**Congress Attendance Aid Grant** The grant aims to ensure equal opportunities at the 30th European Meeting of PhD Students in Evolutionary Biology (EMPSEB) or the ESEB Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The grant aims to achieve this by increasing the attendance of underrepresented groups, primarily, but not solely, caregiving women (who due to higher costs of childcare are often prevented from attending), through positive discrimination. The grant provides stipends of financial aid for scientists to help with the additional costs borne privately due to responsibilities for dependents when attending one of the above mentioned meetings. For example, stipends can cover dependent care or personal travel expenses. Applicants may request between 250 to 500 Euro for EMPSEB attendance and between 250 to 750 Euro for ESEB attendance. Higher amounts are awarded to those travelling further or to those from countries with less access to funding. Please note that this grant is distinct from the ESEB Conference Travel Award (https://eseb.org/prizes-funding/conference-travel-award/), which is designed to help young researchers who are professionally based in low income countries with the travel costs to attend the meeting and is NOT meant for other under-represented groups or to support additional costs due to caring for dependents when attending the meeting. DEADLINE: 31 January 2025 ELIGIBILITY - Applicants must be ESEB members (for becoming a member of ESEB please visit our membership page: https://eseb.org/society/membership/). - Applications can be submitted by scientists at any stages of their professional career (e.g., undergraduate, Masters and PhD students, postdocs, and lecturers). - Applicants must explain explicitly how their attendance will increase equal opportunities at the society. - Applicants must present either an oral communication or a poster at the respective meeting to be eligible for the award. This will be verified before the reimbursement, but no proof that a poster or talk is accepted is necessary at the application stage. Please note that being chosen for a travel award does not guarantee acceptance of a poster or talk at the conference. - Applicants must detail how they intend to use the grant. Eligible costs include, but are not limited to: childcare on site, childcare at home, extra care at home for dependents, extra travel costs for babysitter (grandparents) etc. - The stipend will be paid out as a flat rate of 250 euro (in certain cases up to 500 euro ) after the congress when confirmation of attendance & presentation is provided. HOW TO APPLY The application should be no more than 2 pages long and include: - Name of the applicant - ESEB membership number - An explanation of how attendance at the meeting improves equal opportunities at ESEB - An explanation of how attendance at the meeting will further the attendant's professional goals - Itemised budget in Euro - CV Please submit the application as a single PDF file by email to Ute Friedrich at the ESEB office (office@eseb.org; subject: CAA grant 2025) and take care to limit the size of attachments (total < 10 MB) in any one email. ---- European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) Email: office@eseb.org Website: https://eseb.org ESEB Office (to subscribe/unsubscribe the EvolDir send mail to golding@mcmaster.ca)