The ESB congress participation inclusion fund

Members should not be prevented from attending the ESB congress by additional attendance costs not supported by their home institution, created by individual needs including, but not limited to, care of dependents, disability, or medical needs. The ESB congress participation inclusion fund is designed to provide a flexible contribution towards some of the additional costs of congress attendance faced by members with specific needs. Funding can be sought for any legitimate purpose identified by the applicant that addresses a clearly identified barrier to attend the congress and that cannot be met by their host institution.

Examples of use:

Contribution to the costs of transporting medical equipment.
Additional facilitation of access for the hearing impaired.
Part payment to a care provider for care outside of usual arrangements.
Part payment of travel and accommodation for a secondary carer.

The ESB congress participation inclusion fund is an award on basis of expenses (with receipts), for a total of no more than €3000 across all awards. The ESB expects to allocate three to six awards but there is no maximum for each application.

Timing

The application deadline is 3rd May 2024.
Awardees will be announced ahead of the congress early bird registration deadline.

Eligibility

Applicants must be ESB members in good standing at the time of application, and have an abstract accepted at the congress.
Priority may be given to first-time applicants, students, and those presenting their work with a podium presentation.
Members who apply for this grant are not eligible for the travel grant in the same year.

Please get in touch with any questions at membership.chair@esbiomech.org

Application process

The application consists of:

A statement of need (no more than 300 words),
An estimated budget, demonstrating that best value for service has been sought (expenses will need to be within the estimated budget, we cannot cover more than estimated).
A signed letter from supervisor (for student members) or line manager (for active members) confirming that the host institution does not have the capacity to cover these costs,
The ESB abstract review outcome email

All documents need to be sent by the application deadline to the chair of the diversity, inclusion and membership committee at membership.chair@esbiomech.org by 5 PM (CEST).

Application review

The application will be reviewed by members of the diversity, inclusion and membership committee.

The applications will be reviewed independently of scientific excellence (i.e. not related to the score of abstract reviews). The application will need to demonstrate the benefit to the applicant in attending the congress. The application will need to demonstrate the added value of the financial contribution.

Applications will be ranked based on these considerations and the participation inclusion fund will be awarded in order of ranking within the budget allocated for this fund (which may vary every year).

Awardee obligations

The awardee is expected to acknowledge the ESB in their poster or presentation.

The award of this fund will be based on expenses requiring receipts for no more than the required funds as estimated at application.

Awardees will be required to complete an online document with personal and bank data and upload receipts within one month of the congress participation. Funds will not be released unless awardees comply with this required step.