ANOUNCEMENT: As of October 2023, travel grant applications are now reviewed on a quarterly basis with deadlines at the end of March, June, September, and December.
SCOR provides travel support for early-career scientists from low- to medium-income countries to attend ocean science meetings, conferences, workshops, and trainings. Please read the information below and fill out the application form. The impact of the program was highlighted in:
Twigg, E., P. Miloslavich, E.R. Urban Jr., and R. Zitoun. 2025. Enhancing global ocean science networks: The impact of SCOR’s Travel Grant Initiative. Oceanography, https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2025.106.
Who can apply?
Requests for travel support will only be accepted from meeting organizers. Meeting organizers conduct their own selection process for grant recipients.
When are applications due?
Applications are reviewed by the SCOR Capacity Development Committee four times per year with deadlines of March 31, June 30, September 30, and December 31. Additionally, they should be submitted at least 6 months before the event. Organizers may make a request to the SCOR Secretariat for an urgent review.
Who is eligible to receive a travel grant?
Travel grants are intended for individuals meeting the following criteria:
- Identify as early-career (enrolled as students or up to 10 years post-degree) individuals in ocean science and/or other marine-related topics.
- Delivering an oral presentation or poster at the meeting/conference or participating in a training/workshop.
- Based in an eligible developing country, listed here. Recipients should not be based in the country where the event is held.
- Have not received a SCOR travel grant within the past 2 years.
Information about the selected recipients must be submitted to SCOR by the organizers for approval to ensure the criteria are met before the funds can be transferred. Meeting organizers who expect to select recipients not meeting one of the criteria should contact the SCOR Secretariat (secretariat@scor-int.org) to discuss the potential for an exception.
How much does SCOR provide to meeting organizers?
The SCOR Capacity Development Committee will determine how much an event will be granted. Typically, meetings/conferences/workshops/trainings receive between $3,000-$10,000 USD, depending on SCOR’s budget and the relevance of the event to SCOR’s work. Meeting organizers decide how to distribute this amount amongst one or more recipients, who may receive either full or partial support for their travel (flights and other transportation, accommodation, meals, registration, and/or visa costs). Organizers can describe preliminary plans for how funds may be distributed in their cover letter.
What do we expect from meeting organizers?
- Completed application form and optional cover letter
- Name and affiliation of travel recipients, once selected
- A short post-meeting report, including financial accounting if finances are managed by the organizers
Examples of recent and upcoming meetings supported by SCOR:
- Colloquium: Fundamentals Of Ecology For Conservation And Restoration of Marine Systems – 9th edition of Ramon Margalef Colloquia, 16-21 March 2025, Barcelona, Spain
- Conference: IMBeR Future Ocean 3, 13-16 May 2025, Shanghai, China
- Conference: One Ocean Science Congress, 4-6 June 2025, Nice, France
- Workshop: International Workshop on Mid-latitude Atmosphere-Ocean-Ecosystem Interactions: Processes, Predictability, and Habitability, 16-18 July 2025, Fukuoka, Japan
- Conference: Gordon Research Seminar and Conference on Chemical Oceanography, 19-25 July 2025, Manchester, NH, USA
- Conference: World Congress on Malacology, 4-7 August 2025, São Paulo, Brazil
- Workshop: 5th Annual International Workshop of the United States–West Africa Coastal Research and Resilience Consortium, 18-21 August 2025, Accra, Ghana
- Conference: The 7th International Conference on Ocean Engineering, 14-18 September 2025, Chennai, India
- Conference: 21st International Conference on Harmful Algae, 19-24 October 2025, Punta Arenas, Chile
This program is made possible through grant OCE-2346864 from the U.S. National Science Foundation to SCOR.