IUPAB Sponsorship policy

IUPAB welcomes applications for support of events that are strictly within the purview of Biophysics.

Support will depend primarily on the scientific merit of the proposal, and the quality and appropriateness of the speakers. Council will consider the focus of the meeting, its novelty and the contemporary importance of the topics to be covered.

Support from IUPAB will be conditional upon an undertaking from the organizers that free access will be guaranteed to all scientists in conformity with the ISC policy on the free circulation of scientists.

In accordance with the aims of IUPAB to encourage and support the development of Biophysics worldwide, it is expected that IUPAB resources will be used to support:

the attendance of early career people/students from less developed countries at meetings when the host country is in the developed part of the world and/or
the attendance of speakers from the developed part of the world, as well as local students, to attend a meeting in a less developed country.
the organization of Focused Meetings in which a timely topics could be exposed to a broad scientific community.
the organization of workshops or courses directed to students or early career biophysicists.
all IUPAB triennial Congresses.

IUPAB expects that the language of the conference, school, etc. will normally be English, so as to maximize the participation of all scientists and to acquaint all students and other early career biophysicists with the language that is used for the majority of scientific communications, both oral and written. IUPAB will, however, consider exceptions to this rule if the circumstances so justify.

Because of the limited funds available, applications will be considered on a competitive basis and the level of financial support awarded to any event will be decided by the Council or the Executive Committee on a case-by-case basis and depending on the type of event.

The aim of IUPAB is to promote Biophysics on the international stage not to make a profit. If a profit is realized in one of the events funded by IUPAB, the profit will stay with the local biophysical society or adhering body and must be used to promote biophysics within the host country.

In years in which IUPAB triennial Congress will be held, funding will be limited to this Congress.

Financial support will not normally be given to:

A purely national meeting of any of the national biophysics societies or groups.
A meeting that is one of an on-going series devoted to a specific topic, although exceptionally funds may be awarded solely to support the participation of early career scientists from developing countries.
Any meeting in a Congress year, unless officially sanctioned as a Congress Satellite.

Financial support is available in principle, however, for the cases of:

A regional meeting or school devoted primarily to fostering education and research opportunities for early career biophysicists, especially in those areas of the world where biophysics is developing as a discipline.
A regional meeting aimed at bringing together biophysicists from a number of countries in a particular area of the world.

There are different types of events that could be sponsored. Note that for those events in which IUPAB will be the main sponsor the event will have to adopt a pattern to be designed by IUPAB and IUPAB must be included in the title (types 1, 2 and 3).

1. IUPAB Congress:

IUPAB will provide up to 60 000 € for the triennial IUPAB Congress. Funding will include a direct grant to the organizers, as well as support for student travel to the congress (normally 30 000 € for each). IUPAB will propose co-chairs for scientific sessions. The scientific program will need the approval of IUPAB. A bid should be sent to the Secretary General according to the deadline to be established, normally 6 months in advance of the General Assembly that will decide the organization.

The organizers will sign a Memorandum of Understanding with IUPAB.

2. IUPAB Focused Meeting:

Focused Meeting will be held in years in which we do not hold our triennial Congress. The organization of these Meetings should be carried out within a country which is represented in IUPAB. It will be preferred to have co-organizers from two or more countries. These meetings are supposed to bring together researchers interested in a given topic, but an added value will be that participants will come from different disciplines. Topics must be timely and dealing with cutting-edge science, covering 3-4 days and of clear relevance for Biophysics. A gender and geographical balance will be required when considering the list of speakers. Regular annual Meetings of Societies will not be funded.

IUPAB must appear as the main and major sponsor of the Meeting and the sponsorship must be clearly advertised in a very prominent way in all printed and electronic material (website, flyers, etc). A pattern designed by IUPAB must be used in the website, flyers and all materials related to the meeting.

Attendance to these Meetings must be open to participants from all countries, and with special encouragement to admit participants from countries where biophysics is emerging or from developing countries.

A bid to organize these meetings must provide the following details in the application:

Title, dates and location. The Focused Meeting should take place in a country with an IUPAB Adhering Body. The dates of the Focused Meeting should not overlap with other IUPAB events, and should not take place within a year in which an IUPAB triennial Congress will be held.
A brief description of meeting’s topic and themes, the opportunity and importance of the topic, and the adequacy of the location should be emphasized.
The proposed meeting dates and number of anticipated attendees should be given.
Focused Meetings should normally have 100-300 participants. Particular attention should be paid to participation of early career scientists (Ph.D. students and post-doctoral fellows).
Scientific program. A preliminary program should be submitted with the application. The program should be diverse (including lectures, open discussions, poster sessions), and it should be developed for a period of 3-4 working days. Limited social activities may be planned as well. The final Scientific Program should be approved by IUPAB Executive Committee, and it should be submitted at least 6 months in advance of the dates proposed for the Meeting.

The organizer(s) should provide a detailed budget.

Organizers of approved Meetings must provide IUPAB Secretary General with a flyer advertising the Meeting as soon as possible, to be displayed in our website and published in IUPAB News. This flyer should be sent to IUPAB Secretary General not later than 9 months before the fixed days for such a Meeting.

Completed applications should be returned to the Secretary General at least before June 30th of the year prior to the event if it is scheduled for the first semester of the following year or before the 31st of December if it will take place during the second semester.

Report

A report (the form for which can be downloaded from the IUPAB website), should be sent to the IUPAB Secretary General and to the Treasurer, not later than three months after the conclusion of the Focused Meeting. The report should include:

1) The detailed scientific program.

2) A list (including nationality and gender) of participants and lecturers.

3) The detailed budget.

4) A brief report of about 1000 words written by the organizers and accompanied by 2-3 pictures or illustrations, to be published by IUPAB News and to be posted in IUPAB website.

Applications should be sent to the IUPAB Secretary General.

The selection will be carried out by IUPAB Council.

Funded students should write a brief report for IUPAB (not more than 200 words) explaining the interest for himself/herself of the event that will be published in the web and/or in IUPAB News. A picture of the funded person should be attached.

3. Workshops in which IUPAB (or its Task Forces) is the main sponsor:

IUPAB will provide up to 10,000 € to support workshops. The IUPAB will allocate the proportion of funds to be devoted towards organization of the workshop versus student travel. These workshops will be identified as an “IUPAB workshop on…” These workshops cannot be affiliated with a Congress or event organized by another agency or society.

Applications should be sent to the IUPAB Secretary General.

The selection will be carried out by IUPAB Council.

Applications should be sent to the IUPAB Secretary General and must be submitted on the appropriate forms. Please use “Forms” on the index bar and fill in the “Funding Application Form”. Completed applications should be returned to the Secretary General at least before June 30th of the year prior to the event if it is scheduled for the first semester of the following year or before the 31st of December if it will take place during the second semester.

Organizers of funded events should send to IUPAB Secretary General, at least three months before the date of the event a demonstration of having accomplished that up to this moment, with a flyer and a link to the website. Organizers should submit a report on the Meeting (of not more than 400 words) accompanied by one of two pictures, which will be included in the web and/or in IUPAB News.

4. Sponsorship of events in which IUPAB is not the main sponsor:

IUPAB will provide up to 5,000 € for student travel to scientific meetings/workshops. These funds are only for Biophysics focused meetings that are international in scope and that are not regularly occurring meetings – i.e. they cannot be used for annual, biannual or triennial meetings, etc. organized by Adhering Bodies.

The selection will be carried out by IUPAB Council.

5. IUPAB Plenary Lectures:

IUPAB may provide funds (1 000 €) for an IUPAB plenary lecture to be delivered in a Congress or Meeting organized by one of our Adhering Bodies (not Observers) in a country affiliated to IUPAB. Preference will be given to Regional Associations and to major Meetings. IUPAB may establish agreements with organizers of this type of meetings to fund these lectures on a regular basis. Other exceptional cases can be considered when extremely well justified. IUPAB will be responsible for choosing and inviting the lecturer and the person who will chair the session. In all cases the applicant Adhering Body must be in good standings. Care will be taken in keeping a fair geographical distribution.

Applications should be send at least 6 months before the event to the Secretary General without the need of using a specific form.

Organizers may send a brief report of the Meeting in general to be published in IUPAB News.

6. Events that only require the use of IUPAB logo without the need of funding:

If organizers of meetings are seeking only the approval of IUPAB, including the use of the IUPAB logo, but not requesting financial support, applications may be submitted to the Secretary General at any time and will be considered by the Executive Committee by correspondence. Completed applications should be returned to the Secretary General at least before June 30th of the year prior to the event if it is scheduled for the first semester of the following year or before the 31st of December if it will take place during the second semester.

7. Sponsorship of a prize for communications made by students or young biophysicists:

This prize could be obtained by undergraduates, Ph.D. students or postdocs with less than 3 years since obtention of a Ph.D. degree.

To promote Biophysics worldwide, IUPAB would fund a prize of 250 € to be awarded to a young biophysicist for a presentation during a meeting or congress. The application for this prize must be made by a society or an association of societies that are Adhering Bodies of the Union and also by national societies of countries that are linked to IUPAB through any type of Adhering Body. Observer adhering bodies or societies may apply only once as a promotion of, for example, a new society to be constituted.

Only one application per year could be funded for a given country or group of countries if the application is made for a joint meeting.

The application could also be made by a constituted association of undergraduates or graduate students. If the association has an international character it would not need the endorsement of any society but the applicant association should have a previous agreement with IUPAB. If the association is of only national character it would need the endorsement of the corresponding national society. Only one prize per year will be funded for a given nation (excluding international events taking place in this nation) including the society itself and the association of students.

The organizers of the event should send to the IUPAB Secretary General a photo of the awardee or awardees with the names and the title of the corresponding communication to be published in IUPAB News. The awardees could write a review to be submitted to Biophysical Reviews, about the subject of their communications.

General regulations

Normally 75% of the funds should be transferred in advance. The rest when the organizers fulfill all the requirements.

Travel support is for students from developing countries or developing communities/regions of the host country. Written justification to IUPAB is required if it is not possible to meet the target for student travel.

Meetings that are supported by IUPAB financially or otherwise, will be listed in the IUPAB calendar of events; this is published in IUPAB NEWS which is distributed to all adhering bodies of IUPAB, and included in the IUPAB home page on the WWW.

Enquiries about IUPAB meetings and requests for application forms should be addressed to the Secretary General.

MORE INFO

Applications should be sent to IUPAB Email: inbox@iupab.org