Donna Brennan AARES International Travel Grant

The Australasian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society (AARES) seeks applications for the Donna Brennan AARES International Travel Grant.  The award was instigated by and remains heavily supported by the West Australian branch of AARES.

The purpose of the grant is to support a person from a developing country to attend the AARES conference, with a preference towards selecting people who are Early Career Researchers or Professionals and/or females, working in agricultural-, environmental-, food-, resource-economics and agribusiness topics.

This grant will defray accommodation and transportation costs associated with attending the AARES Conference . The grant will provide the following:

• complementary 1 year membership
• complementary registration to the conference and the conference dinner
• up to AU$1,500 for travel and accommodation costs.

Eligibility Requirements

Qualifying applicants must meet the following eligibility requirements in order to be considered for a travel grant:

• Resident of and residing in a low income or lower-middle-income economy countries as defined by the World Bank (see below)
• Actively engaged in agricultural, environmental, food and resource economics or agribusiness 
• Insufficient institutional funding available to make the trip (including university, department, grant, employer, etc.)
• Paper/poster accepted for presentation at the AARES Annual Conference.

Applicants who are Postgraduate students or Early Career Researchers or Professionals in developing countries, particularly females, are strongly urged to apply.

Application Process

Applications must be submitted the AARES office (office@aares.org.au).

Applicants should submit the following:

• Your name and e-mail address;
• Institution and (if applicable) department at which enrolled/employed.  You may indicate “not-yet-employed” if not a current student and without employment – please highlight degree-awarding institution and date awarded;
• Degree program underway (Graduate Student Applicants)
• Anticipated graduation date (Graduate Student Applicants)
• Professional rank or position (Early Career Professional Applicants)
• Number of years since post-graduate studies (Early Career Professional Applicants)
• Copy of a paper or poster for presentation at the AARES conference, representing your original and unpublished work;
• a one-page biographical statement;
• a one-page statement in support of your application, indicating what you hope to accomplish through the award, and why you would be deserving of the award.
• Proposed travel budget showing costs, funds available from other institutional sources, and amount requested.

In a separate document:

• A nomination from a department, division head, or supervisor which includes written acknowledgement of the nomination and certification of your financial need, including certification that full funding is unavailable from other sources.  Self-employed or not-yet-employed applicants may submit a letter supporting the nomination from a colleague or mentor from their degree-granting institution or include a letter stating financial need.
• The deadline for submission is 20 November.
• The decision on the award will be made by early December, and applicants notified.  The transfer of funds to the successful applicant will be made after the conference.
• Decisions by the Program Coordinator on acceptance of papers/posters to the conference might be made after the submission date for the Travel Award. Applicants should submit their paper/poster to the conference by the due dates, and their application for this Travel award by the 20 November.  It will be the responsibility of the DB Awards committee to confirm that the successful applicant has an accepted paper/poster on the program.

Eligible countries