will only be confirmed on return of a completed acceptance form and when a completed registration with full payment has been received and processed.
Payment of the grant or bursary will be by bank transfer following the conference and this will only be authorised once the recipient has registered in person at the conference.
Failure to provide payment for your registration, to collect your conference badge in person, to attend for the stated duration of the conference or to give the presentation on which the award is based will automatically invalidate the award.
Awards cannot be transferred to another conference attendee and can only be used for the stated purposes.
Recipients of the awards will be listed in the conference directory.