Scholarships
Scholarship applications are now closed. Applications were accepted from 6 December 2012 to 24 January 2013. All scholarship applicants were notified of their application status in early April 2013.
The Media and International Scholarship Programmes are an integral part of the conference and provide full and partial scholarships to eligible, highly-evaluated applicants. The aim of the programme is to bring to the conference individuals who are most able to transfer the skills and knowledge acquired there to the work they undertake in their own organizations and communities.
More than 1,200 applications were received from 113 countries, representing the scientific, medical, community and media disciplines. As part of the scholarship application, candidates were requested to answer questions regarding their work, motivation to attend the conference, and benefits that they would bring back to their organizations and communities after attending the conference. All applications were thoroughly reviewed by the International Scholarship Department according to a scoring system that guarantees objectivity and neutrality.
More than 120 successful applicants were chosen from the pool of applicants based on recommendations and criteria established by the IAS 2013 Conference Coordinating Committee (CCC), the Scientific Programme Committee (SPC) and the Community Advisory Group (CAG).
The majority of scholarships were offered to delegates who would directly contribute to the conference programme through presentation of their abstracts at an oral session, oral poster discussion session or poster exhibition. Scholarships were also granted to a number of healthcare professionals, researchers and community representatives. A small number of media representatives were funded to attend both the conference and a pre-conference training.
International Scholarship Programme
Scholarships provide financial assistance to a number of people from resource-limited settings and communities, researchers and students to help them attend the conference. The International Scholarship Programme is open to everyone around the world. Priority will be given to those whose participation will help enhance their work in their own communities, to those who are able to assist in the transfer of skills and knowledge acquired at the conference, and to those whose abstract submission has been selected.
International scholarship applicants were asked to submit a letter of recommendation after completing the scholarship application. No international application was accepted without submission of the letter of recommendation.
Media Scholarship Programme
A very limited number of scholarships are available for media representatives from around the world.
Media scholarship applicants were also asked to provide media accreditation and supporting documents. No media application was accepted without submission of the required supporting documents.
Application Criteria
Applications were open to anyone working in the field of HIV who are at least 18 years of age at the time of the conference (30 June 2013). Most of the questions asked on the application form were related to personal details and work experience. There were also questions which asked for further details regarding the applicant's organization, occupation or involvement in the field of HIV, motivation to attend the conference and how the applicant's organization or community would benefit from the scholarship.
Types of Support
Applicants were able to request a full or partial scholarship through the online application system.
A full scholarship includes:
- Registration fee for the conference (includes access to all sessions and exhibitions);
- Travel (pre-paid airfare at the lowest fare available, from the nearest international airport);
- Accommodation (shared in a budget hotel for the days of the conference);
- Modest daily living allowance for the duration of the conference (30 June-03 July 2013, USD 30 per day).
A partial scholarship includes any combination of the above.
Please note that funding is limited and demand for scholarships is high. Scholarship applicants are therefore encouraged to seek other funding as well.
Please see the
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page for more information.