SRUK/CERU Professional Development Grants 2024

For the eleventh consecutive year, the Society of Spanish Researchers in the United Kingdom (SRUK/CERU) is pleased to announce the call for the SRUK/CERU Professional Development Grants 2024. These grants are open to SRUK/CERU Regular Members only, and are aimed at supporting the total or partial costs of travel, registration fees, and/or accommodation  they have allocated to attend a research conference, a workshop, or an international meeting in their field of expertise. The event must develop the professional profile of the applicant, e.g., by enabling them to present their research, network, or develop their science communication skills. Eligible events must take place between 1^st May 2024 and 30^th April 2025.

Funding is limited and grants will be awarded on a competitive basis based on merit and the expected impact the activity will have on the  applicants’ professional development and career. All applications will be peer-reviewed by our Evaluation Committee.

Awards

• Ten SRUK/CERU Professional Development Grants of £400.
• The activities SRUK/CERU regular members can fund include conferences, meetings, and/or workshops in any country (including the UK), and must have a clear impact on the applicants’ professional development.
• Activities must be held between the 1^st of May 2024 and the 30^th of April 2025.
• Applicants may use their award to attract additional funding, but SRUK/CERU will still expect appropriate recognition (see “Further Details” below).

Eligibility

• All applicants are required to be SRUK/CERU Regular Members. Non-members can only apply if they become a regular member before the deadline to apply for this grant scheme. You can learn more about our different memberships and register to become an SRUK/CERU Regular Member via this link.
• Due to the limited nature of the funding and the objective to further develop the career of  early career researchers, those applicants with a permanent position will not be considered. 
• Neither members of the SRUK/CERU Evaluation Committee nor the Board of Directors of SRUK/CERU (President, Vice-president, Roving Director, Treasurer, and Secretary) are eligible to apply.
• Eligibility of the activities will be decided by the Evaluation Committee. The Roving Director reserves the right to declare that an event is ineligible if they believe it does not fulfil the objectives of the grant.
• Applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
  • Applicant’s skills and proposal (CV and lay abstract, evaluated up to a maximum of 25 points each); the evaluation committee will take the researcher’s experience and career stage into consideration.
  • The relevance of the activity for the applicant (up to a maximum of 50 points), number of attendees to previous editions of the activity they want to attend, plans for establishing possible future collaborations, relation to their research field, and timeliness in relation to their career development.
• Priority will be given to those not awarded in previous years.
• The number of professional development grants awarded to each scientific area will be proportional to the demand.
• The availability of additional funding should be specified in the application, but it will not be used as an evaluation criteria.

Further Details

• Recipients will be personally responsible for all the arrangements and expenditures including registration, travel, insurance, accommodation, and personal commitments.
• Recipients must acknowledge SRUK/CERU and the SRUK/CERU Professional Development  Grant awarded as a source of funding to attend the proposed activity (i.e., the SRUK/CERU official logo and additional details will be sent to the awardees by email).
• Within four weeks after the  activity has taken place, recipients will be required to submit either a report (500 words maximum) or a short video (no more than 2 minutes answering no more than five questions) in lay English, outlining the impact of the activity they attended and the impact that the SRUK/CERU Professional Development Grant had on their career and professional goals. SRUK/CERU reserves the right to publish or use these materials for promotional purposes (e.g., SRUK/CERU social networks such as Instagram, X, Facebook, etc.).
• If the originally proposed activity cannot be attended, SRUK/CERU will understand that the proposal is void and that the candidate cannot reutilise the funds for another activity. The candidate will have a grace period of one month after the activity cancellation to  request the reallocation of funds for a different activity with the same objective (e.g., where the same research is presented). The final decision on the matter will be made at the discretion of the Roving Director. In the event that the reallocation proposal is not processed within the established timeframe or it is not approved, the Roving Director reserves the right to transfer the funds to those applications in the waiting list in order of scoring given by the Evaluation Committee.
• Recipients may be invited to participate in scientific outreach activities organised by SRUK/CERU such as ‘Science in the Pub’, ‘Pint of Knowledge’. They may also be invited to write a post to be published in our SRUK/CERU Blog.

Application

Members are required to log on to the SRUK/CERU Members Zone and complete all the relevant fields listed in the application form, such as the following:

• Lay abstract (i.e. brief summary written for members of the public, rather than researchers or professionals in the field) about your research area and the work you may be presenting in the conference or the skills you will acquire if attending a workshop (250 words maximum).
• Full CV with education and research experience (maximum 2 pages).
• If you have an ORCID, ResearcherID, or similar academic profiles, you will be asked to include them in the application form.
• Details of the activity you will be attending:
  • Details of the event:
    • Title.
    • Date and duration.
    • Location.
    • Website (if the website is not available by the time of the application, at least a public announcement of the activity you want to attend must be provided. Otherwise, the application will not be considered).
    • Number of attendees and impact of the activity in previous years. 
    • Type of presentation, if applicable.
  • Expenses derived from attending the activity and how the grant would be spent if awarded.
  • How the applicant would benefit from the event and how it would contribute to their professional development (400 words maximum).
  • Other sources of funding.
• Applications must be completed in English.

The deadline to apply for the  SRUK/CERU Professional Development Grants 2024 is Sunday 3rd March 2024 at 23:59h (UK time).

For further information, please contact [email protected].