RSTMH announces exciting changes to travel scholarships and small grants
This new year brings a lot of exciting developments for the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Among many things, as part of our new strategy, we have made some changes to how our travel scholarships and small grants will be awarded.
During our strategy review we heard that our members outside of the UK, especially early career researchers and professionals, find it difficult to attend RSTMH meetings held in the UK.
This, in turn, means they find it harder for their research and knowledge to feed into our wider work and to feel involved in our network. As a result, we committed to organising more meetings, and working with local partners on joint meetings, outside of the UK. We also want to make it easier for our international members to attend our UK meetings.
Member priority
Members also told us they would like priority when it comes to receiving our small grants. Early career researchers and professionals asked us to provide better career development, mentoring and training opportunities, and our small grants provide an ideal entry point for more comprehensive support.
Our new strategy also aims to deliver improved impact for tropical medicine and global health by aligning our work more closely. We'll try to ensure the research being funded through our small grants is aligned to our thematic priorities, so we can more easily measure and evaluate impact in these areas.
Updated travel scholarship programme
In terms of the specific changes made to travel scholarships, they will remain as awards of up to £1,000 for 2018, but will be offered for attendance to RSTMH meetings in the first instance. Anyone can apply for these scholarships, but RSTMH members based outside of the UK will take priority, especially early career professionals and researchers.
Applications for travel scholarships will open alongside our event announcements. For our 2018 annual meeting (dates TBC), we envisage applications to open in late March.
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Changes to how small grants are awarded
Small grants will remain as awards of up to £5,000 for 2018. Members and non-members can apply, but, if successful, non-members will be asked to join the Society to receive their award and subsequent support.
From this year, we’ll be providing more support for our grant winners, and aligning their work with our other activities. The thematic areas highlighted in our new strategy will also be prioritised.
The announcement of the opening date and deadline for applications for small grants in 2018 will be made at our RSTMH Topics in Infection meeting on 26 January, as well as on our website and social media.
