Members: Noela Invernizzi (chair); Vivian Choi; Paige Miller (ex officio)
2019 Travel Grants at a glance
2019
2018
Applications
369
155
Grants
126
155
Countries Receiving Grants
30
27
Total Investment
$24.750
$22.000
Grants Declined
11
Program Overview
Grants were used to support the travel of students (both undergraduate and graduate) and low-income scholars to the annual 4S meeting. Funding typically comes from three sources: $11,000 annually comes from the National Science Foundation (most students are funded through this source) and $5,000 annually comes from the Asia/Africa/Latin America Fund (a source made available after the Tokyo meeting to support the travel expenses of students coming from an Asian or African country and most recently expanded to include students from Latin American countries). This year $1,750 came from sustaining/society membership to support meeting participation by students and other low-income scholars. Due to the large number of requests for support received in 2019, an additional $12,000 ($5,000 to support undergraduate student travel and $7,000 to support graduate student and low-income scholar travel) were committed. Following abstract acceptance notifications, students and other low-income scholars are given approximately one month to submit a travel grant application using an online system. After all applications have been received, they are reviewed and awarded by the Chair of the travel grant selection committee based on the criteria detailed in the section “Selection Criteria” below.
The dollar amount of grants cannot exceed $1,000 and typically range from $100 to $450. This year, however, it was considered important to give a “realistic” amount of money to make the travel feasible, particularly concerning more distant developing countries, instead of distributing the funds in an atomized manner. For the case of US and Canada, the amounts considered were low and more distributed. Awardees have approximately two months in which to accept the grant. If the grant is declined, it is awarded to a student on the waitlist. Following the meeting, students submit a reimbursement form and all receipts (again, using an online system). The Treasurer reviews all receipts, makes any necessary follow up inquiries, and mails the checks.
2019 Demand for Travel Grants
A total of 369 demands for travel grants from a varied list of countries were received this year, almost 2.5 times the amount received last year.
Demand for travel grants by country*
Argentina 7
Australia 6
Austria 1
Benin 1
Brazil 15
Canada 40
Chile 4
China 1
Colombia 5
Costa Rica 1
Danmark 1
Ecuador 14
France 11
Germany 10
Haiti 1
India 26
Indonesia 1
Iran 1
Israel 1
Italia 1
Japan 1
Korea 1
Mexico 10
Netherlands 6
Nigeria 7
Norway 2
Pakistan 2
Paraguay 2
Russia 4
Sout Africa 1
Spain 6
Sweden 2
Switzerland 1
Taiwan 4
Turkey 4
UK 20
USA 142
Uruguay 5
Venezuela 1
Total 369
Selection criteria
The general criteria for grants distribution agreed in previous years, and followed in this edition were:
Quality: Is the abstract of appropriate quality for presentation at 4S?
Conference participation beyond paper presentation: Is the student organizing a panel or additional meeting, volunteering for additional work, etc.?
Relevance: Is the student enrolled in a graduate program? Is 4S the right place for this paper?
Completeness: Is the application complete?
Availability of alternative funds: Does the student’s home institution provide travel funds, etc.?
Prior travel grants received: Did the student receive 4S funding in the previous year?
Diversity: 4s is committed to inclusion and participation of under-represented groups and seeks each year to provide funding to these students.
Additional criteria agreed by the committee:
The priority criteria used were the following:
HIGH PRIORITY underepresented regions, NO funding = $500-1000 according to distance.
MEDIUM PRIORITY A underepresented regions + medium income countries with partial funding. $ 300-500
MEDIUM PRIORITY B High income countries with NO funding $200-300
LOW PRIORITY High income countries or other regions with partial funding $150-200
No priority (reasonable funding already)
Procedure
First, each candidate on the list was “colored” according to the priority criteria. Then, a selection among each country was done following the general criteria, trying to be gender balanced. We also tried to consider under- or precariously employed scholars, especially junior ones. We also aimed to give funding to more advanced PhD students with consideration for their career development. We felt that students at earlier stages in their degrees would have more opportunities in the future to apply for grants.
After a painful process, with several reviews of the list for the reduction of the individual allowances or the number of grants, the conclusion was that the available funds were too short for the number of candidates. Paige and Kim received more than one demand to enlarge the funds.
126 grants were distributed to people from 30 countries. The awardees were notified by Paige and instructed about the steps to take.
After notification, 11 people declined the grants, which were redirected to the first names in a waitlist. Only two of these declines involved a change in the country to which the award was distributed:
Chile (declined)—Australia (redistributed)
Russia (declined)-Brazil (redistributed)
The final distribution of grants was as follows:
Grants by country
(after redistribution)
Argentina 2
Australia 1
Benin 1
Brazil 3
Canada 19
Chile 1
China 1
Colombia 1
Costa Rica 1
Ecuador 2
France 4
Germany 2
India 4
Iran 1
Korea 1
Mexico 3
Netherlands 3
Nigeria 2
Pakistan 1
Paraguay 1
Russia 1
Sout Africa 1
Spain 3
Sweden 1
Taiwan 1
Turkey 1
UK 5
USA 56
Uruguay 2
Venezuela 1
Total 126
Recommendations
The committee suggest that the criteria (1) “Quality: Is the abstract of appropriate quality for presentation at 4S?” implies a double evaluation of the paper. Since the paper is already accepted when the student applies for travel grants, for the purpose of distributing travel funds, a more relevant criteria is ensuring a variety of themes and (if possible) a wide distribution across the program and activities of the conference.
Giving the increasing number of applications, the criteria (6) “Prior travel grants received: Did the student receive 4S funding in the previous year?” should be extended from 1 to at least 2 years.
24 undergrad students successfully submitted abstracts to present at the annual meeting (3 declined the grants). All applicants received $200.
Students are notified of the availability of funds through both Technoscience and the STS graduate student listserv.
Following a decision made at the 2015 council meeting, an additional person was added to the travel grant selection committee in the hopes of making the selection process more transparent.
