The Royal Astronomical Society recognises that many delegates who attend or who would like to attend our events and conferences have caring responsibilities, whether this is for children, elderly or disabled relatives or friends. As a result, they are sometimes prevented from attending the conference because there is no provision for the extra costs incurred in paying for the additional care needed while they are away.
The RAS carer/accessibility fund is available for, and aims to contribute towards, these additional costs of care when attending events, meetings and conferences attending conferences that are supported by the RAS, including but not limited to highlights meetings, the National Astronomy Meeting, PGRiP, the British Seismology Meeting.
Attendees are welcome to apply for up to £250 to support attendance at meetings. Costs must be budgeted for, but may be used to support any aspect of attendance associated with an individual’s care needs, caring responsibilities, or other accessibility requirements.
We appreciate that the arrangements that delegates will put in place will be many and varied, and therefore we do not wish to place restrictions on how the grant will be used, except that it must be used towards the costs associated with additional care for the person or people that the delegate cares for.
Submitting an application
Applications must be submitted to awards@ras.ac.uk.
Download the application form below.
The total grant fund is limited but all applications will be given equal consideration. Retrospective applications will not normally be accepted.
Eligibility
Anyone is eligible to apply for a grant, up to a maximum of £250.
Payment
All recipients are requested to produce a short form following the event, confirming attendance and any benefit obtained from attendance. You may also wish to comment on the effectiveness of the fund in contributing to your additional costs.
The grant will normally be paid after you have attended the event and the report has been received. If you feel that you cannot attend without receiving payment beforehand, please contact the Awards Officer via awards@ras.ac.uk