Travel Grant Program

The FOSS4G SotM Oceania conference is offering a travel grant program aimed at increasing the diversity, impact, and reach of the conference. We are looking for worthy recipients who are committed to make an impact with the opportunity provided, and we want to stretch our limited budget as widely as possible.

Our goals include:

  • Bringing the power of Open Geospatial to a wide audience

  • Helping individuals become engaged in the development of Open Geospatial Software, Data and Standards

  • Reaching, empowering and giving a voice to a diverse community, including those who might not have the financial or social means to attend the conference

What we are looking for:

  • People from under-represented communities, such as:

    • Indigenous communities

    • Residents of remote communities

    • Women in tech

    • Community development workers or students who don’t have workplace or government funding

  • People who have “skin in the game”:

    • People who will make use of what they learn to make a positive impact to themselves and their communities.

    • People who contribute to open communities, such as contributing to OpenStreetMap, or Open Source Software.

    • People willing to volunteer at the conference.

  • People from the Oceania region

What is on offer:

There are two tiers of grant available:

  1. Tier 1: free conference registration, plus up to $1000 (max 100% of costs)

  2. Tier 2: free conference registration, plus up to $500 (max 50% of costs)

All successful applicants will be provided with free registration to 1 day of workshops (20th Nov) and the 2 day conference (21-22 Nov). Community Day (23 Nov) will be free for everybody. Lunch will be provided on all 4 days.

Eligible costs include transportation, accommodation, and visa costs.

More:

  • Please help us stretch this program as widely as possible by being frugal in the options you apply for.

  • If applying for travel, please look for cheap flights and use public transport.

  • If applying for accommodation, please seek inexpensive options.

  • We ask that you pay for your expenses up front, and we will issue the grant funds via Electronic Funds Transfer when you arrive at the conference. (You will be asked to provide account details to facilitate this, and will be expected to be able to show receipts or similar evidence of expenditure if asked).

  • You will need to be in possession of a valid entry visa (if required).

You can talk to us:

We aim to be flexible in applying this program, so if any of the above will be difficult for you, then feel free to reach out and talk to us about your circumstances.

Applications are now closed.