***Congress Attendance Aid (CAA) Grant*** The Congress Attendance Aid (CAA) Grant is offered by ESEB to promote equal participation, diversity, and accessibility at the 31st European Meeting of PhD Students in Evolutionary Biology (https://empsebconf.github.io/index.html), to be held in June 2025 in Oberwiesenthal, Germany. The CAA Grant is specifically designed to reduce private financial barriers linked to structural underrepresentation, caring responsibilities, accessibility needs, and other equality-related constraints that may otherwise prevent researchers from attending the meeting. It primarily, though not exclusively, supports: - Caregiving researchers with dependent-care responsibilities - Researchers from underrepresented social, ethnic, racial, and cultural backgrounds - LGBTQ+ researchers - Researchers facing additional costs linked to disability, accessibility, or social inequality This grant operates under the principle of positive discrimination to foster equity and is not based on country of employment or general travel costs. The grant is awarded as a flat-rate stipend, with euro 250 for participants travelling from within Europe and euro 500 for participants travelling from outside Europe, to support additional private costs arising from personal, family, accessibility, or inequality-related responsibilities, including but not limited to: - Childcare during the meeting (on-site or at home) - Additional dependent care (elderly, disabled, or other dependents) - Extra travel costs for caregivers (e.g., partners, babysitters) - Accessibility-related expenses - Other justified equality-related expenses Higher amounts may be awarded in cases of long-distance travel or limited access to institutional funding. The stipend is paid as a flat-rate reimbursement after the meeting, once attendance and presentation are confirmed. ***Important Distinction from the ESEB Conference Travel Award*** The CAA Grant is fundamentally different from the ESEB Conference Travel Award (https://eseb.org/prizes-funding/conference-travel-award/). The CAA Grant addresses equality-, care-, and accessibility-related financial barriers, while the Travel Award supports general travel costs for researchers based in low-income countries. Applicants based in low-income countries who also face equality- or care-related barriers may apply for both grants. ***DEADLINE: 01 FEBRUARY 2026*** ***ELIGIBILITY*** - Applicants must be current ESEB members (to become an ESEB member, please visit our membership page at https://eseb.org/society/eseb-membership/). - Applicants must explicitly explain how their attendance will increase equal opportunities at ESEB. - Applicants must present either an oral communication or a poster at EMPSEB to be eligible for the award. This will be verified before reimbursement; however, proof of acceptance is not required at the application stage. Please note that being selected 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: dependent care, accessibility and disability-related expenses, additional travel or accommodation costs arising from structural inequality, and other justified equality-related expenses. The stipend will be paid after the meeting, upon confirmation of attendance and presentation. ***HOW TO APPLY***** The application must be submitted as a single document of no more than 2 pages in total, and must include all of the following within this page limit: Applicant's full name - ESEB membership number - Explanation of how their participation enhances equal opportunities at ESEB - Explanation of how attendance supports their professional development - Itemised budget (in Euro) - CV Please submit a single PDF file by email to Ute Friedrich at the ESEB office (office@eseb.org; subject line: CAA grant 2026). The total size of attachments must not exceed 10 MB per email. We will acknowledge receipt of all applications within a week. If you have not received our confirmation by then, please contact the ESEB office again. --- European Society for Evolutionary Biology www.eseb.org | office@eseb.org ESEB Office (to subscribe/unsubscribe the EvolDir send mail to golding@mcmaster.ca)