Thematic Conference Grants

Call for proposals for ECSR Thematic Conferences

Thematic conferences are international events of at least 1,5 days on targeted themes that bring together approximately 30-50 participants from adjacent disciplines or professional networks with overlapping interests, including demography, economics, psychology, political science, epidemiology.

The ECSR board considers proposals for thematic conferences from junior (PhD, post-doc) or senior researchers at member institutions.

Applications for a conference must be submitted by February 15, 2025 for conferences taking place between April 2025 and December  2025.

The ECSR’s annual budget for thematic conferences is 10,000 euros in total. One or several conferences can be funded yearly.

Grants may cover costs for travels grants for selected young scholars or scholars from lower-income countries; catering up to a limit of 50 euros per person per full day; travel and accommodation of keynotes speakers. It does not cover overheads, administrative and staff costs.

Eligibility

  • Applicants should be affiliated to a member institution of ECSR.
  • Joint organization and funding of thematic conferences with other professional networks or organizations is necessary. Co-financing should be at least 40% of the total cost of the conference (including in-kind contributions).
  • In the call for papers, priority must be given to participants from ECSR member institutions. 
  • The budget should be in conformity with the ECSR regulations/restrictions on travel and accommodation costs (see appendix).

Process

Applications should include:

  • A letter of request for funding outlining the aims and anticipated outcome of the conference and motivating the particular ECSR-related benefits;
  • A short presentation of organisers (maximum 250 words each);
  • A description of the conference: format, type of audience, expected number of persons (including expected number of ECSR members), number of sessions, process of paper selection, name of keynotes speakers, type of circulation of the call for papers, possible further developments…). This description should make it clear how the proposal meets the eligibility criteria.
  • A first version of the call for papers;
  • A detailed cost plan that gives details of lump sums and expected spending at the personal level. All revenues should be detailed (including the financial contribution of other institutes);
  • Applications will be reviewed by the ECSR with attention the scientific quality; the format and participants; the calibration of the budget and co-financing. Decisions on the applications will be made by the ECSR board and will normally be communicated to the applicants within six weeks of the closing date.

The call for papers should be circulated to ECSR members via its newsletter. The ECSR logo should be present on all communication materials for this conference. Furthermore, we ask you to provide us with the link to the conference website, in order to post it on the ECSR website.

If the project is accepted, the funding is granted after the workshop on the basis of a short report.
If you are interested in submitting a proposal or have further questions, please contact Are Skeie Hermansen (a.s.hermansen@sosgeo.uio.no).

Further information on reimbursement.

Funded ECSR Thematic Conferences

Thematic Conferences of the past unregistered ECSR network