Travel Funding Sources

Please click on the hyperlinked title for more information on each opportunity. Double check application deadlines at the funders website in case they have changed. If you are aware of a funding opportunity that we have not listed, please let Edinburgh Neuroscience know so we can add it to our list.

University of Edinburgh - Travel Funds

Limited funds are available to enable students to make visits abroad, which are considered desirable for their courses of study. Various schemes are available for undergraduate upwards. Deadlines: various

Academy of Medical Sciences - Daniel Turnberg Travel Fellowships

This scheme offers short-term funding for biomedical researchers to travel between the UK and the Middle East to learn new techniques and develop academic collaborations. Deadline:  expected January 2019

Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland - Barclay-Smith Travelling Fund

This may be used to assist Members who are studying for a higher degree (or are in the early years of their career) to attend meetings of the Society. Deadline: 6 calls a year. Upcoming deadlines:  01 November 2018, 07 Feb 2019, 14 March 2019, 17 April 2019, 07 June 2019, 05 Sept 2019

Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour - Conference grants 

These enable ASAB members who are without access to travel money (e.g. undergraduates, unwaged postdocs) to attend ASAB conferences. Awards are for a maximum of £400 and will contribute towards the costs of travel, accommodation and meals. Deadlines: 01 February, 01 June and 01 October.

Association of Anaesthetics

These enable candidates to undertake short-term travels, usually for the benefit of developing countries. Applicants must be anaesthetists. Deadline: 24 August 2018

Association of British Neurologists

These support educational and research visits to developing countries all over the world. Applicants must have been established members of the association for at least one year. The total budget per year is £5,000. Grants are worth up to £1,000 each. Deadlines: 1st week of January and July

Ataxia UK

Ataxia UK provide travel awards for researchers or students presenting at national/international conferences. They fund work related to conditions in which ataxia is the principle symptom, and in which the ataxia is likely to be progressive. This includes conditions such as Friedreich’s ataxia, the spinocerebellar ataxias and other cerebellar ataxias (including idiopathic ones). It does not include conditions such as multiple sclerosis, ataxic cerebral palsy, or other conditions in which ataxic symptoms are present as the result of another underlying condition. Deadline: May/June and September/October.

Biochemical Society

Bursaries are available to undergraduate and postgraduate members to attend a range of Biochemical Society events. There is also  a general travel grant, typically between £300-500, which is available to Postgraduate, Early Career, Full and Emeritus members to assist with the cost of attending scientific conferences, training courses or lab visits to learn new techniques. Deadline: see relevant meeting for buraries, 7 calls a year for general travel grant.

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council International Travel Award Scheme

To help scientists add an international dimension to their BBSRC-funded research by making and establishing new contacts with international counterparts. Deadline: apply any time - at least 6 weeks before travel

British Council Newton Fund

A variety of travel-related grants area available including for setting up links with specified countries (including Israel and Thailand), plus Workshop Grants designed to bring together early-career researchers from the UK and a partner country to make international connections that can improve the quality of their research. Bilateral workshops can be proposed between the UK and Brazil, India, Kenya, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. Deadlines: various

British Neuroscience Association (BNA) - Student and Recent Postdoctoral Bursaries

The BNA is able to offer travel stipends to students and early-career members for different meetings throughout the year. Deadline: related to meeting.

British Pain Society

The British Pain Society awards grants for members who wish to attend the bi-ennual IASP World congress or the Annual Scientific Meeting, and can provide financial assistance for attendance at one of their study days. Deadline: linked to the meetings.

British Pharmacological Society

The Society has established a bursary fund to contribute towards the cost of members attending symposia, conferences and meetings deemed by the Society to be of interest to pharmacologists. Bursaries are also available to cover caring costs associated with attending Society meetings and events. Deadline: linked to society meeting or, for non-socety meetings, 31 January, 30 April, 31 July, 31 October.

British Psychological Society - study visits and conference bursaries

These grants enable postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers and lecturers to undertake a study visit to another institution for a minimum of two weeks (£500-£1,200), or to attend any academic conference, either in the UK or internationally, relevant to the applicants work (£150).  Deadline: for early career conference bursaries: 01 April and 01 October. For study visit scheme deadlines check website - expected june 2019.

British Society for Cell Biology - bursaries for undergraduate students

Undergraduate Bursaries are made to provide financial support for undergraduates currently studying cell biology or a related degree subject to attend the BSCB Spring Meeting. The award will cover the registration and accommodation costs of attendance. Travel costs are expected to be met by the University that the undergraduate attends. Deadline: mid January.

British Society for Developmental Biology - Grants

'BSDB Travel Grants' for attendance of BSDB-sponsored meetings (cover registration & accommodation costs), or 'Company of Biologists Travel Grants' to attend meetings and courses outside the UK (up to £600). Deadline: related to meetings.

British Society for Neuroendocrinology - Travel Grants

Student travel grants to enable attendance at annual BSN meeting (max. £150).  Deadline: After the annual meeting. Also travel grants to attend international conferences (max. £700). Deadline: 01 March & 01 September.

British Society of Head and Neck Imaging - Travel Bursaries

These enable members to attend expensive conferences and courses such as ESHNR, ERASMUS or the Leuven course for which local funding is unavailable, or to support a period of specialist head and neck radiology training or similar personal development needs. Applicants must be members of the society who hold a substantive specialist trainee or consultant post. Two bursaries are available, worth £1,000 each, one of which is open to consultants and the other to trainees. Deadline: expected May 2019

Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland - St Andrews Society of New York Scholarships

The Trust administers the selection process for these Scholarships, which are awarded by the St Andrew’s Society for the State of New York. Preference will be given to candidates who have no previous experience of the United States and for whom a period of study there can be expected to be a life-changing experience. Selection will be on the basis of an all-round assessment, including personality and academic achievement. Applicant must be Scottish by birth or descent. Visit must be to a university within 250 mile radius of New York or in Washington DC. Deadline: mid March.

European Society for Cognitive Psychology - Conference Attendance Funding

These enable graduate students to actively participate in conferences or workshops organised by the ESCOP (max. €500). Deadline: dependent on abstract submission schedule - announced before the ESCoP Conference.

Experimental Psychology Society - Study visits 

These support postgraduate and postdoctoral research in experimental psychology (max. £3000). In addition, the society will reimburse the institution visited by the student for actual costs incurred as a consequence of the visit up to £100. Deadline: 01 March, 01 June, 01 September and 01 December.

FENS - Travel Grants for Society for Neuroscience Meeting

Travel grants available for PhD students and postdocs (working in Europe) who are presenting authors at the Society for Neuroscience meeting (max. €1500). Need to be a FENS member and under 35 years old at time of application. Deadline: related to meeting

FENS - Exchange Grants for training stays for students registered within Network of European Neuroscience School (NENS)

Applicants are expected to spend a period of one to three months at a NENS member school of their choice in a different European country for the purpose of methodological training (max. €3000). For Masters and PhD who are attending a NENS member school. Deadline: 15 April & 15 October.

Genetics Society - Travel Grants for Junior Scientists

Two schemes:

(A) For undergraduate, Masters and PhD students and to postdoctoral scientists within three years of their PhD viva, to support attendance at meetings organised directly by the Genetics Society or sponsored by the Society as a Sectional Interest Group (max. £150). Deadline: dependent on meeting.

(B) For PhD students and postdoctoral scientists within three years of their PhD viva (but not to undergraduate or Masters students), to support attendance at non-Genetics Society meetings (max. £750). Deadline: 01 February, 01 April, 01 June, 01 August, 01 October and 01 December.

Guarantors of Brain - Travel Grants

These grants are intended mainly to support attendance at scientific meetings that relate directly to the applicant's research interests, and where they will be presenting their original work. Grants may also be awarded to support research visits to laboratories or clinical departments, where exceptional training opportunities are not available in the home institution. Open to PhD students, UK based 3-year research MD, and post doctoral trainees. Approximate provision: up to £400 (UK), £600 (European), and £1000 (further afield). Deadline: applications must be made at least 9 weeks before the date of travel.

Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation - Medical Research Travel grants

These enable candidates to visits laboratories to gain new clinical and laboratory skills, and to set up inter-institutional collaborative research. Grants are worth up to £1,000 each to cover the cost of travel and subsistence. Deadline: March, June, Spetember, December

International Brain Research Organization - Travel grants

These aid to foster neuroscience research, especially in less well-funded countries, by providing support to high quality neuroscientists from diverse geographic and scientific areas (US/Canada Region excluded) who wish to participate at international neuroscience meetings taking place between July and December each year. Funding maximum $1,800. Deadline: March

Laboratory Animal Science Association

Bursaries can be applied for at any time of the year and for any event considered relevant to LASA’s mission statement ("To advance scientific understanding and knowledge of the use, care and welfare of laboratory animals and promote refinement, reduction and replacement"). Animal technicians, post-graduate students and others for whom funds may be limited are especially encouraged to apply.

Leverhulme Trust - Study Abroad Fellowships

These fund maintenance and research expenses to allow applicants to spend a period of 12 to 24 months on advanced study or research at a centre of learning in any overseas country (excluding the USA). Non-UK residents are not eligible. Studentships are tenable for between 12 and 24 months, and must begin between 01 June and 01 May of each year. Fellowships consist of a basic annual maintenance allowance of £21,000; a partner allowance of £6,000 (if a student is accompanied by a dependant partner), return air fare and baggage allowance. Deadline: 07 January 2019

Motor Neurone Disease Association - Alliance Support Grant (ASG) for meeting travel

This enables delegates of member associations (who would not, on economic grounds, otherwise be able to do so) to travel to and attend the Annual Alliance Meeting, in order for them to hear and share information, strategies and techniques about ALS/MND for the benefit of their association. Deadline: 01 August

The Physiological Society - Travel Grants

These enable physiologists to network and attend conferences. The amount of funding available is relative to the type of membership you hold, with £700 available for Members, £500 for Affiliates and £100 for Undergraduate Members per rolling year. Travel grants are awarded to enable Members, Affiliates and Undergraduates to attend and present at a scientific conference (Undergraduates are not required to present work); visit another laboratory for collaborative research or to acquire/teach new techniques; or attend a practical workshop or training course that is relevant to physiology. You must submit your application at least 1 month, but no more than 6 months, before you wish to travel. Deadlines: rolling monthly (last day of the month) apart from December.

The Royal Society

This scheme is for scientists in the UK who want to stimulate new collaborations with leading scientists overseas through either a one-off visit or bilateral travel. This scheme is not intended to support continued research between a UK applicant and co-applicant who was a former colleague or PhD student or to support other existing or recent collaborations between the applicant and co-applicant. The funding available is dependent upon the length of the visit. Applicants may request up to of £3,000 for one-off travel lasting up to 3 months;  up to £6000 for multiple visits to be completed within 1 year (including a maximum of £1000 for research expenses); and up to £12,000 for multiple visits to be completed within 2 years and cost share projects fixed at 2 years (including a maximum of £2000 for research expenses). Deadlines: January, April, August - depending on country of travel.

The Royal Society of Edinburgh – Bilateral International Exchange Programme

Open to Fellows and non-Fellows. The Bilateral Programme facilitates the collaboration between researchers from Scotland and those based in institutions with which the RSE has a formal Memorandum of Understanding. Exchange Programme grants are for short-term visits of one to four weeks duration, the key objectives being to enhance the research capabilities of individual researchers, develop international collaborative links, and enable participation in international research programmes. Deadline: 31 August

The Royal Society of Edinburgh – Open International Exchange Programme

The Open Programme was launched in 2003 to allow researchers to further collaborations with research groups in any countries (non-UK) or institutes not covered by the bilateral programme. Applications are invited for researchers to travel to or from a Scottish research institution. The RSE meets the costs of international travel, accommodation and subsistence. As with the Bilateral Programme, both visitors and overseas hosts should have established contact before submitting an application, either by previous collaboration or by scientific correspondence. Deadline: not currently available

Society for Experimental Biology

The funding has been kindly offered to the Society by the Company of Biologists, not-for-profit publishing organisation dedicated to supporting and inspiring the biological community. The CoB travel grant supports students and early career scientists with travel to conferences, workshops, research trips and laboratory visits. Student or early career scientist can apply, but you must be a member of SEB and be in the second consecutive year of membership or pay for a multi-year membership when joining, if you qualify for it. Research must also be within SEB's remit (animal, plant and cell biology) and research directly related to medicine does not qualify. Deadlines: 31 March, 30 June, 30 September, 31 December.